Thursday, June 05, 2003
Copyright © Las Vegas Mercury

Film: 2 dumb 2 believe

2 Fast 2 Furious is pure, superficial carnography

By Tammy McMahan

Film is an undeniably powerful medium. Even 2 Fast 2 Furious, the most mindless, escapist entertainment, affects society. Its distorted, disturbing world view represents the worst aspects of the continued "MTV-ization" of culture. Like most of the 22-year-old music network's programming, this cinematic travesty is a study of the human condition at its most superficial and debased, all in the form of a quick-cut amalgam of a rap video/digital racing game/hip-hop version of "The Dukes of Hazzard" and the worst episodes of "Miami Vice."

The sequel to Rob Cohen's 2001 summer sleeper hit The Fast and the Furious mercifully has no Vin Diesel but does, unfortunately, star Paul Walker as disgraced ex-LAPD cop Brian O'Conner, a now-hooked-on-speed Miami street racer. O'Conner is given the chance to redeem himself and a friend, ex-con Roman Pearce (Tyrese), by assisting the feds (Thom Barry, James Remar and undercover agent Eva Mendes) in bringing down drug kingpin Carter Verone (Cole Hauser). As they rip and run along South Beach's highways and byways with the help of buddies Ludacris, newcomer Devon Aoki and tricked-out cars, hedonism, mayhem and chaos ensue.

Screenwriters Michael Brandt and Derek Haas use shallow, MTV-esque characterizations that are typified by the need to give authority the finger and are presented in perfectly balanced racial and ethnic diversity, coupled with supermodel good looks. (Of course, men and women, but particularly females, dare not have one extra ounce of fat.) As such, heroes and criminals are one and the same. While the heterogeneity initially seems praiseworthy in a whitewashed cinematic universe, don't be fooled. It's nothing more than a blatant attempt to capture all the demographic groups of the potential audience.

The direction, by the once-promising John Singleton (Boyz N the Hood), is full of sound and fury signifying absolutely nothing. This is pure carnography, rife with ridiculous replays of adolescent fantasies of fast cars and fast women.