Singleton, Leonetti, and editor Bruce Cannon avoided the hallucinatory, effects-heavy race sequences that were Cohen’s signature in the first film. The whole thing has the sheen of a late ‘90s/early ‘00s music video, which is exactly how it should look. Leonetti ( Strange Days, and after this, Zack Snyder’s snappy remake of Dawn of the Dead) utilized wide angle lenses, alternating between high and low camera placements and smooth Steadicam work, while saturating the frame with sunlight, neon, and color to create a hyperrealistic, almost cartoonish look, evoking the classic Miami vibe. Singleton and his 2 Fast cinematographer Matthew F. In the hands of such a skilled filmmaker, it’s easy to simply sit back and enjoy the ride. Screenwriters Gary Scott Thompson, David Ayer, and Erik Bergquist took Li’s exploration of street racing and laid the undercover-cop-goes-native structure on top.Īt this point in his career, Singleton already had no less than six great features under his belt ( Boyz n the Hood, Poetic Justice, Higher Learning, Rosewood, Shaft, Baby Boy), and it’s clear from the first few minutes that this is a director who not only has a point of view, but a true sense of cinematic artfulness informed by film history. Cohen, a serviceable director of schlock, was inspired by a piece of ethnographic journalism by Ken Li that ran in VIBE Magazine in 1998.
FAST AND FURIOUS 2 MOVIE
The Fast and the Furious is an okay movie with a great concept: “Point Break” with muscle cars. And yes, it is a better film than the first, especially with Singleton behind the wheel.
But in hindsight, within the grander scheme of the unlikely saga that has unfurled over the past two decades over nine films and one spin-off, “2 Fast” is not only better than you remember, it also introduces some of the most important elements in the franchise. I’ll consider doling out some forgiveness for those who found the sequel lacking back in ’03, with The Fast and the Furious stars Vin Diesel, Michelle Rodriguez, Jordana Brewster, and even Ja Rule all missing from the diesel-fueled action. Entertainment Weekly did have the temerity to call “2 Fast” a “ forgotten gem,” but every noteworthy ranking declares the sequel the “worst”-an argument that is facile, lazy, and ultimately, incorrect. It’s a widely-held notion that of the eight (soon to be nine) Fast and Furious films, John Singleton’s 2003 installment 2 Fast 2 Furious-the first sequel, following up Rob Cohen’s 2001 original-is the worst.