|
|
|
If 'The Fast and the Furious' was 'Point Break' with streetracing cars rather than surfboards, then its sequel '2 Fast, 2 Furious' is 'XXX' with streetracing cars rather than international espionage. It's an equitable exchange: 'XXX' stole Vin Diesel, the filmstar made famous by 'The Fast and the Furious', so '2 Fast, 2 Furious' steals 'XXX''s plot; and the only real victim of this theft is the paying cinemagoer. Not that he will probably care (and it is likely to be a 'he'), for this film goes out of its way to rev all the motors of your average adolescent, car-fetishising guy. There is top velocity racing, there's lots of 'cool' (i.e. nerdy) cant about what an automobile has under its bonnet, and the protagonist from the first film, Brian O'Conner (Paul Walker), appeals to virtually every aspect of male teenage wish fulfilment: he is an outlaw, he is working undercover, he is better than all his peers but popular with them. The film invites the viewer to hang out with Brian and his 'street' buddies (including Tej, played by the rapper Ludacris) and to sit in his passenger seat as he works secretly for customs agents to bring down Carter Verone (Cole Hauser), a drugdealer who has employed Brian as his high-octane courier. There is enough speed, testosterone, cameraderie and explosive action to transform any teenage male into the drooling idiot he probably was already. Is there anything in '2 Fast, 2 Furious' to appeal to other viewers who have foolishly found themselves in a cinema, surrounded by all that pubescence, alienation and acne? Well, for a start screenwriters Michael Brandt and Derek Haas have imbued all the tyre-screeching mayhem with some sly cultural commentary. The film's vehicular bump and grind has an obvious sexual subtext, with cars referred to as 'bodies' with 'front ends', and one driver telling her rival to 'bend over' before she rams him from behind. And director John Singleton, best known for his debut ghetto drama 'Boyz 'n the Hood', returns briefly to his favourite theme, by making the opening race sequence all about, precisely, race. Anyone who knows anything about American society can guess which of the four competitors - one black, one hispanic, one eurasian and one white - is going to end up ahead. And lastly, '2 Fast, 2 Furious' highlights and satirises the homoerotic aspect of Brian's decidedly odd relationship with his 'homey' Roman Pearce (Tyrese). The two make an extraordinary number of references to one another's rearends (e.g. 'I got something for your ass', 'You got my back, bro?'), and every time Brian shows the slightest interest in fellow undercover agent Monica (Eva Mendes), along comes jealous Roman, rattling on about his distrust of women ('you're always getting in trouble over female, Brian'), and his wish that it could be like it was in the old days between him and Brian ('man, you remember us growin' up, playing football in the dirt?'). It's a pretty bold move to make a film for groups of young males about the latent sexual nature of the relationships in such groups - and for me this alone made '2 Fast, 2 Furious' an unexpectedly hilarious treat. Anton Bitel, 17.06.03 |
 |
