2 Fast 2 Furious (2003)
2 Fast 2 Furious is a 2003 American street racing action film directed by John Singleton. It is the second film in The Fast and the Furious film series following The Fast and the Furious (2001). It stars Paul Walker, Tyrese Gibson, Eva Mendes, Devon Aoki, and Chris Bridges; and was directed by John Singleton. The soundtrack was composed by David Arnold. It is the only film in the series not to feature Vin Diesel in the cast, though his character Dominic Toretto is referred to in the film.
Paul Walker returns as ex-cop Brian O'Conner who teams up with his ex-con pal Roman Pearce (Gibson). The duo transport a shipment of dirty money for shady Miami-based import-export dealer Carter Verone (Cole Hauser), while working with undercover agent Monica Fuentes (Mendes) to bring Verone down.
2 Fast 2 Furious (2003) poster
Plot
After allowing fugitive Dominic Toretto (Vin Diesel) to evade arrest in the first film, former LAPD officer Brian O'Conner (Paul Walker) finds himself on the run and leaves Los Angeles for Miami to start a new life. There, he makes new friends with Tej Parker (Ludacris), an ex-street racer, and Jimmy (Jin Auyeung), a well-known car tuner, as well as Suki (Devon Aoki), also a street racer. He competes with fellow street racers in high stakes races to win money using a blue Nissan Skyline GT-R R34 and the driving skills he learned as a member of Toretto's now disbanded crew.
One night, Brian is caught by U.S. Customs agents after his car is disabled by agrappling hook-shaped ESD (Electronic System Disabler) deployed by agent Markham (James Remar). Upon his arrest, Brian is offered a deal by Federal Bureau of Investigation agent Bilkins (Thom Barry) to take part in a joint Customs/FBI operation in exchange for his criminal record being wiped clean. The operation involves his street racing background, but seeing that neither Customs nor the FBI have a convincing racer to be his partner, Brian tells Bilkins he will select a partner of his own.
Brian and Bilkins travel to Barstow, California, to meet up with Roman Pearce (Tyrese Gibson), a former friend of Brian who had served jail time and is on house arrest. Brian convinces Roman to join him on the mission in exchange for his crimes pardoned and his ankle monitor removed. They return to Miami, where they are briefed on their mission - which is to go undercover as street racers and participate in a money laundering run for Carter Verone (Cole Hauser), a ruthless Argentian drug lord. They are assisted by Monica Fuentes (Eva Mendes), a female undercover U.S. Customs agent who liaisons as Carter's love interest. For their mission, Brian and Roman are issued two modified cars - a yellow Mitsubishi Lancer Evolution Vll, and a Mitsubishi Eclipse.
The duo participate in an audition race across Miami to recover a package inside an impounded Ferrari 360 Spider and deliver it to Verone, not knowing that their cars are equipped with tracking devices that give Markham's squad their locations. Upon arriving at the site of the Ferrari and acquiring the package, they are cornered by Markham and his squad, who think they are fleeing from the mission. Roman opens fire at the squad before the duo make their escape and head for Verone's mansion.
After being hired by Verone as his drivers, the duo go to a Customs/FBI hideout, where Roman confronts Markham over the latter's interference with the mission nearly blowing their cover. After the situation is cooled down, Brian tells Bilkins and Markham that Verone plans to smuggle the money into his private jet and fly off, but also suspects something wrong with Monica's role in the mission. The duo then head to Tej's garage, where they learn about the tracking devices in their cars and that they are also being tailed by Verone's henchmen Enrique (Mo Gallini) and Roberto (Roberto Sanchez).
They issue a challenge to racers Korpi (John Cenatiempo) and Darden (Eric Etebari) - two other drivers from the audition race - for pink slips in a tag-team relay race. Despite having smaller engines than Korpi's Chevrolet Camaro Yenko S/C and Darden's Dodge Challenger R/T, the duo manage to win the race and take possession of the two muscle cars.
That night, Brian and Roman meet up with Verone at his night club, where Verone tortures the detective Whitworth (with placing a rat on his stomach and trapping him in a can and heating it up, causing the rat to bite his stomach) (Mark Boone, Jr.) into giving him a 15-minute window to keep the police away from their laundering run. They report this back to their superiors the next morning, but Brian suspects that this mission will go out of hand due to Markham's hair-trigger attitude against them, along with information secretly told by Monica that the drop-off point is at a secluded airstrip and Verone is to have the duo executed after the run. As a solution to these problems, Brian and Roman have Tej and his crew modify the muscle cars and have him get all the street racers ready for the next day.
On the day of the mission, Brian and Roman begin transporting duffel bags of Verone's money with Enrique and Roberto riding along. Before the 15-minute window is set, Whitworth decides to call in the police to move in for the arrest, resulting in a high-speed chase across the city. Brian and Roman lead the police to a warehouse, where a scramble by dozens of street racers disorient the police. Following the scramble, police manage to pull over the Evo and the Eclipse, only to find out that they were driven by Tej and Suki, respectively.
It is revealed that Brian switched to his Yenko and Roman switched to his Hemi in which they won as a pink slips. As Brian approaches the destination point, Enrique is thrown away with the seat ejector, and Roman got rid of Roberto by using the same improvised ejector seat powered by nitrous oxide. At the airfield, Customs agents have Verone's plane and convoy surrounded, only to discover they were duped into a decoy maneuver while Verone is at a boat yard several miles away. As he knew Monica was an undercover agent, he gave her the wrong information on the destination point. When Brian arrives at the intended drop-off point, Roman suddenly appears, with both of them survived with Enrique and Roberto gone. Verone makes his escape aboard his private yacht, but Brian and Roman use the Yenko that is now reenabled and drive off a ramp at high-speed, crashing on top of the yacht and breaking Roman's arm. The duo manage to apprehend Verone and save Monica.
With their crimes pardoned, Brian and Roman ponder on what to do next other than to settle in Miami when Brian mentions starting a garage. Roman asks how they would afford that and Brian reveals that he took some of the money as Roman also reveals that his pockets aren't empty, having taken money for himself.
Cast
Main article: List of The Fast and the Furious characters
- Paul Walker as Brian O'Conner, a former LAPD cop who became a fugitive after letting Dominic Toretto escape in the previous film who has now settled in Miami.
- Tyrese Gibson as Roman Pearce, Brian's childhood friend who is on house arrest after serving time in prison for which he still blames Brian.
- Eva Mendes as Monica Fuentes, a U.S. Customs agent working undercover as Carter Verone's aide.
- Cole Hauser as Carter Verone, a ruthless Argentinan drug lord whose organization the Custom Service sent Monica and later Brian and Roman to infiltrate.
- Chris 'Ludacris' Bridges as Tej Parker, an ex-street racer, a race host and a friend of Brian's. He arranges high stakes street racing events in which Brian often races and wins.
- Devon Aoki as Suki, a friend of Brian, Tej and Jimmy. She is the only named female racer in the film and her crew is made up entirely of women. She drives a hot pink custom Honda S2000.
- James Remar as Markham, a U.S. customs agent in charge of the operation against Verone and Monica's superior.
- Thom Barry as Bilkins, who Brian first met during his undercover work in the first movie, who has come to Miami to oversee the situation. As before, he holds a grudging respect for Brian O'Conner's driving and street racing skills.
- Jin Auyeung as Jimmy, a mechanic who works for Tej and is a close friend of Brian.
- Mark Boone, Jr. as Whitworth, a Miami detective who is forced by Verone to give Roman Pearce and Brian O'Conner a window to deliver his package.
- Mo Gallini as Enrique, Verone's bald henchman.
- Roberto Sanchez as Roberto, Varone's henchman and Enrique's partner.
- Amaury Nolasco as Orange Julius, a street racer who drives an red Mazda RX-7.
- Michael Ealy as Slap Jack, a street racer who drives a bronze Toyota Supra.
- John Cenatiempo as Korpi, a street racer who drives a 1969 Chevrolet Camaro Yenko S/C.
- Eric Etebari as Darden, Korpi's friend who drives a 1970 Dodge Challenger R/T.
Producer Neal H. Moritz makes a cameo appearance as a police officer during the freeway chase scene prior to Brian and Roman secretly sneaking off in the two muscle cars.