Cole-Hauser Movie Reviews

"2 Fast 2 Furious" is a sloppy sequel of an original that was no masterpiece in its own right. The cars are arguably just as whatever-you-want-to-call-them, but the chases aren't, and the plot suffers from a severe case of reduced star wattage: Vin Diesel lended his dome for the first movie, then skipped town in favor of the "xXx" series. Actor/singer Tyrese and his dome fills in, but the inherent "Vinness" of the maiden road race has left the building.

Paul Walker's back, though, as Brian O'Connor, the most unconvincing cop to ever breathe air, only now he's been disavowed from the force for letting Vin's character escape and select another movie franchise. No badge in hand, Brian roams Miami, street race hustlin, catching the eye of a federal agent (Eva Mendes) who puts him undercover to land a major drug kingpin (Cole Hauser, channeling "Miami Vice"). Tyrese plays Roman, Brian's former buddy with an unclear grudge. Roman and Brian pose and paw and return smoldering glares at one another to such an extent it's possible to read the film with homoerotic subtext.

What an uninspired, pedestrian movie. "2 Fast 2 Furious" features Ludacris as a chop shop owner who does not seem to work - he emcees a jet ski race, though - and talentless model Devon Aoki as a street racing tart. Mendes is the flavor of the month but there's something curiously asexual and detached about her.

At least Singleton has enough integrity left spare the audience needless gratuity.

Fueled by low expectations, 2 Fast 2 Furious (what an awful title) far surpassed its predecessor, exceeding as the movie I expected the original to be. 2F2F has much more action, more outrageous stunts, a plot that I find better suited to this material, and an even sexier cast of scantily-dressed women. For a little over an hour-and-a-half, I was in big-budget, B-movie heaven.

Brian O'Connor (Paul Walker) is no longer with the LAPD, stripped of his badge after the events of the first film. Now in Miami, he makes his earnings through illegal street racing, something that proves to be an easy task for him. But after one particular (and superbly exhilarating) race where he comes out the big winner, he's caught by federal agents and forced to work undercover to nab a powerful drug lord named Carter Verone (Cole Hauser).

They've already got an agent undercover, Monica Fuentes (Eva Mendes), but have yet to pin Verone on anything serious. To infiltrate Verone's empire, O'Connor teams up with old friend and ex-con Roman Pearce (Tyrese Gibson); together, they make for a wild and dangerous driving duo, performing transportation tasks for Verone, including one final assignment that could prove particularly dangerous for O'Connor and Pearce.

2F2F, as with most big-budget blockbuster sequels, ups the ante on its predecessor; it's bigger, louder, much faster, and in this case, a whole lot more fun. The race/chase sequences are far more elaborate (unlike the original, when these guys race they actually turn curves and drive pretty long distances, rather than a mere mile-long straight line as in the original) and they're in greater abundance here, a smart move since we're clearly here to watch hardcore automotive stunts, not plot.

The story is every bit as dumb as you'd expect from such a lame title, but at least it gives the characters goals and genuine obstacles to overcome (unlike the original, which basically had its "heroes" trying to steal dvd players from trucks in broad daylight). The twists and turns are all easily forseeable (what are the chances Verone won't find out these guys are working undercover?), but the story rarely gets in the way of the action.

2F2F boasts three major action setpieces, each of them successively more impressive than the setpiece it follows. The opening race is a doozy and by itself, more exciting than the whole of the first movie. Another race early in the movie puts our heroes (and multiple "tryouts") in a test to retrive a package in an auto pound 20 miles away, with Walker even driving backwards on the highway at one point. It's the climax that clinched the movie for me, a twenty-minute sequence with cop cars and choppers chasing O'Connor and Pearce, the whole thing concluding with an outrageous but exhilarating stunt between a car and a boat.

Even as a B-movie, 2F2F isn't perfect. At a restrictive PG-13, the opportunity for profanity, edgy violence, and nudity is gone. The latter, in particular, is rather irksome. The leading ladies, Eva Mendes and Devon Aoki, are almost as good a reason as all the car stunts to watch the movie. Aoki probably boasts the best-looking body I've seen all year long (a lot of people have criticized her face, but I find it quite uniquely pretty), nice eye candy enhanced by some tight outfights. More screen time for her would have been appreciated.

The movie probably could have benefited from the presence of Vin Diesel, but I also have a hard time seeing him fitting into the proceedings. Besides, Walker and Tyrese make an acceptable pairing, the latter of whom delivers an enthusiastically energetic performance. Walker has the straight man role, which is just fine for his rather limited acting skills (though some bad acting on his part is apparent from scene to scene). Cole Hauser makes for a solid villain, and Eva Mendes is strictly eye candy as Walker's love interest (whether or not she's got any talent remains to be seen).

2F2F delivers what's expected of it, it may be one of the summer's dumber offerings, but it's undeniably also one of the more thrilling ones, too. If another sequel is ever made (and judging from the box office results, I'd say that's a safe bet), let's hope profanity, edgy violence, and nudity will be thrown into the mix.

The original Fast And The Furious film took me by surprise. I found myself enjoying it more than I should have. Its fast cars, crazy stunts, and brooding stars, made for an entertaining guilty pleasure. I am pleased to say that, the sequel, despite Vin Diesel's abscence, continues that trend.

Due to his actions at the end of the last movie, Brian O'Conner (Paul Walker), is now an ex undercover cop, and on the run from the law himself. As he tries to stay ahead of his pursuers, his travels take him to Miami, where he has become part of an outlaw street racing ring. After he is caught by the feds, in order to clear his record, O'Connor agrees to help take down a ruthless drug kingpin (Cole Hauser). Calling on his childhood friend Roman (Tyrese), to be his partner, the two team up with a lovely undercover agent (Eva Mendes) to try and topple an empire.

Director John Singleton doesn't mess with the successful formula of the first film one bit. 2 Fast 2 Furious has plenty of cool cars, far out driving stunts, and a bevy of beauties, to make it work. When I heard that Diesel was not going to be in this film, I didn't know if it would be as good. Actually, the film benefits from him not being a part of it, and allows Walker to prove he can carry a film. The plot seems like a natural progression and "new blood" Tyrese and Mendez offer up something fresh to the series.

The DVD includes a short film that takes viewers from the end of the first film, right up to the start of the second, showing O'Connor on the run. This music video style short is a neat idea for a film like this. Singleton provides a solid audio commentary track for the movie. Inside 2 Fast 2 Furious is an electronic press kit style featurette that's ok. But what's even better are the other featurettes called "Supercharged Stunts", "Driving School With The Cast" and learning the art of "Tricking Out a Hot Import Car" The deleted scenes and outtakes make some "noise" but requires only one viewing really. There's also a fun animated anecdotes trivia track, a behind the scenes look at how rapper Ludacris made some music for the soundtrack, and a sneak peek trailer for The Fast and the Furious video game. The DVD has not one but 3 main menus, each one has access to additional bonus material based on a character from the film.

2 Fast 2 Furious is another fine, leave your brain at the door and just go with it, kind of film. If you know that going in...you will have a good time.

This is a movie in the backdrop of Columbus University, on the different issues of college students often divided along the lines of race, ideology and sexual orientation. John Singleton's attempt is to bring out almost every problem on the campus to light, but ends up focussing on a psychotic young man in a neo-Nazi group. His encounters with the African-American group of students, leads to a high drama of race hatred and violence on the campus. The story line is rather spread out, but the characters are well-portrayed e.g. Omar Epps, Michael Rapaport etc.

'Higher Learning' is one of those rare college movies that actually has a lot to say and doesn't come across as pompous, schmaltzy or boring. It focuses on several students from different backgrounds who have all come to Columbus university with different expectations of what uni life will be like. First of all there's Epps, a scholar who has to use his spare time on the track to fund his tuition fees and who gradually finds himself involved in a race war on campus. There's also Swanson as a pretty white girl who, after being date raped, finds herself palling up with Connelly, the college feminist and a lesbian. However, perhaps the most powerful performance of all comes from Rapaport as a lonely kid who finds himself falling in with some neo-Nazis.

The emphasis here seems to be on the conflict between wanting to be your own person but still craving conformity and acceptance from others. The racial friction is handled with a sensitivity and intelligence which unfortunately seems abnormal in many films, not just teen ones. It's also a mercy that such stunning actors were given the roles, with both Epps and Rappoport bringing real sympathy to their roles. This is some feat considering Rappoport becomes a neo-Nazi towards the end. The fact that the director shows such sensitivity to such obnoxious characters speaks volumes of the quality of the movie.

If there's any quibbles it's over the stereotyping of Connelly's role, as it comes over that her lesbianity must breed a hatred towards men. This is something that Connelly should not be given, as she is an incredible actress in her own right. Apart from that though, this really is a very good film indeed that will really make you care for its characters, especially because even their most heinous actions are shown to have a reason. This is the thinking teen movie, and actually quite unnerving too.

though it deals with a lot of racism and depicting Nazi's in here, it deals a good job with problems that people have. Epps does a great job in the title role and Michael Rapaport is really evil and he is also the one who kills Tyra Banks at the end which is one of the most powerfulest scenes in that movie and Epps watches her die and then he runs to go find Rapaport. Fishburne as the Professor is again always good in roles. Ice Cube also does a good job as well. other actors like Kristy Swanson and Jennifer Connelly appear as well.

This film is so diabolically bad and such a chore to sit through that writer director Joseph Merhi should pay people to view it, rather than vice versa. Beginning with a counterfeit money print shop being besieged by Robert Z'Dar and his gang of opportunists, we soon follow the FBI in the form of Karen Black and LA police in the form of detective Wings Hauser in their attempt to recover the printing plates and the counterfeit currency. The way in which one of the print shop workers is killed suggests that the killer is a Vietnam veteran, and soon Hauser makes the connection with Z'Dar, his Vietnam commander, via a series of unconvincing wartime flashbacks including a bottle shooting montage. The only compelling thing about this film is Z'Dar's face, which inexplicably looks like the actor has had cheek and chin implants, and who's look is only explained by someone referring to him as having "a big jaw". He even sports the same look in the flashbacks, so we can't blame the Vietcong. Hauser is given the annoying habit of repeating questions posed to him as his answer, though his all too few scenes of banter with Black are mildly entertaining. This is the kind of film where scenes with someone standing on a rooftop and in front of a swimming pool get the anticipated payoff, where a person can hide under a cardboard box during the siege of the print store and not be discovered, where the writer's idea of wit is "There's 458 homicides in LA and you're (Hauser) responsible for over 10% of them", and "You got change of a buck? What do I look like - a bank?!".