Caffeinated Clint
I’m seeing "2 Fast 2 Furious" this week. Not expecting a hell of a lot to tell you the truth. If Paul Walker carries this thing solidly, I’ll be well and truly gob smacked. But you never know, I’m sure Universal know that they’re missing a few ingredients from the get-go and will hopefully make up for it with a few stellar action sequences, or do I say, a beefy script? It’s that script that FilmJerk has under a microscope today, revealing a couple of spoilers, whilst giving their opinion on how the finished film might be.
"In the midst of a crowded summer, one of the biggest question marks is whether the sequel to ”The Fast and the Furious” can equal the original film’s gross of more than $140 million domestically. What happens when you take away one of the three primary features that drew audiences to the original film, in the form of Vin Diesel? (With good marketing and luscious-looking fast cars being the others.) Based on this script, I believe that “2 Fast 2 Furious” has the potential to match the original’s gross—it’s engrossing, moves quickly throughout and features what fans of the first want to see. Now Universal Pictures needs to pick up the pace of its advertising campaign to show more than what the fabulous trailer provided, as awareness is surprisingly light for a popcorn flick opening only a month away, as of this writing.
Smartly, the script for the film pushes street racing to a peripheral role, concentrating instead on Brian O’Conner (played by Paul Walker, reprising his character from the original) going undercover for the FBI help bring down a businessman who controls the flow of cocaine coming into the Southeastern U.S. Before the fellow gearheads start going into epileptic fits, know this: Taking a page from both “The Transporter” and the “Grand Theft Auto” videogames series, O’Conner and his new partner become the businessman’s trusted drivers for a money drop, using the Miami street racing scene as a means to acquire cars. There is still street action aplenty, starting from the very first scene.
Boasting a secondary principal cast that includes Cole Hauser, Ludacris, Eva Mendes, James Remar and Fabolous, this is a film that could be one of the higher-grossing films of the summer. Given that some box analysts are predicting this one may bomb, its opening weekend could take as many by surprise as the original installment was able to.
The main problem now is in raising awareness for the film at a time where much of the attention is being focused on “X2: X-Men United” and “The Matrix Reloaded.” During the month of April, the film could only garner the ranking of 18 on most visited pages at Greg’s Previews. “The Hulk” and “Dumb and Dumberer: When Harry Met Llyod,” which open in the weeks following, were both able to have a higher rank. Universal needs to press the NOS switch on its advertising campaign immediately to avoid being lost in the marketplace. But I have faith that they will in the weeks ahead."
For the guts of the story and the aforesaid spoiler-ish bits, head on over to FilmJerk.
