2 Fast 2 Furious

***Paul Walker and Tyrese Gibson team-up to bring down a pompous drug lord in south Florida*** Now living in the Miami area and no longer an undercover cop, Brian O’Conner (Paul Walker) is compelled by the authorities to work with a US Customs agent (Eva Mendes) to nail an arrogant drug lord (Cole Hauser). To accomplish this, he teams-up with an old street-racing buddy (Tyrese Gibson) who’s in dire need of redemption. Paul Walker is the only notable cast member to return for "2 Fast 2 Furious" (2003). The others won’t return until the fourth installment, “Fast & Furious” (2009). Anyway, I like the beginning of this sequel better than the first movie. Director John Singleton has a better eye for photographing women, at least as shown in the first 40 minutes or so; plus I appreciate the diverse cast, which also includes the likes of Ludacris as Tej, cutie Devon Aoki as Suki and James Remar as a lead agent. But as effective as Gibson is here, he can’t rival the charisma of Vin Diesel. And somewhere just after the midpoint I started to get a little bored. Nevertheless, “2 Fast 2 Furious” is an entertaining race-oriented action thriller. It basically mixes the first movie (2001) with “Licence to Kill” (1989). The film runs 1 hour, 47 minutes and was shot in the Miami area. GRADE: B-