Having endured for over 20 years, with the concluding 10th and 11th installments bringing the main storyline to a close, it would be fair to say that nobody expected the Fast & Furious franchise to evolve into the all-conquering blockbuster behemoth it is today. At least the saga got its worst-reviewed entry out of the way early, then, with 2 Fast 2 Furious ranking at the bottom of the pile.
Of course, we should point out that the first sequel does have plenty of supporters, but the statistics speak for themselves. A 36 percent Rotten Tomatoes score puts it second-to-last ahead of only Fast & Furious, although the latter boasts a vastly superior 67 percent user rating compared to the sophomore street-racing adventure’s 50 percent, while 2 Fast 2 Furious is also the lowest-rated chapter on Metacritic.
It did introduce Ludacris’ Tej and Tyrese’s Roman Pearce into the mix, which should be commended after they went on to become pivotal cogs in the machine, and there are admittedly a couple of stellar action sequences peppered throughout. However, the numbers don’t lie, and the consensus puts 2 Fast 2 Furious at the back of the line in terms of critical and audience adulation.
That being said, John Singleton’s fast-paced flick has managed to go through the gears on streaming this week after revving onto the Prime Video Top 10 in 10 countries split over two continents, as per FlixPatrol. It might be a personal favorite to a lot of Fast fans, but the overall feeling is that it’s the weakest of an increasingly-preposterous bunch.