What made the first "The Fast and the Furious" movie attracted fans besides the bad ass cars and competition on the streets was Vin Diesel's appearance as Dominic Toretta, a hotshot race driver who makes his money racing others in the streets; he was a rising star on the fame after doing such flicks such as "Saving Private Ryan", "The Iron Giant" and later doing "XXX".

At the end of the first movie, Vin's character Dominic flees away to Mexico where he wouldn't be in this sequel.

No matter, the series continues on.

"2 Fast 2 Furious" has Paul Walker reprising his role as Brian O'Conner, the one time agent who betrayed the enforcement agency by letting Dominic get away, is now a fugitive and being in a race competitions every night to make money. After being captured by the police, Brian is given a choice in either going to jail or helped the people he once work for in taking down a drug cartel dealer (Cole Hauser). Brian agrees under one condition that he gets his childhood friend Roman Pierce (Tyrese Gibson, Transformers) involved since he's into cars and knows his ways around tough people. They're also given an ally, the sexy Monica Fuentes (Eva Mendes) who's not only an undercover agent but also posing as the enemy's mistress. Time will tell when all will be revealed.

"2 Fast 2 Furious" is directed by John Singleton of Boyz in the Hood fame where he manages to bring the same energy and high expectations of the first movie. There's more cars, more chase sequences, more babes and more cameos this time around with a high octane pace.

Overall, it's good.

With the success of The Fast and the Furious which was essentially a remake of Point Break but with fast cars than surfers. 2 Fast 2 Furious returns with Paul Walker reprising his role as Brian O'Connor now a disgraced cop having let his prey get away in the first movie.

Brian is contacted by the FBI in Miami who give him a chance of redemption as they want his help to get Carter Verone a ruthless drug exporter and they already have an undercover investigator assigned to him for some months, Monica Fuentes (Eva Mendes.)

Brian ropes in an old friend Roman Pearce (Tyrese Gibson) to assist but he is unhappy at Brian, he never knew he was a cop and blames him for doing time inside. Tej (Ludacris) also pops up as a racing friend of Brian.

John Singleton took up directing duties here which also had a new writing and producing team. Gone is Vin Diesel but we have the embryo of the franchise which starts here rather than the original film. More outrageous stunts, colourful cars, hot women, despicable bad guys, a diverse multi ethnic set of characters, more street music.

The film has some silliness. I dare you to play a drinking game and stay sober every time Walker and Gibson give each other loving gazes. Yet its an entertaining film although just above average.

Strangely enough, the derivative and dull car-chase flick THE FAST AND THE FURIOUS was popular enough to warrant a sequel, yet this time around action-man Vin Diesel doesn't return to the fray. I can't say that I really miss him, as his bone-headed knuckleness did get rather tiresome, but as a result the film lacks the friendship/camaraderie that was about the most appealing thing in the first.

This time, wooden-but-handsome leading man Paul Walker teams up with Tyrese, who I've never heard of. Tyrese is a hulking chap, with huge muscles, but he's an even worse actor than Vin Diesel. The threadbare plot doesn't make much sense, but it recalls BAD BOYS II unfavourably at every opportunity. Our terrible twosome infiltrate a crime gang to take out a drug lord, so cue plenty of car-chase action and lots of souped-up wheels on the road. I'm not particularly interested in cars, so this does nothing for me, but there are lots of police cars being smashed up, and one fine scene where somebody comes off the worse in his battle with a truck.

The stunts in this film rely far more on CGI than before, especially the climatic jump-onto-a-boat stunt, which is so unrealistic that it seems pathetic to watch. The violence is kept to a minimum and, while the action is passable, it's nothing we haven't seen before. There's one delightful recreation of that old torture favourite – the gnawing rat through the stomach routine – but otherwise, 'original' elements are bare and there's a paucity of imagination in the script. Cole Hauser is the nonthreatening bad guy, Eva Mendes is the Jennifer Lopez-wannabe glamour interest. Add in lots of sun-drenched locales, bikini-clad babes and big muscles, and you have a dumb-as-nails thriller with plenty of drive but no real entertainment.