In a 2003 episode of SBS’s The Movie Show, co-hosts Margaret Pomeranz and David Stratton, stalwarts of the Australian critical landscape, review 2 Fast 2 Furious. Surprising, perhaps, is Margaret’s animated declaration that the film turned her into an “absolute fanatical revhead”, but even funnier is David’s suggestion that he can’t see the Fast and Furious franchise continuing for much longer.
Of course, it’s easy to laugh now: “You naive fool, David – they made eight more, not including the spin-off!” But such ironclad inevitability wasn’t always certain. The first four films were essentially a quartet of reboots – franchise jump-starts that rehashed stories of infiltration and assimilation in the world of street racing. Despite the slew of sequels that resist any sane naming convention, including Fast & Furious, The Fate of the Furious, F9 and Fast X, it’s 2 Fast 2 Furious that has a reputation as the franchise’s ugly duckling, a minor cross-country detour. In actuality, this detachment from the larger enterprise is the film’s strength.
