Director: Tim Story
Cast: Ice Cube, Kevin Hart, Olivia Munn, Tika Sumpter, Benjamin Bratt, Ken Jeong, Glen Powell, Sherri Shepherd, Bruce McGill, T. I., Nadine Velazquez, Tyrese Gibson
Rating: 12A
Running time: 102 mins
Release date: January 22nd, 2016
As film fans, we all have individual genres and types of films we gravitate towards.
The crime and cop genre has been a soft spot in my case, ever since I saw DIRTY HARRY in its edited TV version on its 1982 premiere on BBC1. I was thirteen and that is often the key age to start taking an interest in films other than those examples that define your childhood.
So, it was with some anticipation and expectation that I saw RIDE ALONG 2. Having seen the trailer at recent screenings of STAR WARS – THE FORCE AWAKENS and SPECTRE, I looked forward to the sort of film that could be a worthy successor to the high-concept film successes of Joel Silver and Jerry Bruckheimer.
Sadly though, RIDE ALONG 2, in spite of competent performances from the cast, doesn’t quite achieve the level of fun and excitement that the LETHAL WEAPON and RUSH HOUR series both did to blockbuster effect.
Part of the problem is an over-eagerness these days to cash in on successful originals. There is much potential in this film and a sequel rises or falls on the chemistry of it’s leads. Ice Cube and Kevin Hart are perfectly matched in this film, which echoes RUNNING SCARED (1986) in terms of the camaraderie between Billy Crystal and the late Gregory Hines – and right down to a Latino villain in Benjamin Bratt (like Jimmy Smits in that film).
The basic plot sees Atlanta-based officer Ben Barber (Hart), preparing for his wedding day to the sister of his partner, Detective James Payton (Cube) , but work gets in the way as a hacker, AJ (Ken Jeong from THE HANGOVER) has vital information to a local Miami crime lord, Antonio Pope (Bratt), who orders the execution of Port Commissioner Griffin (James Martin Kelly) after being accused of stealing money. The connection between this and the Atlanta cops is based on an opening undercover operation surrounding a local drug dealer.
Inevitably, the trail leads them to Miami, where a clash of cultures and cops prevails, mostly in the form of local Detective Maya Cruz (Olivia Munn providing the eye candy and a match for Hart and Cube) and the anticipated (and predictable) race to solve the case transpires.
Therein lies the rub. At the heart of this film are two films working against each other. The exploration of domesticity in cop lives has been done to greater effect in the aforementioned LETHAL WEAPON and in the BAD BOYS films and there simply isn’t enough of this and action to help supplement the audience’s attention. Michael Mann‘s HEAT (1995) was a rarity in the genre, a film that explored the deep relationships of both sides of the coin and did throw people who were expecting your average Seagal and Silver wannabe action offerings.
Given the sophistication that is emerging in a lot of film and television as film-makers and screenwriters strive to create that little extra, RIDE ALONG 2 is a movie that, in spite of its slickly produced action and style, belongs at the very heart of the 1980s blockbusters it aspires to be.
Verdict
