Review by Justin Waldman for Mr. Will Wong
Director Tim Story returns to the screen with the duo of Ice Cube and Kevin Hart in the sequel to the surprisingly hilarious Ride Along, Ride Along 2. The first Movie introduced us to the future brother-in laws as the Sequel follows what seems to be a short amount of time from the first installment however with the same general story this time around and lackluster jokes Ride Along 2 is far from a joy ride, but more of a ride soon to be forgotten.
The Movie starts by introducing the audience to our villain, Antonio Pope (Benjamin Bratt) and his hack associate A.J (Ken Jeong). From the very start we see that Pope is a villain as he goes to any length to secure his position in the criminal underground, including taking people out. Things take a twist when Pope finds out that a payment of his never went through and in return he makes his associate pay the price. However this is not good enough for Pope and he wants to know who stole his payment. Move from Miami to Atlanta where Ben (Kevin Hart) and James (Ice Cube) get placed on assignment, after a few misadventures and arguments, to Miami to find how the Atlanta drug dealers are getting their supply. Upon their arrival in Miami they meet detective Maya (Olivia Munn), who is the newest recruit on their ride along. The main question is, can James and Ben work together to take down the drug kingpin or will their issues with one another prove to be much to get the job done.
With a Movie like Ride Along 2, the performances are key for having a chemistry and working dynamic between the actors. Ice Cube and Kevin Hart both fell short with their performances as neither of them appeared to be fully into their roles and thusly, the Movie overall is affected adversely. Olivia Munn performs well for most of the Movie until she became the token attractive female and then any connection to her character went with it. Lastly, Benjamin Bratt does a rather convincing job of playing the villain but with a weak script, the performance could only be carried so far.
Ride Along 2 falls short of expectations set by its predecessor, but has a laugh or two that wasn’t recycled from the first Movie. As far as sequels go it falls short of the mark, but thankfully the relatively short run time makes the Movie move along at a faster pace.
Universal Pictures Canada release RIDE ALONG 2 in theatres on Friday, January 15, 2016
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