Thom Berry

When even a skillful writer-director with soul to spare like John Singleton ("Boyz 'N' the Hood," "Shaft") can't lend a street-racing movie an ounce of personality, it becomes abundantly clear that the trendy genre never had anything worthwhile to offer in the first place.

Stepping behind the camera for the carbon-copy sequel "2 Fast 2 Furious," Singleton frontloads the film with one scene of enjoyable B-movie flair -- a midnight drag race punctuated by car-wake camera shakes, colorful background-blur effects, and cheesy close-ups of revving tachometers, needle-buried speedometers and bad actors squinting with determined concentration as they grip the wheel.

But as soon as the movie is sideswiped by its imbecilic plot, Singleton loses his ironic sense of style and the flick crashes and burns.

Continue reading: 2 Fast 2 Furious Review