What should you expect from Ride Along 2? Exactly the same as the first, the same storyline, the same tired old gags and Kevin Hart acting the idiotic fool but we do have a different location in Miami.
Kevin Hart certainly likes to take the phrase ‘if it ain’t broke don’t fix it’ to the extreme and Ride Along 2 is a great example of that but we ask ourselves is this now becoming just a little bit tired? We also need to question when it comes to making sequels with this genre of film they really should just leave it alone. Yes the first was one of those films you could just switch off and immerse yourself in the stupidity and have a good old chuckle to yourself but when it comes to the second instalment they seem to try way too hard and it leaves a lot to be desired.
We enter the film with Ben Barber’s (Kevin Hart) wedding is due to take place to Angela (Tika Sumpter), Detective James Payton (Ice Cube) sister. Ben is now a police officer but due to his bungling ways interferes with one of James’s undercover stings and gets James’s new partner shot. That partner comes in the form of Fast and Furious star, Tyrese. Don’t get excited we see him on screen for all of five minutes. With his partner down and a trip to Miami looming to question a lead he has to make a choice, go it alone or take Ben with him. Yes, he opts’s to take him with him.
Nothing much has changed between the two, they still bicker like an old married couple, and Ben is obnoxious and lets his mouth run at 50 miles an hour with James still conniving his way into making Ben see he just isn’t right for the force. Throw in their lead AJ, The Hangover’s Ken Jeong and you have a threesome of the most unlucky men to room the earth.
We are subjected to these men running all over Miami to take down Antonio Pope (Benjamin Bratt), a wealthy and influence man with friends in high places who just happens to be a major drug baron, all while being surrounded by scantily clad bikini wearing woman, having cars wrecked and blown up and random scenes of Ben, on a beach being made to go through a bin and made to eat leftover nachos covered in congealed cheese and hair. This makes absolutely no sense, it would seem the writers wanted to throw in a completely redundant scene to see if they could milk a few more laughs out of the audience. It’s safe to say they have failed miserable.
Throw in a love interest for James, local detective Maya (Olivia Munn) it’s not your typical love interest, she seems to be the exact same person as James but in the female form. What could have been an interesting story for a tough and independent female they seem to take the sexist route and just focus on her more attractive physical attributes?
It’s only saving grace is during a chase scene, Blackhammer makes a return when the scene cuts in and out of game mode as Ben swerves and avoids and manages to lose the men trying to kill them.
RIDE ALONG 2 RELEASES IN UK CINEMAS JANUARY 22