RIDE ALONG 2 Review

The first Ride Along movie came out a little over two years ago. I saw that movie in theaters opening weekend, but admittedly haven't returned to the film and never felt any desire to do so (there are much better Kevin Hart comedies out there if you need to fill your Hart quota). Going into this unnecessary, but inevitable sequel (the first earned $134 million domestically on a $25m budget) I attempted to conjure up some type of memory of that first film, but other than the basic premise I had nothing. I couldn't even recall enough to know where they might go with things in this sequel. As it turns out, and if I remember correctly, not much has changed. Hart is basically still at security guard status in terms of how Ice Cube thinks of him and the whole point of the endeavor this time around is so that Hart's rather ignorant and annoying character might prove himself good enough to be a detective rather than simply a police officer. The effort put into story here is almost insulting as writers Phil Hay and Matt Manfredi (two of the four original screenwriters) essentially throw a bunch of clichés at us while having Hart's character try and comment on how clichéd they are by correlating them to the Grand Theft Auto-like video game that he's obsessed with. If you're wondering, yes, playing video games along with the online persona he's created in "Black Hammer" are the biggest character developments of Hart's character that we get. As for Cube, he sticks with the same, stern attitude that hates to put up with his partner's incessant talking, but is somehow okay with this guy marrying his sister and being a part of his life for the foreseeable future. It is this daunting thought that gives way to the epiphany of allowing Hart's Ben Barber to accompany his James Peyton to Miami for what is supposed to be a quick trip to obtain and question a witness. Of course, things don't go as planned and bigger crimes are connected to even bigger crime bosses and you know what beats this thing is going to hit and where it's going from the beginning.

First Trailer for RIDE ALONG 2 Starring Kevin Hart

In January of 2014 Kevin Hart continued his roll of starring in every comedy imaginable and out of all those attempts hit franchise gold in one of them. Cut to two years later and we will receive the sequel to Ride Along. Director Tim Story (Barbershop, Fantastic Four, Think Like A Man-the guy apparently knows sequels) has reunited Hart with Ice Cube and the first trailer just so happened to drop today, on the eve of the release of Straight Outta Compton. The original was average at best, but this time around Hart and Cube are taking their antics to Miami and some of the bits at play here have some strong potential (though I wish they wouldn't have given away as many). The Tyrese cameo, for instance, seems pointless to have in the trailer given he doesn't say a word, but would serve as a nice surprise when they infiltrate the Miami street racing scene (let's just hope Ludacris is on board too). Maybe with cinematic universes becoming such hip things Hart and Cube's characters could eventually team-up with Will Smith's Mike Lowrey and Martin Lawrence's Marcus Burnett, but given we're talking different studios that seems unlikely (I would love to see Lawrence and Hart in a comedy together, though). That said, it does feel like this unnecessary but warranted sequel is trying to emulate the Michael Bay production with the Miami police force aspect that introduces characters played by Olivia Munn and Ken Jeong. Regardless of if this turns out to be utter crap or not, I can't help but laugh at Ice Cube getting angry so I'll no doubt end up seeing it for that alone. Ride Along 2 also stars Benjamin Bratt, Glen Powell, Bruce McGill, Tika Sumpter Sherri Shepherd and opens on January 15, 2016.