Ride Along 2 fails to impress

By Faith Haushona-Kavamba
KEVIN Hart reached the bottom of his bags of tricks during the Wedding Ringer, but as with many self-indulgent comedians has failed to realise it.
This fact was evident during the second instalment of Ride Along, as his buffoonery and shenanigans failed to impress, let alone illicit any laughter. He has abused the role of the mouthy, chocolate drop and perhaps the time has come to explore different characters.
What is more saddening about this tired concept of a movie is the fact that the star-studded cast of Ice Cube, Olivia Munn, Ken Jeong, Benjamin Bratt, Tika Sumpter and Bruce McGill are too good to be wasting their talents on it.
Perhaps fingering Hart in this is a tad unfair, as it is writers Phil Hay and Matt Manfredi who finalised the script of this movie even before the corpse of first instalment was cold, and director Tim Story who failed to see that there was no need for a sequel.
Save for the good graphics and great picture quality of the movie, there is nothing more that Story could have done to save it; he was merely trying to draw blood from a stone.
Continuing the dysfunctional and unlikely partnership between detective James Payton (Ice Cube) and officer Ben Barber (Hart), the second instalment of Ride Along is set in Miami, where the duo, including new additions detective Maya Cruz (Munn) and computer expert A.J (Jeong) try to nab wealthy drug dealer Antonio Pope (Bratt) for his crimes.
As to be expected, the buddy cop movie is riddled with high speed car chases, over-extravagant explosions and punchlines that are bound to make the daftest of men cringe with embarrassment.
The impending union between Payton’s sister (Sumpter as Angela) and Barber makes tensions between the two partners rise as the former feels the latter is too much of a clown and not worthy of his sister.
Story doesn’t even give the audience a real chance to ship Cruz and Payton naturally, as their relationship is predetermined by their brick-like, no-nonsense and violent personalities. A happy ending for the unlikely duo is on the horizon and it does not take a genius to figure that out.
The plot is more or less the same as the first one, Payton finds himself in hot water over his recklessness and Barber is the underdog who is desperate for acceptance and to prove himself.
Unlike most buddy cop movies like Lethal Weapon and Bad Boys, which went on to have very successful franchises because they brought new, refreshing elements to the genre, Ride Along 2 is borderline depressing. Even Sandra Bullock and Melisa McCarthy’s The Heat was more entertaining and by far more comical.
At its best, Ride Along 2 was forgettable. However it can be enjoyable, but the best way to do that is watch it with little to no expectations at all. Die-hard Ice Cube and Hart fans that never tire of watching them on a loop will enjoy this one.
Ride Along 2 is now available for rent on DSTV Box office for N$30