RIDE ALONG 2
US, 2016, 102 minutes, Colour.
Ice Cube, Kevin Hart, Tika Sumpter, Benjamin Bratt, Olivia Munn Ken Jeong, Bruce Mc Gill.
Directed by Tim Story.
Ride Along was one of those many comedies, which targeted African-American? audience in the US and which was so successful there that distributors decided it should get a run beyond the US and rely on the popularity of the stars.
This worked well enough, especially with Ice Cube and his long music and rap history as well as his films (and his story being dramatised in the 2015 Oscar-nominated Straight Outta Compton). Then there was the issue of Kevin Hart, a very popular stand-up comedian in the US, small, cheeky, with a motormouth, and making his way in films, sometimes successfully as in The Wedding Ringer and sometimes more than irritatingly in the remake of About Last Night.
Hart also made some impression with various interventions in the 2016 Oscar broadcast with the focus on the absence of black actors in the nominations for 2015. He can be very funny – and not.
His casting in Ride Along was shrewd, he was Ben, the potential brother-in-law of Ice Cube, James, who was a detective, with Hart wanting to be a detective, being allowed to ride along, and causing a fair amount of mayhem before the criminals were captured – with some unexpected help from him.
A formula – and repeated here quite successfully, a pleasure for those enjoyed the first one and a puzzle for those who wondered why a sequel was necessary! The context of this film is that Ben is about to get married to James’s sister, preparations well underway, though there are some comic episodes about the organisation of wedding. When a case comes up in Miami, and James is to go over from Atlanta, at first unwilling, he then decides that it would be a lesson to Ben about his unsuitability - he has already sabotaged a case at home with his over-eagerness - that a detective he is not.
In Miami, there is an overtly respectable gangster, Benjamin Bratt, who is involved in all kinds of crime, especially drug importation, who is considered a leading personality of Miami, but has a whole range of henchmen who kill at his whim. There is also a computer expert (who has a weakness for online sex sites) who finds out whole lot of information about the gangster and is therefore at risk. He is played by the comedian Ken Jeong (quite a presence in such films as The Hangover).
The odd couple detectives also team up with a very serious Miami detective, Maya (Olivia Munn). And thus begins a series of comic adventures, dangers, party crashing, shootouts, showdowns on docks, and James tying up Ben so that he will not be involved in the showdown and will be safe for his wedding. Of course, that is not to be, and Ben is certainly in on the final action, helping to save the day.
And a happy wedding, and, again of course, the stern James having Maya as his Plus 1 at the ceremony.
There is no real reason not to have a Ride Along 3.
1. The popularity of the original? Target audience? Americans, African- Americans? World audiences?
2. The blend of action and comedy – and the touch of social criticism of crime in Miami?
3. The Atlanta base, home, wedding preparation, police department? The contrast with Miami, the views, buildings, the sea, the port and wharves, socials and parties, police precinct? The musical score?
4. The title, James and Ben, their past experience, Ben accompanying James, trying to prove himself, James and his unwillingness?
5. Ben, awkward in the past, engaged to Angela, adventures with James, the police Academy, surveillance jobs, driving the car,
confronting the criminals? The wedding, the wedding planner and the antagonism, the hydrangeas? His character in himself, a motormouth, brash, his skill at computer games – and the later use in the car chases and driving? Wanting to be a policeman, detective, and to relate to his brother-in-law?
6. James, the police, stern, his reputation, the initial setup, the partner, the confrontation with the criminals, the drugs and money, Ben, intervening, awkward with the car, the chase the shootings?
7. AJ, the hacker, the contacts with girls on the computer, listening to Pope, stealing the money, going into hiding? As a target? James and Ben coming to the house, James driving the car and picking him up, Ben and the elaborate chase through the streets and houses? Talking to AJ’s girlfriend, that she was not the only one? The decision to go to the party, Ben having his bachelor party, rowdy? Pope, the arrival of the assassin, escaping? AJ at the beach, communicating with Ben, testing him, the garbage food, the decision to go to the next party, the disguise, keeping in communication, the USB stick,his giving the directions, and his hiding, the information about the truck registration, helping Ben? At the wedding?
8. Pope, rich, police benefactor, reputation, ordering the death of the Commissioner, his work with AJ, tracking him, at the party, dancing with Maya, the trap, not killing them, keeping his respectable cover? The decoy truck and getting the group dismissed from the police? On the wharf, the guns and cocaine, his presence, confrontation, the shooting, his death?
9. The assassin, the thugs, the corrupt officials, Pope’s ruthlessness?
10. Maya, tough, the initial encounter with Ben, antagonism, her skill at work, the disguise at the party, dancing with Pope, the risks, the
dangers? At the wedding, James’s plus one?
11. Ben, the charade of getting into the party, the potentate, hitting James and vice versa? His wanting to prove himself, love for Angela,
James cuffing him, getting out with Maya’s friend’s help, the water, driving the truck, the bullet-proof vest, James using him as a decoy, saving his life?
12. Everybody turning up at the wedding, the comedy, and the possibility of another Ride Along?
