Ride Along 2 (Blu-ray + DVD + UltraViolet)
Blu-Ray Reviews | Apr 26th, 2016
Starring: Ice Cube, Kevin Hart, Olivia Munn, Benjamin Bratt, Ken Jeong, Bruce McGill, Tika Sumpter
Written By: Phil Hay, Matt Manfredi
Directed By: Tim Story
Studio: Universal Pictures
Buy On Amazon.com
Ride Along was a successful comedy starring Ice Cube and Kevin Hart so it was inevitable that there would be a sequel. Ride Along 2 is more of the same, but this time it’s in Miami.
The movie is about detective James (Ice Cube) and his soon-to-be brother-in-law, recently appointed beat cop Ben (Kevin Hart). While tagging along on assignment, Ben intervenes (again) and almost gets James’ partner killed. James’ partner goes on leave of absence so Ben wants to join James on a lead that will take them to Miami. Eventually he agrees and they get caught up in stuff bigger than they thought. They have to track down a hacker (Ken Jeong) who stole money from a crime lord and they get some help from detective Cruz (Olivia Munn) as well. That’s about it.
I only saw Ride Along the day before I watched this one. I guess I just never got around to watching it. The first one had it’s moments and was funny at times. I like Ice Cube and Kevin Hart together so it was a no-brainer that they would make a sequel for this. I think Ride Along 2 got a lot of crap by the critics for no reason. I think it’s more of the same, but this time it’s just in Miami with a bigger cast. There’s more action and explosions, and Kevin Hart is probably a little more annoying. Other than that, Ride Along 2 is essentially the same movie.
I like the addition of Olivia Munn (duh) but thought Ken Jeong was in the movie too much. There should have been more of just Ice Cube and Kevin Hart. Having Tyrese in the movie was cool but basically he’s just in one scene. Sort of a waste having him even in the movie. I thought he would have turned out to be some villain or have a more important role. I guess if he turned out to be a villain, would have been even more similar to the first movie.
There were a few funny moments and a couple of times that I laughed out loud. Just like the first movie, I laughed the hardest when Kevin Hart is doing cartoonish physical comedy. This time, he stands up on a table, accidentally sticks his head into a van and goes flying. It’s not plausible at all but it was certainly funny. I felt the movie needed more of those stupid-funny kind of moments. I wouldn’t mind if Ice Cube did more action-comedy but if the movies were just him.
The Blu-Ray featurettes has a fair share of stuff. There’s about 8 minutes of deleted scenes, a funny gag reel and 20 minutes of behind the scenes stuff via “diaries.” There’s some other smaller featurettes on there but the diaries, gag reel and deleted scenes were the best out of the batch.
Ride Along 2 will be enjoyable for you if you liked the first movie and like Ice Cube & Kevin Hart. I laughed a few times and didn’t hate the movie. Just like any comedy sequel or all sequels, it could have been better. It’s something to throw on TV when you’re bored over the weekend.
On a side note: Thanks to Paramount for sending Ice Cube and Kevin Hart faces on sticks to reviewers. They were a funny treat. I was playing with them in front of my 7-month old son and then peaked out from Kevin Hart’s face. My son then started to cry so not sure if he was scared I wasn’t Kevin Hart or he was just scared at me haha.
Features
– The Ride Along Roundtable
– The Ride Diaries: With Kevin and Cube
– The New Recruits
– Ride Along with Kevin Hart: Day on set
– Cori’s Wedding Commercial
– Deleted Scenes
– Gag Reel
– Ride Along With Us: Hilarious new recruitment video
– Kevin and Cube: Brothers-in-law
– Inside Black Hammer Vision
– And More!
Audio
French DTS Surround
Spanish DTS Surround
English DTS-HD MA 5.1
Video
Widescreen 2.40:1 Color (Anamorphic)
Bottom Line: Just as good as the first movie but still could have been a little bit better
Running Time: 101 mins
Rating: PG-13
Extras Rating:
Overall Rating:
