ArtsAutosBooksBusinessEducationEntertainmentFamilyFashionFoodGamesGenderHealthHolidaysHomeHubPagesPersonal FinancePetsPoliticsReligionSportsTechnologyTravel

"Ride Along 2" Movie Review

Updated on August 22, 2019
popcollin profile image

Collin's been a movie critic since 2009. In real life, he works in marketing and is also a novelist ("Good Riddance" published in Oct 2015).

In theaters now.
In theaters now. | Source

Two years ago Ride Along came out of nowhere (and bucked scathing critics) to earn $135 million and finish the year in the top 25. So naturally a sequel was a no-brainer.

And it turns out, that’s exactly what Ride Along 2 is.

Screenwriters Phil Hay and Matt Manfredi, along with director Tim Story, have gone out of their way, it seems, to not go out of their way. While many sequels stick close to the formula of the original, Ride Along 2 takes it to a whole new level. Save for changing the setting to Miami, it’s the same movie-- a largely laughless retread of a tired story.

Kevin Hart is still Ben Barber, a few months into his probationary period as a rookie with the Atlanta Police Department. Ice Cube is still James Payton, a seasoned cop and Ben’s imminent brother in law.

Naturally a case comes across James’ desk which necessitates his immediate presence on South Beach, and naturally Ben wants to tag along and convince James of his worth as a police officer. James still thinks of Ben as a little flea who needs to get flicked, but he sees the trip as a prime opportunity to prove once and for all that Ben has no place on the force.

This time around Benjamin Bratt gets the villain role, playing super-rich Miami wheeler-n-dealer Antonio Pope, who is using the port as his own personal funnel for guns, drugs, and all manner of corruption. Ken Jeong joins the party as a turncoat inside Pope’s organization, and Olivia Munn snapped up a paycheck as a Miami cop along for the ride. And, of course, she shows up to crime scenes fresh from the gym, wearing a sports bra and leggings.

There’s no denying Hart’s manic personality does add some spark to Ride Along 2, but since James spends the better part of the film telling us how annoying Ben is, it’s impossible for us not to eventually start agreeing with him. Sure enough Hart’s schtick does get old quickly, but more than that is the inescapable feeling that the lazy screenplay was probably the easiest money ever made in Hollywood. Apparently Hay and Manfredi sat down with a sheet of paper and scribbled “the same movie as the first one” on it.

Conclusion

There’s little doubt a Ride Along 3 will be along shortly (heck, the script is already written, amiright?), and since we already know the plot, the only (and I mean only) question is what exotic locale will be picked as the backdrop. Yawn.

Rating

2/5 stars

'Ride Along 2' trailer

working

This website uses cookies

As a user in the EEA, your approval is needed on a few things. To provide a better website experience, hubpages.com uses cookies (and other similar technologies) and may collect, process, and share personal data. Please choose which areas of our service you consent to our doing so.

For more information on managing or withdrawing consents and how we handle data, visit our Privacy Policy at: https://corp.maven.io/privacy-policy

Show Details
Necessary
HubPages Device IDThis is used to identify particular browsers or devices when the access the service, and is used for security reasons.
LoginThis is necessary to sign in to the HubPages Service.
Google RecaptchaThis is used to prevent bots and spam. (Privacy Policy)
AkismetThis is used to detect comment spam. (Privacy Policy)
HubPages Google AnalyticsThis is used to provide data on traffic to our website, all personally identifyable data is anonymized. (Privacy Policy)
HubPages Traffic PixelThis is used to collect data on traffic to articles and other pages on our site. Unless you are signed in to a HubPages account, all personally identifiable information is anonymized.
Amazon Web ServicesThis is a cloud services platform that we used to host our service. (Privacy Policy)
CloudflareThis is a cloud CDN service that we use to efficiently deliver files required for our service to operate such as javascript, cascading style sheets, images, and videos. (Privacy Policy)
Google Hosted LibrariesJavascript software libraries such as jQuery are loaded at endpoints on the googleapis.com or gstatic.com domains, for performance and efficiency reasons. (Privacy Policy)
Features
Google Custom SearchThis is feature allows you to search the site. (Privacy Policy)
Google MapsSome articles have Google Maps embedded in them. (Privacy Policy)
Google ChartsThis is used to display charts and graphs on articles and the author center. (Privacy Policy)
Google AdSense Host APIThis service allows you to sign up for or associate a Google AdSense account with HubPages, so that you can earn money from ads on your articles. No data is shared unless you engage with this feature. (Privacy Policy)
Google YouTubeSome articles have YouTube videos embedded in them. (Privacy Policy)
VimeoSome articles have Vimeo videos embedded in them. (Privacy Policy)
PaypalThis is used for a registered author who enrolls in the HubPages Earnings program and requests to be paid via PayPal. No data is shared with Paypal unless you engage with this feature. (Privacy Policy)
Facebook LoginYou can use this to streamline signing up for, or signing in to your Hubpages account. No data is shared with Facebook unless you engage with this feature. (Privacy Policy)
MavenThis supports the Maven widget and search functionality. (Privacy Policy)
Marketing
Google AdSenseThis is an ad network. (Privacy Policy)
Google DoubleClickGoogle provides ad serving technology and runs an ad network. (Privacy Policy)
Index ExchangeThis is an ad network. (Privacy Policy)
SovrnThis is an ad network. (Privacy Policy)
Facebook AdsThis is an ad network. (Privacy Policy)
Amazon Unified Ad MarketplaceThis is an ad network. (Privacy Policy)
AppNexusThis is an ad network. (Privacy Policy)
OpenxThis is an ad network. (Privacy Policy)
Rubicon ProjectThis is an ad network. (Privacy Policy)
TripleLiftThis is an ad network. (Privacy Policy)
Say MediaWe partner with Say Media to deliver ad campaigns on our sites. (Privacy Policy)
Remarketing PixelsWe may use remarketing pixels from advertising networks such as Google AdWords, Bing Ads, and Facebook in order to advertise the HubPages Service to people that have visited our sites.
Conversion Tracking PixelsWe may use conversion tracking pixels from advertising networks such as Google AdWords, Bing Ads, and Facebook in order to identify when an advertisement has successfully resulted in the desired action, such as signing up for the HubPages Service or publishing an article on the HubPages Service.
Statistics
Author Google AnalyticsThis is used to provide traffic data and reports to the authors of articles on the HubPages Service. (Privacy Policy)
ComscoreComScore is a media measurement and analytics company providing marketing data and analytics to enterprises, media and advertising agencies, and publishers. Non-consent will result in ComScore only processing obfuscated personal data. (Privacy Policy)
Amazon Tracking PixelSome articles display amazon products as part of the Amazon Affiliate program, this pixel provides traffic statistics for those products (Privacy Policy)
ClickscoThis is a data management platform studying reader behavior (Privacy Policy)