Ride Along 1&2
I recently saw Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle twice, thought Kevin Hart was one of the best parts of the film, and wanted to watch more of his work. In Ride Along 1&2 he co-stars with Ice Cube who is a perfect stone faced contrast to Hart’s emotional, talkative self. The duo includes the veteran (Cube) and the rookie (Hart) of the Atlanta police department as they go on a ride along and later track down drug dealers. They are funny together (never get tired of seeing Cube’s reactions and treatment of the instigating pest Hart), driving and explosion scenes are exciting, and the establishing shots look great in both Atlanta and Miami where most of the films were shot. Both films were directed by Tim Story who also made Barbershop (with Cube in 2002) and Think Like a Man Too (with Hart in 2014), and is next working on Humbug (with Cube), My Own Worst Enemy (with Hart), and a second Shaft film starring Samuel L. Jackson (long overdue since the first in 2000). I really liked Cube’s performance as a captain in the 21 Jump Street series and Hart was great paired with Dwayne Johnson in Central Intelligence, all films similar in feeling to this one. Cube continues being great at appearing tough, cool, and ready to throw down, and Hart plays to his strengths of being chatty, funny, and goofy. The films were able to attract many stars including Tika Sumpter, Laurence Fishburne, Benjamin Bratt, Olivia Munn, and Ken Jeong. Watch these two before the third part arrives!
Ride Along
2014, PG, 1h 39m
Ride Along 2
2016, PG, 1h 42m