Tyrese Gibson in '2 Fast 2 Furious'

While 2 Fast is strong off the starting line, it stalls before reaching the second reel due to a distinct lack of "Diesel" power. Taking on the unenviable job of substitute driving is actor/R&B singer Tyrese as Roman Pearse. His character is recruited by boyhood friend O'Conner to help bust Carter Verone (Cole Hauser), a Colombian drug lord so stereotypically slick and soulless as to be straight out of Motley Crue's "Dr. Feelgood" video.

As for Vin not reprising his Torreto role, reportedly he saw no logical reason for the character to return. More likely, 2 Fast's producers saw no sane grounds to justify Diesel's turbocharged $20-million entry fee. To his credit, Tyrese does his best to wipe the memory of Vin Diesel from the audience's collective mind. But no amount of flex or flashing can make up for 2 Fast's scrap-heap worthy script and stiff acting.

Also missing from 2 Fast, but present in the first, is the surprise of learning that O'Conner is actually an undercover cop sent to bring down a band of high-tech highwaymen. Hardly a surprise on the order of "Luke, I am your father," but any twist that doesn't involve a screeching U-turn would be welcome here.

And yet another attribute MIA from 2 Fast is Michelle Rodriguez (Girlfight, Blue Crush), who was Diesel's tougher-than-leather love interest, Letty. Rodriguez's knocked-around, less-than-movie-star looks and don't-f-with-me attitude welded an air of authenticity to the drag-racing fantasy. Combined with Diesel's smooth cool as a street racer/gang leader with a heart of chrome, otherwise simpleminded dialogue like "I live my life a quarter mile at a time" rumbled true.

At the finish line, where it counts, the original pit crew of Diesel, Rodriquez, director Rob Cohen and writer Gary Scott Thompson gave The Fast and Furious a whiff of quintessential '70s gas guzzlers such as Two Lane Blacktop; Dirty Mary, Crazy Larry and Vanishing Point. The best that 2 Fast's team can do, however, is whoop out a Martin Lawrence-sounding "Oh shit!" before every Dukes of Hazard-inspired stunt. So, even with a tank full of gravity-defying action, 2 Fast lines up alongside more recent cinematic clunkers like Gone in 60 Seconds and Biker Boyz. Close, but no checkered flag.