The Miami in the movies

Matthew Susi

March 3, 2013

English 106

Racing with a Vengeance

            “Transporter 2” and “2 Fast 2 Furious” are both movies that depict Miami as this area with intense violence, drugs, money, and people with incredible driving ability. The differences are also quite noticeable as Transporter focuses on more hand-hand type combat and 2 Fast has more racing scenes and drug references. The surprising thing is that despite the differences in the focus, they both show Miami as this rich city of the upper class that most people associate with the city.

            In 2 fast 2 furious, as they show the city-racing scene, they point out these ultra expensive cars and beautiful people. They focus on these misconceptions about the city of Miami, that people believe are fact. As if to agree with what Kelly said in “Trouble in paradise” the main point of this movie is that they are running hundreds of thousands of dollars in drug money to a drug leader. To prove just how much money he has access to, he doesn’t even care when he ends up leaving with only half the money he sent them to pick up.

            Transporter 2 shows more of the ruthlessness way these gang leaders try to get more money. He develops some disease that waits 4 hours then slowly kills everyone who comes into contact with it. With most of the focus being on the story, there isn’t much about the scenery. This family is an ultra-rich family worth billions, and it makes it seem like these families barely have time for their kids with the way they portray the dad. It gives this seeming impression of in order to be successful you must sacrifice your family.

            These two movies are very similar; some people argue that they are basically the same movie with different actors. This is where I would like to point out the intriguing differences.  In the movie 2 fast, at the end the ‘good guys’ keep some of the money from the cops. You could take this to mean that everyone is a little crooked and that you need to be in order to survive in a city like Miami. In Transporter, however, the ‘good guy’ nearly sacrifices his life and tries his hardest to save the kids life, never went looking for trouble, and was a pretty good citizen. These two different takes on the ‘good guys’ in these movies give one an entirely different perspective on Miami.

            Excluding the extreme similarities between how both of these movies, and people in general, view Miami, it is important to note the differences in the characteristics of the hero in both cases. After in-depth analysis of the hero in both films you begin to see how 2 Fast 2 Furious presents a much darker and crime ridden Miami as apposed to the simply violent Miami of Transporter 2.