The Fast and the Furious was an unexpected smash hit in 2001. It didnt exactly creep up on the competition though, it blew them away. Many wrote it off as an immature flick for petrol heads, but those who watched the film found it had so much more. The movie rebooted the racer film to almost the same effect
The Matrix had on the science fiction genre. An influx of copycat films (such as the awful
Biker Boyz and
Torque) found their way to the screen and the careers of
Paul Walker and
Vin Diesel were thrust into the limelight. And then the base died down, the
NOS ran out and the engines began to stall. Eight years and three films later the original cast has returned for the first time to attempt to re-egnite the franchise and in the process their own careers. So does it work ? well yes and no.
The original sequel,
2 Fast 2 Furious was hit and miss. It didnt have the same appeal as the original, the driving force of the relationship between Dom (Diesel) and Brian (Walker) was missing as were key players
Jordanna Brewster and
Michelle Rodriguez. Its a shame the likes of
Tyrese Gibson and
Evan Mendes have not joined the party in '4' to link the first two films to this outing, but in retrospect both there careers seem to have gone from strength to strength so its not suprising they are absent.
Let's get one thing straight from the off so fans who have been worrying can ease their fears, this is no
Fast and the Furious 3 : Tokyo Drift style massacre. Despite sharing the same director in
Justin Lin, thankfully thats all the films have in common (not including a nicely weaved cameo appearance from
Sung Kang). Right from the get go this feels like a Fast and the Furious film, Diesel and co rocketing down a hi-way looking to re-inact the job that went wrong at the end of the first film. You would have thought they would have learnt by now....
What made the first film so enthrawling was it had the plot and characters to care about aswell as cars and babes to gawk at. To be a true sequel to the original the cast would not only have to be back but the scrpit would have to go back to basics and make us care about the characters again. Vin slips straight back into the role that made him famous, he may be a bigger name in hollywood than when he burst onto the scene in
Pitch Black but most of his movies of recent times have bombed such as his latest failure
Babylon a.d. But Dom is like second nature to Diesel, he plays the character with such a blend of inner angst and melancholoy its easy to see why the role boosted his career so well in the first place, and why he has returned to him. Paul Walker's character Brian gives the movie its first downfall. After the first outing it was still somewhat realistic in
2Fast, he chose to join the boy-racer scene and quit being a cop but was hauled in undercover with the chance to clear his record. Now with next to no explanation as to why or how , Brian is a FBI agent. Not only has he been allowed to get back into Police work but apparantly he has been able to get a job not many straight and narrow police officers would ever have a chance at. At least Jordanna Brewster's Mia remains consistant, she was a pretty distraction in the first film, who did little for the story but tie loose ends together and give more important characters reason to develop together. Now in Fast and Furious her character is back to do the exact same job, its dissapointing her two-dimensions are never tested, but its a comfortable and tried and tested formula that not too many will complain about.
Suprisingly, Michelle Rodriguez does not have the role one would presume. Letty is still integral to Fast and Furious' story but not in the way one would imagine. This review will not contain any spoilers to the film but Letty's role as the story progresses is a suprising one, which actually makes a very intresting change of tone for the film. This gives it an added grit that has not been present since the first outing, which suggests the makers have succeeded in producing a true sequel using the 'original parts'. Dont take this the wrong way, its still an uncomplex, adrenaline fueled , shameless thrill ride aimed predominantly at young males; but once again we have characters we want to survive the mass car crashes and smashes. The main worry for fans was that this would just be a 2hour homage to the original film but this is not the case with only onvery nice refrence to 'owing 10 second' cars thrown in for good measure.
So with all that promise and things done right, what possibly could Fast and Furious get wrong ? Well the villains of the movie are very poor. The action scenes involving them are good but there is no reasoning or hidden menace to the bad guys, they are just present as a reason to bring everyone back together. The film is as you would expect like a drag race in terms of narrative, very straight forward. The good guys are good, the bad guys are bad and nobody really develops on screen through the course of the film. Whats more upsetting is the frustrating ending that flirts with brilliance so closely, but right at the last minute will leave people sighing not again more than it will leave those itching with excitement and anticipation.
Overall in the grander scale of things these are minor quibbles however. This is a very flawed film there is no doubt, but since when was any Fast and Furious a perfection in film making ? The premise of this movie was to erase the bad memories of the awful third film and inject some revitalisation to the stagnating franchise ; and it does this with ease giving fans a true sequel to enjoy. The only major disappointment is the constant feeling that in truth , this should have been made years ago. It is unlikely to put the careers of those involved back into the mainstream the way the original film did, and in all honesty this film is still not a patch on the original, but this is the closest it has been to recapturing the magic that made The Fast and the Furious so successful in the first place. It's only a matter of time before a fifth film is made but only time will tell if the formula used here is continued or if the series decends back into madness. Who knows what it will be called now all the 'the's' have been dropped (fast/furious perhaps ?), but after working so hard to get back in the race here's hoping the franchise doesnt crash again. If the film makers are wise they will keeps their eyes on the prize having been given an unlikely second chance to catch up.
Action Flicks Rating 7/10
After the influx of CGI movies and the relative success of the fourth on screen outing for the heroes in a half shell (2007's TMNT), many children of the 90's had given up hope of ever seen a live action 'Turtles' film again.
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