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Friday, May 13, 2022

Movie Review: Fast & Furious

Stars: 3 out of 5
Pros: Action and stunts
Cons: Weak story and characters
The Bottom Line:
Gang back together
Trying to take down drug lord
Mindless but great stunts


“I Bet You’re Gonna Enjoy This.”  “A Little.  Yeah.”

Most of the time, when Hollywood makes a sequel, they try to bring back the entire cast, or as much as they can.  It’s one thing that makes The Fast and the Furious franchise stand out.  The second one only featured one member from the original movie, and the third was a completely new cast.  But Fast & Furious, the fourth movie, is more of a traditional sequel.

Brian O’Connor (Paul Walker) is back in the FBI’s good graces and back in Los Angeles.  He’s part of a task force that has been working for a long time to try to bring down Braga, a notorious heroin dealer.  Unfortunately, no one even knows what he looks like.

Meanwhile, Braga has also made Dominic Toretto (Vin Diesel) angry – angry enough to return to LA in an attempt to get revenge.  Naturally, Dominic and Brian cross paths, and, given their past history, they aren’t inclined to trust each other.  However, trusting each other might be the only way to take down Braga and get out alive.

Writing the teaser, this sounds like a coherent, well thought out movie.  And yet, watching it, I felt like it was still lacking something.  Probably because the plot is still just an excuse for over-the-top stunts and a deep dive into street racing culture.  I keep looking at the events on the screen and wonderful why the characters are doing what they are, and that’s all I can come up with.  And some of the dialog?  Wow!  The actors try, but some of it is very cheesy.

But let’s be honest, we watch these movies for the over-the-top stunts.  And this movie delivers.  From the opening set piece, to the climax, there are several other can’t look away for a second sequences.

And the actors are trying.  I give them credit for that.  I just feel like this movie knows it is an excuse for stunts, and so no one tried that hard when it came time to think about things like characters or story.

And yet, I care enough that a felt a couple of the twists that happen late in the film.  Maybe, if I were watching the movies closer together instead of one every year or so, I’d be more invested in the characters.

A fun bit of trivia about this film – it is Gal Gadot’s first movie credit.  She’d reprise her role here in the next couple of movies in the franchise.

I think I’m beginning to care about the characters enough that I will get through the rest of the franchise.  But I don’t see myself ever spending more effort than watching them on TV to see them.  If you want a fairly mindless way to spend a couple of hours, you’ll enjoy Fast & Furious.


1 comment:

  1. Nice summary of the movie! My husband enjoys these movies very much, but hasn't go to the 4th one yet.

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