Thanks for checking out our Fast and Furious review.
I won’t beat around the bush here. I absolutely despise all the fast and the furious movies right from the first one. The first film was nothing but a blatant and criminal rip off of Point Break. The plot and each successive story point were all directly stolen from the much superior movie and offered no apologies for it. Each one just got worse and worse from there.
When Vin Diesel showed his face at the end of Tokyo Drift (the third installment of the franchise) we all knew that a 4th Fast and Furious film was going to be on it’s way. That, and the fact that everything else Vin Diesel has tried to do over the last 5 years has bombed on a Pauley Shore scale and he had to return to his popular roles to regain significance).
So I forced myself to go and see fast and Furious so I could give my thoughts on it here. Ummmm… crap… I hate myself a little bit for saying this… but… wow… I actually kinda enjoyed it. Let the apocalypse begin.
THE GENERAL IDEA
The synopsis or Fast and Furious reads something like this: “Heading back to the streets where it all began, two men rejoin two women to blast muscle, tuner and exotic cars across Los Angeles and floor through the Mexican desert. When a crime brings them back to L.A., fugitive ex-con Dom Toretto reignites his feud with agent Brian O’Connor. But as they are forced to confront a shared enemy, Dom and Brian must give in to an uncertain new trust if they hope to outmaneuver him. And from convoy heists to precision tunnel crawls across international lines, two men will find the best way to get revenge: push the limits of what’s possible behind the wheel.”
THE GOOD
Look, this whole review is going to be pretty short because the strengths and weakness are fairly simple and straight forward… like the movie itself.
THE ACTION IS AMAZING. This film, far more than any others in the franchise, has some truly awesome and exciting action sequences (all revolving around car chases and races for the most part). This film knows what people are here to see… and they just deliver it in spades. The movie just go go go go gos from the start right to the finish and I’m not ashamed to admit that it kept me entertained pretty much the whole way through. People seeing any Vin “I have the emotional range of a turnip” Diesel movie is not there expecting Shakespeare.
The party and “lifestyle” scenes were all well orchestrated giving a large feel to the film and lots of hot booty to look at (I swear there is as much camera time spent on various women’s asses as there is meaningful dialog).
THE BAD
Absolutely everything else. Let’s start with Diesel… even though he is HUGE in this movie (not kidding… I’ve never seen him look bigger or more physically intimidating), the guy is a total tool when it comes to acting. Every time he speaks a line in the movie I would wish some stranger would kick me in the balls… because it would hurt less. Paul Walker was only marginally less miserable… as were all the bad guys, supporting characters… it was just dreadful.
Ha… don’t even get me started on the story.
OVERALL
In every way, shape and form Fast and Furious is a poor movie… EXCEPT in the area of heart pounding action. Fortunately for the movie… that’s the most important ingredient for a film like this, and it delivered it in spades… enough so that despite the fact that it is so bad in so many ways… I actually have to say I enjoyed watching it overall and that it entertained me. NEVER thought I’d ever say that about a Fast and Furious movie… EVER. Overall I give Fast and Furious a 6 out of 10.
