“I live my life a quarter mile at a time.” Words so wonderfully cheesey that they were destined to become iconic, much like the film that contained them. The original ‘The Fast and The Furious’ sparked a sort of mini cultural revolution when it came out in the earliest parts of this decade. Overnight kids everywhere had decals on the sides of their $400 Toyota Camry’s and neon lights underneath them. Who didn’t watch that flick and want to be in that lifestyle? For all its bad acting and cringe inducing dialogue (“I need NOS!”) it was an original flick that was completely enjoyable and sits on the level of semi-classic status. The sequels? Not so much. While both films are watchable and will show you a good time, they were missing the magic that the original brought with it. Fast forward to today and the fourth installment of the franchise with the uninspired title, ‘Fast and Furious’.
We meet up with Dominic Torretto and his crew, including Michelle Rodriguez as Letty, in the Dominican Republic. They are in the middle of hijacking an tanker truck full of gas. After the boost Dom decides that the cops are closing in on him, and rather than bring his whole crew down with him he will escape to Panama in the middle of the night bringing the heat from the heist with him. Meanwhile back in the US Brian O’Conner is working for the FBI trying to track down the head of a major heroin cartel, Antonio Braga. The two are brought together again when a member of their old crew is murdered and a member of Braga’s cartel is the main suspect. Luckily for the Dom and Brian, Braga transports all of his drugs across the border through tunnels in cars driven by street proven racers, and there just happens to be an open spot. The race is on to see who will get the spot and be given access to the inner workings of Braga’s operation. Either Dom, who’s out for blood and revenge, or Brian, who is trying to play by the book or should I say play by the badge.
Let me start of by saying that I loved ‘The Fast and The Furious’ and was a marginal fan of the sequels. That being said I knew what to expect when I sat down to see ‘Fast and Furious’, I knew the downfalls beforehand the acting was going to be downright bad, the dialogue would be subpar and was going to be a lot of logic to be suspended. These things are all true about the movie, what I didn’t know however was that they were going to totally abandon what made the original so great and basically rip off the core plot of ‘2 Fast 2 Furious’. I understand why they did it, because being drug runners for the bad guy fits into the plot structure they were going for but I’m just disappointed that they didn’t go to a different place with the whole story, it just feels reused. The other gigantic dagger was the car racing itself. Lots of quick cuts and shaky cam….ok I expect that, but what I didn’t expect was them to put in a GPS gimmick that turns the racing scenes into a hybrid between the first film and a video game. Even the cars themselves left a lot to be desired, don’t get me wrong I love Dom’s charger, but they gave it no panache. I still remember without watching the movie the exact look of Dom’s RX-7 or Brian’s green Eclipse and orange Supra, but the cars in this film are totally forgettable…nothing to ‘em. There’s also a lot lacking as far as storytelling goes, the timeline is never really explained but we get a quick throwaway line that it takes place five years after the first one, confusing this is the appearance of Han from the third movie before he goes to Tokyo. The Brian/Mia love story is teased then left open with no real resolution…and c’mon a girl that hot is still going to be single five years later? Paul Walker is simply horrendous, he honestly makes Keanu Reeves look like an Oscar caliber actor. I don’t know how it’s so hard to read lines off of a script with a slight bit of emotion, but apparently it’s past Walker’s skill set. Throw in a pair of predictable plot twist and you’ve rounded up all that is wrong with this flick.
On the positive side, Vin Diesel is simply bad ass and plays Dom perfectly. I really hope this is the start of his trip back to mainstream action and away from flicks like ‘The Pacifier’. The opening scene, which unfortunately you’ve already seen most of if you’ve seen the trailers, is simply awesome. If they had followed the formula they used for that first twenty minutes throughout the entire film we would have a much better flick. Everything was perfect about it, the crew, the cars, the plot, the humor, and the action. It’s tense, fun and adrenaline filled, and although its climax is a bit on the far-out side you don’t care because it’s just fun to watch. Maybe that’s what hurt the rest of the flick…they started out soooo right and just went sooo wrong. There are also some good bit’s of humor in the rest of the flick coming mostly from Brian’s run-ins with a particularly douche fellow FBI agent, and one of Braga’s current racers that Brian must do away with in order to get his spot on the team.
I know it sounds like I’m ripping this flick a new one, and in a sense I am mostly because of what it could’ve been. As far as what it is, I have to say that it’s a decent action movie with some good scenes made a whole lot better by Vin Diesel’s presence. All in all if you were a big fan of the first three movies, I would go to see this in the theaters, if for no other reason than to see how the series concludes. As for the uninitiated or those looking to see something as good as the original, stay away until it hits DVD, you’ll just leave disappointed and wanting your ten bucks back.
4.5/10
