Don’t get me wrong…”The Fast and The Furious” was not what one would call a “good movie,” but there was something kinda stupid and fun about it. The movie largely propelled Vin Diesel to “action star” status overnight, and also kicked off the career of Michelle Rodriguez and Jordana Brewster…and Paul Walker, if you really call “Timeline” and “Joy Ride” a “career”…
Anyway, “The Fast and The Furious” was actually remake of a 1955 movie of the same name, but they really had very little in common with each other. It was relatively well-received by the fans (yet panned by the critics), and made enough money to warrant a string of sequels, including “2 Fast 2 Furious,” headlined by the aforementioned Paul Walker (and sans Diesel, Rodriguez and Brewster) and “The Fast and The Furious: Tokyo Drift (which only had a cameo by Diesel, and otherwise no-name actors).” “2 Fast…” was a terrible, terrible movie. “Tokyo Drift” I never saw, but from what I hear, wasn’t really a bad movie…just didn’t do well in theaters…at all… However, it exploded in DVD sales and warranted another flick.
Enter the most recent iteration, “Fast & Furious,” which brings back the original crew in an attempt to reboot the franchise. In most respect, it actually pulls it off rather well, providing even more car stunts and action than the first movie, and otherwise decent special effects (there are quite a few more digital effects this time around, though). Paul Walker is still amongst the worst actors in Hollywood, but at least this time, he isn’t headlining the movie and he has Vin Diesel to bring it up a notch (relatively speaking, of course).
Briefly, the story itself deals with Diesel’s character, Dom Toretto, seeking revenge against a Mexican drug czar…who Paul Walker (FBI Agent Brian O’Conner) is also after, for other reasons (read: heroin trafficking). You can probably fill in the blanks from there…not a terribly complicated story…
The cars this time around weren’t all that impressive to me, as compared with some of the other flicks. There were actually very few new tuner cars to be seen…most of them were late-90s or early-2000s models, with the exception of the new Subaru Impreza WRX STi. Otherwise, the vast majority of cars in the movie are “American Muscle,” including a new Mustang, a Gran Torino, a Chevelle SS and, of course, Dom’s Charger. I would have liked to see a few newer cars in the movie, but I’m sure I’ll live…
So yeah, I liked it. It’s a good popcorn flick to kick of a summer of excellent movies. If you liked the first one (or, heck, all of them…somehow…), then you’ll love this. If, on the other hand, you can’t live with Vin Diesel being the best actor in the movie, you’ll probably want to pass. Thus far, it’s grossed $200 million worldwide, so believe you me…there’s another one coming…