Fast & Furious

Starring: Paul Walker, Vin Diesel, Michelle Rodriguez, Jordana Brewster, John Ortiz, Laz Alonso
Directed by: Justin Lin
Rating: PG-13
Genre: Action, Crime
2009

Times Seen:
Tim: 1

Summary: Brian (Paul Walker) and Dom (Vin Diesel) reluctantly team up to bring down a major drug smuggler after they are brought together by a tragedy that effects them both.

Review:
Tim: Fast & Furious is probably not a very good movie, but the circumstances surrounding it make it seem better than it probably is. After the very good The Fast and the Furious, we suffered through 2 Fast 2 Furious without Vin Diesel, and The Fast and the Furious: Tokyo Drift without Diesel or Walker. We never really got that true sequel to the entertaining first film. And so, 8 years later, the original cast is back together. That was very exciting to me, so this film already had some built-in goodwill. It does enough to keep the audience entertained, and so, I couldn't dislike this movie, even if it is flawed. In fact, all things considered, I thought this was a pretty good movie.

I loved seeing Paul Walker and Vin Diesel together again. These two worked so well together in the original film, I really wanted to see them back on screen together. While neither is as good here as they are in the original, it is still pretty entertaining to see the continuation of their complicated love/hate relationship. Diesel is just so good as Dominic Toretto. He is believable, cool, and a very fun character. He's the bad guy with a heart of gold who doesn't seem like a cliche in the least. Walker is decent as Brian O'Conner, but I liked his performance in the first film far more. Still, seeing Walker and Diesel interacting together was a bit of a cinematic treat.

I also liked seeing Michelle Rodriguez and Jordana Brewster back. Neither one has a whole lot to do here, so their presence is a bit disappointing, but it is still great to see these characters back again. The rest of the supporting cast all works well. I also did like seeing Sung Kang, whose small role really connected all these films together.

This movie isn't nearly as cool as the original, but it knows it is not going to be. It doesn't try so hard (which ruined 2 Fast 2 Furious) to be something that it can't be. It does feature some great scenes. The opening sequence with the oil truck is absolutely fantastic. Unfortunately, the film is downhill from there, but not too terribly. The car chase through traffic is pretty intense, and the final race through Mexican tunnels is at least fairly engaging. None of these are hold-your-breath exciting, but they keep our attention. The plot has some holes and swerves between being good and being ridiculous, but it mostly works.

In a different context, Fast & Furious (which, for the record, is a silly title) would probably not be a very good movie at all. However, it comes from a very, very good original film, and follows two disappointing sequels. This is the movie that should have followed the original The Fast and the Furious. For that reason, I liked this movie more than I should have, and I was able to overlook some of the flaws. This isn't a great movie, but it did enough so that I was able to enjoy it.

Rating 1-10
Tim's Rating: 7



If You Enjoyed This Movie, We Recommend: The Fast and the Furious, 2 Fast 2 Furious, The Fast and the Furious: Tokyo Drift, Ronin, Timeline, A Man Apart, XXX, The Faculty