Jason KingFast and Furious ($13-)
April 22nd 2009 11:11
Category: No Category
Fast and Furious ($13-)
So much better than I thought. I actually thoroughly enjoyed it and it wasn't because I sat there gawking at Paul Walker for 2hrs. This film is unadulterated action. By unadulterated I mean the script is woeful, the plot has more holes than swiss cheese and the acting is B grade. But you know what - I didn't give a shit - it was a senseless car film with kick ass cars and driving, hot guys (did I mention Paul Walker) and hot chicks. It had a PUMPING soundtrack and looks slick.
This fourth entry in THE FAST AND THE FURIOUS franchise reunites the original stars: Michelle Rodriguez, Paul Walker, Jordana Brewster, and of course the man himself, Vin Diesel. Needless to say, there's going to be a lot of speed and demolition, especially in the fantastic opening truck hijack executed at amazing speeds by Dominic (Diesel) and his sexy partner in crime, Letty (Rodriguez). When Letty gets killed, it's revenge time, with the path of the bad guy leading Dominic back across the border to Los Angeles (where he's still wanted by the law) and into a high-stakes street race in which he's teamed up with his old nemesis, undercover fed Brian O'Conner (Walker). As in the original, Brewster makes a foxy love interest for Walker (she's Dom's kid sister), but there's not much time for kissing: there's races to be won, huge accidents to cause, and shady smuggling plots to foil.
Vin Diesel is in his element in this series of film and his bulky bod and burnt rubber vocals nearly make him another car. Rodriguez is a beautiful butch lady and it's a shame she wasn't in it longer. But due to her being such a pain in the ass on everything she works on they probably decided to kill her after filming started
Jordana Brewster is more feminine but lacks any presence besides the love interest. Paul Walker is eye candy and a great polar opposite to Diesel. Tall suntanned with perfect teeth he is casting genius as an illogical partner for Diesel and they have a definate chemistry and onscreen rapport. I do not know why we do not see Paul Walker in more films. Admittedly he will never win any acting awards but he is made for the camera and he himself can definately put bums on seats.
The film is written by Chris Morgan who also wrote Tokyo Drift (Fast and Furious 3) and Wanted. I can see a pattern to senseless action writing with him limited completely by any realism or coherant plots. But his formulas work. They keep you watching and added with the director's sense of creating a visual action environment decent plot and script would probably get in the way. Speaking of, the film is directed by Justin Lin who succesfully brought us the visual style adapted for this in Tokyo Drift. He has also directed a few other films - Crossover and Better Luck Tomorrow - which I have not heard of before but slowly moved into Asian action where Tokyo Drift and this one have ended. I think he has done a great job improving his visual style into high octane NOS powered visuals that some have mentioned are a little over CGI'd that you actually lose the scene sometimes. But if you were doing 150m's per hour you probably would lose the visual so this works for me. He also succesfully creates an opening scene that would look well suited in a James Bond movie - it's big, over the top and involves some seriously dangerous stunts.
If you pay particular attention to Vin Diesel you will notice how they film him to always appear taller. After a recent interview with Kyle and Jackie O they described him as Anthony Callea on steroids and you can see it if you pay attention. He is nearly always located in front of other characters or sitting and his close ups always shoot from below his head looking up - BINGO - how to make him appear like a gigantor. Of course it does help that he build like a brick shithouse We know your trick now Tom Cruise!
Trivia: (thanks to IMDB)
1) With a gross of $72.5 million on its opening weekend, the movie had the biggest April debut ever. (Anger Management (2003) formerly held the record with $42.2 million)
2) With $72.5 mio., had the highest-grossing opening weekend for a car-themed movie (beating Cars (2006)' $60.1 million).
3) With a gross of $72.5 mio., it had the biggest three day opening ever for a Universal Pictures beating The Lost World: Jurassic Park (1997)'s $72.1 mil.
4) The F-BOMB Camaro used at the end of the final chase scene through the tunnel is a duplicate of David Frieberger's real '71 Camaro "F Bomb". David was the chief editor for Hot Rod magazine for years. Originally built by Tom Nelson at Nelsonracingengines.com
Grab your large popcorn and drink, strap yourself in and enjoy the NOS ride. And as Mumma Juggs said on her review on 2DayFM "Ladies, if your boyfriend drags you along to watch this - enjoy it - you can sit back and watch Vin and Paul for 2 whole hours". Worth $13-
So much better than I thought. I actually thoroughly enjoyed it and it wasn't because I sat there gawking at Paul Walker for 2hrs. This film is unadulterated action. By unadulterated I mean the script is woeful, the plot has more holes than swiss cheese and the acting is B grade. But you know what - I didn't give a shit - it was a senseless car film with kick ass cars and driving, hot guys (did I mention Paul Walker) and hot chicks. It had a PUMPING soundtrack and looks slick.
This fourth entry in THE FAST AND THE FURIOUS franchise reunites the original stars: Michelle Rodriguez, Paul Walker, Jordana Brewster, and of course the man himself, Vin Diesel. Needless to say, there's going to be a lot of speed and demolition, especially in the fantastic opening truck hijack executed at amazing speeds by Dominic (Diesel) and his sexy partner in crime, Letty (Rodriguez). When Letty gets killed, it's revenge time, with the path of the bad guy leading Dominic back across the border to Los Angeles (where he's still wanted by the law) and into a high-stakes street race in which he's teamed up with his old nemesis, undercover fed Brian O'Conner (Walker). As in the original, Brewster makes a foxy love interest for Walker (she's Dom's kid sister), but there's not much time for kissing: there's races to be won, huge accidents to cause, and shady smuggling plots to foil.
Vin Diesel is in his element in this series of film and his bulky bod and burnt rubber vocals nearly make him another car. Rodriguez is a beautiful butch lady and it's a shame she wasn't in it longer. But due to her being such a pain in the ass on everything she works on they probably decided to kill her after filming started
Jordana Brewster is more feminine but lacks any presence besides the love interest. Paul Walker is eye candy and a great polar opposite to Diesel. Tall suntanned with perfect teeth he is casting genius as an illogical partner for Diesel and they have a definate chemistry and onscreen rapport. I do not know why we do not see Paul Walker in more films. Admittedly he will never win any acting awards but he is made for the camera and he himself can definately put bums on seats.
The film is written by Chris Morgan who also wrote Tokyo Drift (Fast and Furious 3) and Wanted. I can see a pattern to senseless action writing with him limited completely by any realism or coherant plots. But his formulas work. They keep you watching and added with the director's sense of creating a visual action environment decent plot and script would probably get in the way. Speaking of, the film is directed by Justin Lin who succesfully brought us the visual style adapted for this in Tokyo Drift. He has also directed a few other films - Crossover and Better Luck Tomorrow - which I have not heard of before but slowly moved into Asian action where Tokyo Drift and this one have ended. I think he has done a great job improving his visual style into high octane NOS powered visuals that some have mentioned are a little over CGI'd that you actually lose the scene sometimes. But if you were doing 150m's per hour you probably would lose the visual so this works for me. He also succesfully creates an opening scene that would look well suited in a James Bond movie - it's big, over the top and involves some seriously dangerous stunts.
If you pay particular attention to Vin Diesel you will notice how they film him to always appear taller. After a recent interview with Kyle and Jackie O they described him as Anthony Callea on steroids and you can see it if you pay attention. He is nearly always located in front of other characters or sitting and his close ups always shoot from below his head looking up - BINGO - how to make him appear like a gigantor. Of course it does help that he build like a brick shithouse
We know your trick now Tom Cruise!
Trivia: (thanks to IMDB)
1) With a gross of $72.5 million on its opening weekend, the movie had the biggest April debut ever. (Anger Management (2003) formerly held the record with $42.2 million)
2) With $72.5 mio., had the highest-grossing opening weekend for a car-themed movie (beating Cars (2006)' $60.1 million).
3) With a gross of $72.5 mio., it had the biggest three day opening ever for a Universal Pictures beating The Lost World: Jurassic Park (1997)'s $72.1 mil.
4) The F-BOMB Camaro used at the end of the final chase scene through the tunnel is a duplicate of David Frieberger's real '71 Camaro "F Bomb". David was the chief editor for Hot Rod magazine for years. Originally built by Tom Nelson at Nelsonracingengines.com
Grab your large popcorn and drink, strap yourself in and enjoy the NOS ride. And as Mumma Juggs said on her review on 2DayFM "Ladies, if your boyfriend drags you along to watch this - enjoy it - you can sit back and watch Vin and Paul for 2 whole hours". Worth $13-
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Comment by Morgan Bell
Deep Pencil
Business News
Movie Train
looks good man
Paul Walker is ridiculously good looking and Vin Diesel has amazing screen presence (i think its the husky voice), im glad to see they got the original actors back for the 4th installment, it was a great original formula
i know a few rev-heads who have been hanging out for this to be released!
Comment by Jason King
Sydney Table
Salty Popcorn
Total Randomness
It was totally awesome to have all the originals back and to be honest this and the first installment are by far the best. They also left the end way open and I completely forgot to mention that a 5th installment looks obvious, especially after the HUGE takings it has made. I think it made its entire budget back in 5 days in US cinemas.
Comment by Wilson Pon
Health 2 Know
Adventure Toes
boxing sound
Business Rope
Fun Places 2 Travel
My rating for this movie: 9.2 out of 10.
Comment by Jason King
Sydney Table
Salty Popcorn
Total Randomness
Comment by Max Horn
Comment by Jason King
Sydney Table
Salty Popcorn
Total Randomness
Comment by JohnDoe
Film & TV on DVD
So they finally film chases at actual speed instead of heavy CG and they are not just in suped up lawnmowers anymore???
I'm a big car movie fan but found none of the other installments had a pulse or feeling of velocity...also admit I can't stand Paul walker except in Running Scared and even then it was only because the things around him interested me.
Comment by Jason King
Sydney Table
Salty Popcorn
Total Randomness
I thknk I remember that you love the car movies of old. Where the director of say, Mad Max, sits behind the driver on a bike holding a camera while actually doing 180k's an hour. I don't think you will see much of that but the crash and car chase scenes in this I thoroughly enjoyed. One will prob make you vomit because it pretty much is mostly CG.
The first one and this one I enjoyed lots - the ones in the middle were ok but nothing on those.
And I don't mind Paul Walker at all but I think I may enjoy him for more than his acting prowess