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 Pure Car-Porn!
Grade: C
Fast & Furious
Indian Release Date: 03/04/09
CBFC Classification: A
Running Length: 1 Hour 45 Minutes
Cast: Vin Diesel, Paul Walker, Jordana Brewster, Michelle Rodriguez, John Ortiz, Laz Alonso, Gal Gadot, Sung Kang
Director: Justin Lin
Screenplay: Chris Morgan
Cinematography: Amir Mokri
Music: Brian Tyler
If Fast & Furious and it’s ilk of “automobile street racing” movies were a cocktail then they would be made of a very standard recipe, one portion of drool worthy mean machines (basically car/motorbike porn), one portion of scantily clad five percent body fat females, one portion cliché dialogues & macho male posturing with a large shot of at least one major adrenaline inducing, effects heavy action sequence only to be shaken & stirred to the beats of various hip-hop & techno tracks. The ingredients for all the movies of this kind are the same, but what makes them different is the quality of the stuff that goes into making them.
The original ‘The Fast & The Furious’ (F&F for future reference in the review) back in 2001 along with ‘Gone in 60 Seconds’ in 2000 more or less kick started a slew of clones all aping to be cooler than the other in this genre of loud and flashy ‘automobile street racing’ movies. While the original ‘F&F’ was no classic by any stretch it was still a highly enjoyable no brainer which helped put Vin Diesel into the bracket of A-list action stars. The plot of the original was more or less a rip-off of the Keanu Reeves action flick ‘Point Break’ (1991) & the sequels that followed ensured the plot mattered even less. In the fourth part which for some reason chooses to go by the same moniker as the original minus “The” from the original title, the plot looks like a potpourri of elements from all three previous movies.
The film opens with a thrilling highway robbery in the Dominican Republic similar to the one in the original film but done on a far grander scale. Dominic Toretto (Vin Diesel), his girlfriend Letty (Michelle Rodriguez), Han (Sung Kang) & a few others try to steal oil from an oil tanker which makes one hell of a sequence but ends in an overblown and over-the-top improbable CGI fest. Soon after, Dominic, who’s still being hunted by the U.S. government decides to go into a self-imposed exile away from Letty in order to keep her safe but is drawn back into the game when he gets the news of her murder. Meanwhile Brian O’Conner (Paul Walker) has been reinstated into the F.B.I. and is working on a case which involves a drug cartel which uses high end cars & street racers to smuggle narcotics across the border. Somehow Letty’s murder is related to the drug cartel & soon enough the paths of former friends, Brain & Dominic cross when both get picked up as drivers for drug lord Bragga by his second in command, Campos (John Ortiz). While Brian is simply trying to arrest the elusive Bragga whose identity isn’t known, Dominic’s out for plain old fashioned revenge. Thus ensue many a car race across traffic laden city roads to deserts & even underground trails all mixed with a double cross or two & plenty of reunion in-jokes for all the returning members of the cast from the original.
Now nobody goes to watch an ‘F&F’ movie for the plot or character development, big loud action & hard babes is what everyone wants & the movie is full of it on that end. Characters mouth audience pleasing lines which can make sense & can be uttered only in this testosterone fueled world of ‘F&F’. Somehow even though the original movie was hokey and replete with those very same cliché lines, it did not feel as fake as it did here, maybe cause it was still kind of new when they did it the first time around.
The action sequences are plenty and are choreographed & shot with aplomb. The real standout sequence is the opening heist even if it ends unconvincingly, but nothing comes close to the thrill of the last race from the first movie. Most of the races play just like a video game, but with the fast cuts it does get difficult at times to figure out who’s winning or losing.
Even though there is zero character development of any kind & nearly everyone plays a one note character, having most the original cast back was a major selling point for the movie and it definitely does help though it doesn’t make a major dent. The presence of Vin Diesel alone guarantees a huge audience turnout primarily due to nostalgia and partly due to the reteaming of him and Paul Walker. Expecting great chemistry from Walker & Diesel is like expecting chemistry between a rock and a piece of wood but they don’t disappoint much and are passable. Diesel gets to utter some more words of wisdom like the first time around (remember “I live my life a quarter miler at a time”?) and act all tough and sound more gruff than usual but compared to the first movie this movie asks more of his acting abilities which he isn’t able to deliver convincingly. Paul Walker has improved over the years but barely. The other returning members are the two females Michelle Rodriguez & the very pretty Jordana Brewster. Both have small roles while Rodriguez gets the smaller one, neither one really leaves a mark in any manner. Sung Kang reprises his role of Han from the third film but is barely around which makes me wonder what was the need to go through all the trouble to try and show his association to Dominic and place this movie between the 2nd and the 3rd film in the series. John Ortiz can play a role of a drug lord in his sleep by now I guess, he does the same routine he’s done in ten other films, while Laz Alonso as his “trying-to-be-menacing” henchman looks more funny than dangerous.
A movie like Fast & Furious is critic proof, no matter what I say about it or decry it in any manner is going to change your opinion about wanting to watch it if you have seen the earlier movies or are a Vin Diesel fan or simply want to watch a “fun” movie in the theatres. The crowd will love the cars, the girls, the music, the races, the lines and the juvenile humor at times. Personally I found little to enjoy in this film, there was nothing I haven’t seen done better in films of a similar caliber before nor did the characters interest me greatly the first time around that a reteaming would spark a major interest, but I have watched worse movies (the 2nd one in the series was easily the worst) and if cinematic junk food is what your brain desires then go ahead and watch it, maybe you might enjoy it.
Final Verdict: A highly mediocre effort which is all brawn & no brains. The film is a loud & dumb visceral experience which is vapid as hell and would be forgotten the moment you leave the theatre.
Grade: C
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