Synopsis:
Brian
O'Conner, now working for the FBI in LA, teams
up with Dominic Toretto to bring down a heroin
importer by infiltrating his operation.
The Freak's
Rating: A- : I am as surprised as
anyone that we've arrived at a fourth
installment to the Fast and The Furious
franchise. The first film of the series
was good, integrating classic muscle cars and
Nitrous Oxide foreign cars and bringing the
audience into an underground racing world.
The second and third movies lost the lustre and
barely skated by as mediocre action flicks.
By the time the fourth film entered development,
it was obvious something had to be done to try
to reinvigorate all the enjoyment of the
original. So what better to do than bring
everyone back?
I
heard all the clips from the pre-release press
junkets this cast took. Vin Diesel saying
that "the public owns Dom", Paul Walker saying
"the cast needed to be back together", etc...
I laughed at each one I heard, thinking a world
without the F&F cast was one I was fine living
in. What kind of ego did they have to
think that the casting played such an important
role in a franchise as laughably acted as this
one. The cast knew something I didn't,
because somehow they were right.
There
are classes in theater that teach dialogue, both
delivery and writing. I'm guessing that
while at film school, many of the actors and
writers of Fast & Furious were so hungover at a
frat house that they just couldn't make it to
these courses. There are lines that are
downright laughable and some delivery that makes
you cringe. Believability is at an
all-time low here, with the laws of physics not
applying to the world this film takes place in.
Alongside the physical elements, there are
massive parties with tons of naked girls dancing
on the hoods of mega tricked out cars. At
these parties, races, crashes and deaths occur
regularly. Nobody seems to react with much
more than a shoulder shrug to any of the
goings-on.
Casting is well done in the film. It was a
fantastic idea to reunite everyone.
Michelle Rodriguez is so hot in this film that
you'd swear she was straight. How can
someone this attractive be playing for the other
team? Though Jordana Brewster has lost
some of her sex appeal since the first film,
Letty (Rodriguez) carries the load for her
limited amount of screen time. Diesel and
Walker are extremely likeable and you are
instantly in their cheering section during all
races. Supporting members are forgettable,
but necessarily so.
So
though there are moments of the film where we
are to believe Dom (Diesel) can understand a
crime scene better than Monk and the dialogue is
as cheesy as you've ever heard, there are some
amazing action sequences I found my eyes drying
out during because I didn't want to blink.
Fast & Furious has a fantastic finish and leaves
you wanting more. So if you've never
learned suspension of disbelief or have a tough
time doing it, save yourself the time and skip
F&F altogether. If, however, you are good
at it, proceed and you'll have a ball!
click here to review
it yourself!
