Fast & Furious

If it hasn’t been clear already, the Fast & Furious franchise likes to get creative with its movie titles. None of them follow any real naming convention. With the second movie, 2 Fast 2 Furious, it was pretty common for movie sequels at the time to use the number as part of the movie title. With the third movie, it seemed like they planned on having it as part of a Fast & Furious movie brand, like I mentioned in my review. With this movie, it seems like they decided to just steer (no pun intended) right into giving each movie a different title. I actually love that they did that. It’s pretty funny, and it gives the series some character. I’ve heard some critics talk about how much they hate it. I think they just need to get a sense of humor.

Fast & Furious is the fourth installment of the franchise. Released in 2009, it brings back some of the original cast from the first film, while introducing some new characters. Five years after the events of The Fast and the Furious, Brian O’Connor is now a full-fledged FBI agent working to take down the Mexican drug lord Arturo Braga. Through his investigation, he ends up crossing paths with Dominic “Dom” Toretto and his sister Mia. Dom is on a revenge mission to take down the person responsible for the death of his girlfriend Letty. Whether they like it or not, they find themselves forced to work together to accomplish their goals.

Similar to the second installment, this movie is preluded with a short film called Los Bandoleros. Written and directed by Vin Diesel, it serves as a narrative connection between the events of the first two movies and Fast & Furious. In it, we see Dom bringing together members of his crew as they are tasked with stealing a fuel tanker in the Dominican Republic. This is what leads us to the opening sequence of Fast & Furious. In addition to connecting the storylines of the previous films, this short film reintroduces Han into the series. This establishes that Fast & Furious, and eventually the next two films, takes place before the events of The Fast and the Furious: Tokyo Drift. I would say this short film is more of a required viewing than the previous short film. You might have a lot of unanswered questions without watching it. On its own, it an enjoyable watch. I will say once Dom and Letty get reunited, nothing else happens in the rest of the story. It just becomes them driving down the road and floating on the water. Otherwise, it’s a well made short film.

Even if you haven’t seen any of the movies in the franchise, it’s no secret that the action has grown to an extent that is just plain ridiculous. How is it that we’ve gone from racing cars in the streets of L.A. to literally flying a car through space? This isn’t something unique to the Fast & Furious franchise, though. You can name any major action franchise and see how the stunts become more and more unbelievable throughout the years. With Fast & Furious, this is where the series starts to dip its toe into creating big spectacle stunts. However, it stays pretty small in scale, comparatively speaking. The majority of the action still revolves around races and fast driving, rather than creating these big set pieces with elaborate stunts. This is why this movie is my third favorite of the franchise. It’s able to provide plenty of action, while still focusing on the story and the characters. It’s able to let things develop instead of moving from one action sequence to the next.

Speaking of character development, let’s look at the core characters Brian, Dom, and Mia. The events of the first film play a major role in how they interact with each other. Mia and Dom still dislike Brian for what he did. Even though Brian lets Dom get away from the police, their family still was torn apart. They have to do everything they can not to lose each other like they lost everyone else. When they are forced to work with Brian, there’s still this sense of distain for him throughout all of their interactions. With Brian, he is still battling with whether or not he wants to be the “good guy”. Even though he has the job he’s wanted for a while, he finds himself doing everything he can to help Dom with his mission, despite Dom being a wanted fugitive. You really start to see Brian step closer and closer to embracing the life of Dom and his family. It’s these interactions and undertones that really make this movie stand out from the rest.

An interesting motif that exists throughout the franchise is Dom and Brian’s choice of cars. The first movie likely hints at this, but it really stands out in this movie. Dom always drives American muscle cars, and Brian always drives imported cars. In the second and sixth movies, you even see Brian driving a car with the steering wheel on the right side of the car. Whether or not this has any stronger meaning is probably best suited for someone doing a deeper analysis of the movie/franchise. I just like to look at it as an interesting character choice for both of them, or like a running gag.

If you can believe it, many of the driving sequences and effects were created using real drivers and practical effects. Returning director Justin Lin never wanted to compromise on the visual quality of his film. Michelle Rodriguez even wanted to do a lot of her own stunts. Obviously, not every single shot was created with practical effects. A driver isn’t actually driving a car as a flaming fuel tanker flies over him. However, when that same fuel tanker slams into the truck and explodes, that was done for real. The same goes for many of the other major action sequences in the film. The climatic car chase through the mountain tunnels was filmed on an actual set. While they intended to film these scenes in an actual tunnel, filming on location like that would have been too difficult, causing Justin Lin to make creative compromises that he didn’t like. Rather than create CGI cars, he preferred to have CGI tunnels. Justin Lin would continue to experiment with ways of blending CGI with practical effects and real driving. Say what you will about the franchise as a whole, but it’s this dedication to practical effects that prevents all of the movies from being total garbage.

I will say that this movie lacks in some areas when it comes to the visuals. There’s a scene where the drivers chosen for Braga are speeding through the desert at night. Now, I’m not entirely sure if it’s an issue with the set lighting, or if I have settings set a certain way on my TV. Regardless, I can barely see what’s going on while they’re driving through the desert. I can see some faint shapes that look like cars, but it almost feels like I’m just looking at a black screen for most of this scene. Additionally, the overall look of the movie feels a bit dingey. It doesn’t actually take away from the enjoyment of the movie all that much, but it is a stark contrast from the generally bright and colorful visuals from the previous movies. Having said all that, the color scheme does sit well with the tone of the movie.

Even though this is my third favorite in the series, I can see where the story tends to embrace some cliches and feels a bit campy. When investigating the crash site where Letty dies, Dom notices some paint on the road. Somehow, he know exactly what kind of paint it is and the only guy in all of L.A. who sells it. Okay, fine. I’ll let you have that. I’m not coming into this expecting some award worthy storytelling and acting. Despite any issues, the film is able to tell an engaging story while providing the stunts and action people will expect. It’s able to blend these elements without feeling forced or having pacing issues. I believe this is why it was the best performing movie in the series when it was released. Fun Fact: Gal Gadot made her feature film debut in this movie.

This movie served as a reboot for the franchise. The previous films hadn’t performed all that well, both with critics and with audiences. The studios were looking into cutting the budget significantly and making all future projects direct-to-DVD sequels. Somewhere in the process, they were convinced to go the opposite direction. Thank God for that. By connecting this movie to previous films and giving the series some lore, they created a movie that turned out way better than some might have expected. Not only that, they made the franchise much more popular than it was. Fast & Furious plays a major role in reigniting interest in the franchise. Despite its issues, it tells a cohesive story that allows for moving character moments and engaging car chases. At least with critics, it deserves more praise than it gets.