Throwback Thursday Review: 'Fast & Furious'

Sorry for the delayed review but I decided to instead just knock two birds out with one stone and continue my series of Fast & Furious reviews by releasing my thoughts on The Fast and the Furious: Tokyo Drift and Fast & Furious. Films I hope to see and review in 2017 that I didn't get around to in 2016 include Collateral Beauty and Passengers.

'Fast & Furious' Review

Fast & Furious is the fourth entry into the Fast & Furious franchise refocusing on the core cast from
The Fast and the Furious as Brian O'Connor, now with the FBI, must reteam with Dominic Toretto to bring down a drug lord. While Fast & Furious doesn't exactly revolutionize the franchise, it does begin the transition to more watchable entertainment.

Justin Lin returns to direct and the step-up in production value is evident as the stunts are crazier, the acting's slightly improved, and the cinematography is competent. Not that this will surprise anyone but there's little substance or story in Fast & Furious. It's all about the number of fast cars and attractive women they can stuff into one production.

I'm convinced this about the time that the Fast & Furious franchise found it's niche: ridiculous stunts involving cars. It's not till the subsequent entry that they find an adequate balance between that and a suitable story. The action is much more exhilarating than previous installments as the cars are faster and I guess the characters are more furious?

Chris Morgan's screenplay builds some generic character arcs but these are much better than those found in the last three entries. Morgan also throws in some nice twists and turns that show some characters at their most vulnerable and just managed to better dress ongoing events.

The performances are improved for sure as Vin Diesel gets to showcase some range, Paul Walker has some charisma to him now, and Jordana Brewster and Michelle Rodriguez make the most of what they're given. Gal Gadot makes her debut to the franchise, making a convincing hench-woman of sorts, and John Ortiz is an evil drug lord and does what he can to make an impression.

Again, Fast & Furious offers up everything you expect from the franchise but everything's slightly more refined than usual.

Film Assessment: C-

Throwback Thursday Review: '2 Fast 2 Furious'

This week's Throwback Thursday Review is over 2 Fast 2 Furious as I continue my series of Fast & Furious reviews. Reviews you can expect for the remainder of the year include Rogue One: A Star Wars Story, Collateral Beauty, Passengers, Sing, Assassin's Creed, Fences, and Throwback Thursday Reviews over The Fast and the Furious: Tokyo Drift and Fast & Furious.

'2 Fast 2 Furious' Review

2 Fast 2 Furious is the subsequent installment in the Fast & Furious franchise following up The Fast and the Furious centered on ex-cop Brian O'Connor who's moved to Miami in hopes of starting anew. When he's approached by the FBI, he then must team up with former friend Roman Pierce to bust a prosperous drug dealer and clear both their records. 

John Singleton directed the sequel only to change up the formula by adding a buddy cop element, and while it's a laughable attempt it does at least shake things up. 2 Fast 2 Furious keeps up the streak established in the original; pitiful performances and a ridiculous script. Again, 2 Fast 2 Furious hasn't aged well; the CGI is dreadful, the early 2000s R & B soundtrack from David Arnold is poppy, and it still insists of being mindless high-speed entertainment. 

Michael Brandt and Derek Haas wrote up a screenplay that's self aware of how stupid it is as the dialogue is corny and the story feels like a video game mission. The cast fill the  one-dimensional characters but don't do much for their personalities. 

Paul Walker returns as Brian O'Connor and try as he might just falls flat onscreen. Walker says the cheesy dialogue but it just doesn't work because he lacks charisma. Tyrese Gibson on the other hand is as hammy as it gets in the role of Roman Pierce and manages to actually make it kind of work keeping this movie's engine running, it's no surprise he was brought back for later installments. Ludacris keeps it cool as Tej but has little to actually do aside from serve as a connection for O'Connor to run to when he needs assistance. 

Eva Mendes is about as sexualized as it gets in her role with little overall importance in the grand scheme of things. Cole Hauser plays Carter Verone as a fairly one dimensional villain with practically no motivation, he really doesn't add much to the proceedigs aside from being an antagonist.

2 Fast 2 Furious feels like a Need For Speed video game mixed with Lethal Weapon, but manages to be worse than both.

Film Assessment: D

Throwback Thursday Review: 'The Fast and the Furious'

Sorry for the delayed review but this week's Throwback Thursday Review is over The Fast and the Furious and I realize it makes absolutely no sense why I would be reviewing this in December. However, there's a lot of major blockbusters coming out next year including Fast 8 (The Fate of the Furious) and I'm trying to review a majority, if not all, of their predecessors and figured I could cram in the first few Fast & Furious films in the slow weeks of December. Next week I will be reviewing West Side Story to coincide with La La Land's minuscule limited release that weekend, I managed to get passes to a screening on December 13th that I'm absolutely thrilled to be attending and will get my thoughts on the film out on the internet ASAP because La La Land is surprisingly one of the films I've been most excited for this year. Reviews you can expect for the remainder of the year include Billy Lynn's Long Halftime Walk (Sorry for the delay on this one), Rules Don't Apply, Miss Sloane, La La Land, Rogue One: A Star Wars Story, Collateral Beauty, Passengers, Sing, Assassin's Creed, Fences, and Throwback Thursday Reviews over West Side Story, 2 Fast 2 Furious, The Fast and the Furious: Tokyo Drift, and Fast & Furious.

'The Fast and the Furious' Review

In The Fast & the Furious, Los Angeles police officer Bryan O'Connor must go undercover in the street racing arena to discover the culprits responsible for a series of big-rig heists. Rob Cohen directs and had to be somewhat aware of how cheesy this blockbuster is because he let it persist among the silly screenplay, awful acting, and hip-hop heavy soundtrack interchangeable with a racing video game like Need For Speed or Grand Theft Auto.

Director of photography Ericson Core does a great job capturing the cars as they speed away but Cohen's decision to utilize slow motion and shaky cam is outright laughable in some moments, with neither really necessary for the dramatic or emotional impact intended. Also, The Fast & the Furious has not aged well because a lot of the pump and circumstance comes across as a little outlandish and the 2000's sheeny filter covering it all certainly didn't help.

BT offers a pop synth heavy score that sometimes makes for decent accompaniment to ongoing events and races but other times feels a tad ill suited and almost inappropriate bursting in after a tense moment, it's really not at all surprising to see that he actually later went on to work on the soundtrack for Need For Speed: Most Wanted. The screenplay penned up by Gary Scott Thompson, Erik Bergquist, and to my surprise David Ayer, based on magazine article "Racer X", has some of the campiest dialogue I've ever heard and spotlights a nonsense story at its core.

The performances are almost a joke as Vin Diesel delivers dialogue with a steely gaze as Dominic Torretto, Paul Walker is burdened to carry the heavy handed emotional arcs as Bryan O'Connor but honestly can't handle it as he simply can't act (at least not decently yet). Chad Lindberg plays a squeamish wimp, Johnny Stone and Matt Schulze are the muscle and Michelle Rodriguez, Jordan Brewster, and a host of street race babes are the pin-up sex appeal. Rick Yune makes an okay villain that has at least one good interrogation scene but gets swallowed up in the cheese of the franchise.

The Fast & the Furious is loud, proud, and kind of obnoxious, making it synonymous with street cars and that audience but it's somewhat of a guilty pleasure. Undoubtedly, The Fast & the Furious is one of the cheesiest entries in the franchise and that's probably why many people like it but I'm personally more into the action-heavy later installments that embrace the over the top outrageousness so the original pales in comparison. The high octane street races and heists are amusing, but nothing compared to what the franchise's future has to offer in terms of upping the ante of ridiculous stunts involving Diesel & diesel.

Film Assessment: D+

'Furious 7' Review

I saw Furious 7 recently and really enjoyed it. I believe the best parts of the film were the crazy stunts action scenes, and the performances. The franchise has really changed throughout it's seven films with a greater focus on crazy stunts and action scenes and less focus on car races. The action scenes are even larger and more convoluted than they were in the last installment with a few major scenes that were showcased in the trailers featuring cars dropping from an airplane, a car jumping across two buildings. Going into the film I was worried all of the big action scene were spoiled but there is much more to these scenes than what is shown in the trailers. The performances in the film were also very enjoyable. I really enjoyed Michelle Rodriguez and Vin Diesel's chemistry as both are quite enjoyable to see onscreen together. Tyree Gibson does what he dopes best and delivers some hilarious lines and is mainly in the film for comedy like the previous installments. Ludacris is also hilarious and it is fun to watch him tease Gibson's character. Jason Statham delivers a very convincing performance as the film's villain but seems to provide more of a "Winter Soldier" role to the story as a trained spec ops agent that seems to be in the right place at the right time merely seeking revenge. The Rock delivers his cheesy lines with a lot of gusto however be aware that the Rock is not as large a part of this film as he has been in the previous two installments. And I am aware that Paul Walker didn't actually film all of his scenes due to his tragic death but his character has some of the best action and fight scenes. I will say that they handled the Paul Walker situation perfectly with a touching sendoff with a montage of clips that featured him from the previous Fast And Furious films. I am not necessarily connected to the franchise given that the first Fast and Furious film I saw was Fast Five however I did cry because of the suggested bigger picture and larger meaning to this scene and thought it was the best way for Paul Walker to have exited the franchise in a way that doesn't come across as offensive or a cruel version of Paul Walker's actual death from a car crash.  Overall, Furious 7 is definitely the best installment of the franchise so far and I do think this film provides a nice ending to the franchise but after a $143 million opening box office this weekend I doubt the franchise will end soon. I highly suggest watching the film if you are a fan of action films, Fast and Furious films, or want to watch Paul Walker one last time.