Director: Justin Lin (Better Luck Tomorrow, Fast and the Furious: Tokyo Drift, Annapolis)
Writer: Chris Morgan (Cellular, Wanted, Fast and Furious: Tokyo Drift)
Producers:Vin Diesel, Michael Fottrell, Neal H. Moritz
Starring: Vin Diesel, Paul Walker, Jordana Brewster, John Ortiz, Gal Gadot, Michelle Rodriguez
MPAA Rating: PG-13
Running time: 107 min

Not a true R3view as only two of us were actually brave enough to head out to the multi-plex to see the fourth installment in the F&F franchise. While most consider this series to be one step up from cow dung, we (Andrew and Marina) admit to the first film being quite a fun guilty pleasure. Bringing back the original cast for this most recent segment of the thread was enough for us to get out, buckle up and prepare for one helluva ride… maybe.

Synopsis:
Dom (Diesel) and crew are still up their old tricks; hijacking rigs for their valuable contents. Now on the run from the law however, they’re forced to work their racket in smaller countries such as the Dominican Republic. When an unexpected plot twist forces Dom to return to The States (Los Angeles), he knows the law will be breathing down his neck the second he crosses the border. Luckily for him he’s got a friend on the inside (Paul Walker). Together they work on the inside of a major crime syndicate; one of them out for justice, the other out for revenge. Fast cars and general mayhem ensue.

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Marina:

When The Fast and the Furious opened in 2001, Vin Diesel had only made a handful of films but he was coming off of Pitch Black, a film that I had recently seen and enjoyed. Now here came Diesel as a hardcore street racer who is wanted by the police. Rob Cohen’s film wasn’t great but between Diesel’s bad guy persona and the cars, the movie was a success ripe for a follow up though I admit even I didn’t see a franchise of this size in the future. We won’t speak of the second film which was a complete waste of time even for fans of fast cars but the third brought in a new director, new scenery and a new lead which surprisingly, breathed some new air into the franchise’s lungs. That’s not to say that The Fast and the Furious: Tokyo Drift is a good movie but it never took itself too seriously (though Lucas Black did seem to be acting his heart out). The story was virtually non existent, music was over the top, the cars were sweet, the action sequences (drifting like you’ve never seen before) were spectacularly captured and overall, the movie managed to be good mindless fun. Perhaps the most memorable part of the film was the closing scene which (*spoiler alert*!) features an appearance by Vin Diesel in his trademark American Muscle. So the fire was fueled.

That appearance started the speculation that Diesel might return to reprise Dominic Toretto but when it was announced that everyone would be making a return for Fast & Furious, I couldn’t help but get giddy with excitement. They were bringing Tokyo Drift director Justin Lin back for number four and with everyone on board, this was shaping up to be the ultimate entry into the franchise; too bad the movie didn’t come with a warning that they were going all serious on me.

Admittedly, all of the actors involved with this franchise have taken their characters seriously (hence Toretto’s appeal) but the directors (at least Cohen and Lin) seemed to understand the ridiculousness of what was going on and the movies were never more than mindless fun sadly, someone decided to throw an actual story into Fast & Furious and to make matters worse, even the camera seems more interested in the goofy dramatic moments than in the cars. The result is a lack-luster film which features awesome cars that we don’t see enough of, racing that we don’t see enough of, many scantily clothed women, a latin-based soundtrack which lacks the groovy fun of the Japanese infused Tokyo Drift and everyone being too serious for their own good. What I do give them a bit of credit for with the script is the attempt to tie this film into the timeline just before Tokyo Drift takes place. A quick comment that most casual viewers will gloss over but one that franchise fans will revel in. It comes fairly early on in the movie and it gave me hope that perhaps the script had improved; I was wrong. When anyone tries to have a serious conversation, the theater erupts into a fit of giggles. Can you blame them? The sub par acting we’re ready for but the heart to hearts, which had always been kept to a minimum are crawling all over this movie and the resulting product is a dud. I will give credit where it’s due: somewhere between 2003 and 2009, Paul Walker made a couple of movies and must have taken some acting lessons because he’s no longer dead weight.

It’s a disaster of fairly minor proportions, I say minor because no one ever expected greatness from the franchise. What I did expect was entertainment and Fast & Furious didn’t even manage that much. The racing sequences felt flat, the story far too serious and overall, I simply didn’t have fun. I have however, detected a trend: one good (relative term) followed by a bad movie and this new entry follows the pattern. I expect that the next film (and there will be a next: the closing scene in Tokyo Drift sets it up nicely and the opening weekend numbers will have someone yelling for another entry) will return to the great ridiculousness of it all and I’ll be right there waiting to enjoy it. Until then, I’ll have to keep myself happy with a little drifting action.

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Andrew:

Most of the time I like my movies to have something to think about. Something to ponder. A depth into the minds of the characters or their situation that can get me involved in the story. Maybe even get me into their shoes in one way or another and have me imagining what it might be like to be there. Either that or over-the-top awesomeness (Desperado, Doomsday). Fast and Furious has neither.

The first film had some relative new-comers to the acting scene intertwined in a semi-interesting love triangle with a little bit of undercover cop action and loaded with fast cars and hot women. Sort of a The Departed for mouth breathers. This movie is designed solely for the mouth breathers. The cars aren’t nearly as impressive, the chases and races have far less at stake and the intrigue of an undercover cop is gone now that our anti-hero already knows he’s a cop. Also, the script is laughable through most scenes. It’s not funny when it’s supposed to be and the attempts at drama just come off as eye-rolling.

Admittedly Diesel and Walker’s characters make a good, on-screen, Tango and Cash like duo (yes, they won the MTV award back in ’01) and our villain (Jose Ortiz of Miami Vice) is effective enough; but what they’re given to work with feels like the work of a competent 9th grader.

The opening flat-out highway hijacking scene is thrilling enough (albeit complete bullshit), but the rest of the races and chases are reduced to mostly just interior shots of the actors and cars whizzing by the camera in a CGI blur with no perspective relative to time or space. Having said that, one race scene through the streets of Los Angeles certainly had a good time giving the audience their very own GPS system and some overhead pull-away shots that were fairly effective.

The problem though is that throughout 90% of the movie, I just didn’t give a shit. And that’s not my fault; that’s the fault of the script/director. Oh yeah, and closed circuit to Michelle Rodriguez: where the hell were you?

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Consensus:

Average score:

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