I rather enjoyed director Justin Lin's last FAST AND THE FURIOUS film (TOKYO DRIFT) and I've been looking forward to seeing what Justin does with the reassembled/original cast.
I recently got word that a change in screening policies at Universal means that not all Uni films will be screened for press/media (at least in certain regions). F&F, unfortunately, falls into my region's dark zone...which means I won't be getting an early look at the film like I'd anticipated.
I'm told Universal's new policy is the result of economic/logistical considerations & has nothing to do with the quality of the films themselves. I guess we'll see about that.
Here's Weapon X and a Half...
Weapon X and a Half here! Ok so the first review I sent you was for that
godawful upcoming Eddie Murphy movie, A Thousand Words, a few weeks back.
I'm happy to report that this time around, I'll be reviewing a much more
fun assignment: Fast and Furious. I had the opportunity to see this on
Monday at the Arclight in Hollywood. Let me start off by saying the only
really decent movie I've seen in the franchise was the first one. 2 Fast 2
Furious was 2 Stupid, and Tokyo Drift was also a waste of time (I mean,
what's the point of a Fast and the Furious movie if it's signature
character only makes a cameo). Well luckily, now there are two decent
movies in this franchise (which I hope ends with the high note that is
this film).
So let's cut the bullshit. We all know this movie probably should have
been made in 2003 (instead of 2 Fast), at the height of the popularity of
the first film (from 2001). And we all know Vin Diesel didn't want to be
type-cast as Dominic Toretto, but has since decided his career needs this
franchise, which is the basic reason why this film ever got made almost 8
years after his character was introduced. However, I need to say, I'm glad
this wasn't made immediately. If this sequel was made directly after the
first movie, I'd imagine it'd have a shittier plotline to bring Brian
O'Conner and Dominic Toretto together again--some hackneyed "Brian needs
to team up with Dom to take down a drug dealer" bullcrap which provides a
much weaker plotline than the first movie. Ok ok--that basically IS the
premise of this film. But it gets a little bit more personal than that,
which makes the overall story quite decent for a movie in this franchise.
Allow me to explain using...
HEAVY SPOILERS!
Ok so the film begins with Dom and Letty (Michelle Rodriguez) in the
Dominican Republic, hijacking huge tanks of gasoline with a crew that
includes Han from Tokyo Drift (I did like that connection, btw). When they
find out the cops are closing in on Dom, he decides to go on the run, and
leaves Letty to keep her safe.
Letty ends up going back to LA to stay with Mia (Jordana Brewster), but
ends up getting murdered after getting involved with a hardcore, unseen
heroine dealer named Braga. Dom is obviously tortured and pissed (Vin
Diesel successfully playing a hybrid of Dominic Toretto and his character
from A Man Apart) and vows to kill whoever murdered Letty.
Meanwhile on the other side of town, Brian (who we find out is now a
full-fledged FBI agent after the events of 2 Fast--Yes Paul Walker, the
blond Keanu Reeves is an FBI agent) and his team of agents are narrowing
their own by-the-book federal investigation of the Braga case. When he
finds out Dom's in town, and thirsty for Braga's blood, a rivalry ensues
over who'll get to Braga first. Of course the only way for either of them
to infiltrate Braga's operation, and thus find Braga, is to be recruited
for a high-stakes race through Koreatown, which they end up doing.
END HEAVY SPOILERS
Everything basically escalates from there, in typical good cop, bad "cop"
after a bad-guy fashion.
There are quite a few things to like about this movie. For one, this is
probably the darkest and most personal entry in the franchise. For about
80% of the film, everything feels grittier and a little more hardcore. The
sense of tension is deeper than anything we've generally seen in a
Fast/Furious film.
Also, some of the unforeseen twists (I say unforeseen because you
wouldn't expect them from a Fast and the Furious movie, but they aren't
entirely unpredictable in general), are pretty interesting: particularly
a connection between Letty and Brian, and the overall revelation of
Braga's character. These aren't deep twists, but they are somewhat
engaging, and up the stakes of the overall storyline.
The action sequences are fairly exciting as well. Even though you pretty
much only get one overall race, it's a good one, and the fights are pretty
bone-crunching badass (I personally liked the Vin Diesel vs Paul Walker
sequence). BTW, Diesel is in top form for this, even if he's playing the
typical tortured, hard-assed, "insert something monosyllabic and tough"
dialog-fueled archetype that we're used to from him. I mean it's not The
Pacifier at least. You definitely feel for his character, and Diesel's
very comfortable returning to it, making him more tortured, but staying
true to who he established the character as in 2001.
And to elaborate on what I said before, the fact that the movie was only
made now, as opposed to immediately after the first one, really genuinely
is one of its strengths. The passage of time and distance between these
characters is much more believable, as are their developments as well. For
example, for the majority of the movie, Brian and Dom remain rivals first
and foremost. They make sure to instill initial feelings of distrust for
most of the film. It takes 2/3 of the movie for them to reconnect as
partners, which is believable considering the characters' motivations,
histories, and time apart. Bringing these characters together again should
seem like a gimmick, but actually, and surprisingly, the whole thing goes
over quite naturally, which is something I didn't expect at all.
Now, what's not so good?
One of my biggest complaints was how strong Dom's storyline is, but how
weak Brian's is overall. He spends most of the movie wondering if he's a
"good guy posing as a bad guy" or a "bad guy trying to be a good guy." We
get an obvious answer to this at the end, but it's quite weak and
uninteresting. You also get a really forced "rekindled romance" with
Jordana Brewster's Mia, which isn't believable at all.
For that matter, it brings me to another complaint. Mia's character
doesn't have much to do in this film. She's got maybe 10-15 minutes of
screen time, max, and none of those scenes are particularly pivotal.
Michelle Rodriguez gets even less screen time, but of course, her
character is incredibly crucial to the story.
There's also a groan-inducing unbelievable scene where Dom essentially
plays CSI to discover what happened to Letty. It's a little ridiculous
considering that we know he's not Sherlock Holmes, and would most likely
not be able to deduce every specific event that occurred the night of the
murder, based on tire tracks, nitrous residue, and paint.
And finally, the worst thing about the movie is that it collapses on
itself in the final act. That's not to say the final act is horrible, but
it's definitely much more campy and unbelievable, which is inconsistent
from the enjoyably dark and gritty tone set by the rest of the movie.
What do I mean? Well let's just say it involves a chase through desert canyons
that double as secret passageways and tunnels for drug smuggling
racers--in a James Bond villain/Wacky Races sort of way. Apparently you
can convert a desert cliff into a garage that syncs up with your remote
controlled car genie. Oh, and after Vin Diesel disposes of a villain, he
has a one-liner catch phrase, which is somewhat badass, yet somewhat of a
groaner.
Overall though, the movie's pretty good. I'd give it a solid "B." Much
better than 2 Fast, and Tokyo Drift. I'd go as far as to say that it even
had the potential to be better than the first at some points, given a much
more dark and personal storyline, but was eventually ruined by a
ridiculous last act, and some weak plot points (again primarily concerning
Brian).
I'd say if you were following and enjoying the franchise so far,
you definitely should be fairly pleased.
'til next time,
Weapon X and a Half
