Haven't been here for years... all new and shiny these days.
Haven't been here for years... all new and shiny these days.
Member since:31.10.2000
Reviews:148
Members who trust:101
The Fast and The Furious has all the ingredients to be the ultimate testosterone driven guy film. Stunning looking hyper performance cars with all the latest performance gadgets, lingering gratuitous camera shots of a variety of eye candy and impressive camera work capturing high octane action in the form of illegal road races. Unfortunately it has a plot borrowed straight from Point Break and editing that leaves far too many periods of the film flat and gives the whole thing a disjointed feel.
I realise that many of those who have rated this have given it a glowing review but I found it difficult to generate any real enthusiasm. The plot simply swaps the backdrop of surfing for that of road racing and casts Paul Walker (of The Skulls fame) in the Keanu Reeves role as undercover cop, Brian O'Conner. his mission is to try to uncover the identity of a hi-jack team whose modus operandi involves intricate driving of three heavily modified Honda Civics with the aim of relieving truck drivers of their vehicles. The elder brother figure of Patrick Swayze is reprised by 'the new action hero' Vin Diesel who cuts a formidable figure as Toretto the leader of one of the car gangs.
After the necessary period of ingratiating himself with Toretto and his gang and on a more romantic level with Toretto's sister Mia played by attractive Jordan Brewster the film tries to move up a gear. This is where it seems to stall in my opinion with the O'Conner suspecting the wrong gang a la Point Break. It is by religiously keeping with the Point Break plot that TFATF not only loses any sense of originality but also drags during this dull and unnecessary mid section. I'll not go into the inevitable ending as those who haven't seen Point Break may actually not know what happens in the big finale.
So after a perhaps harsh lambasting of this movie is there actually anything about it I enjoyed and the answer is a firm yes. The scenes actually involving the car races and chases are some of the best ever filmed. Impressive camera work, including an innovative in the engine CGI, and thumping soundtracks combined with the magnificent styling and sound of the huge variety of performance cars make these scenes an adrenaline pumping rush. Unfortunately the heights of viewing pleasure reached were you can practically taste the burning rubber makes the contrast with the 'serious' (substitute dull) moments in the movie all the more evident.
Normally in a review I would devote some time and amateur analysis to the performance of the actors unfortunately with a flimsy script that renders even the leads Diesel and Walker little more than paper thin characters there is little to say. Vin Diesel is likely to prosper further as his impressive figure combined with the current derth of true action leads at the moment means that TFATF has probably done no harm to his credentials. As for the remainder of the cast none are given enough in the script to shine and are little more than eye candy; even Michelle Rodriguez who was so impressive in Girlfight is unable to mark her mark as Toretto's girlfriend.
Maybe I have been too hard on a film that has no intention to be much other than an enjoyable couple of hours of mindless entertainment but I was disappointed by TFATF. Perhaps my expectations were too high or my hangover too intense but I found myself irritated by the blatantly lifted plot, the woeful script and the annoyingly cliched characters and scenes. The car scenes are exceptional but it doesn't save this movie from being decidedly average in my view... To throw in controversy yet further I think I preferred Gone in 60 Seconds.
Running Length: Tomatometer Rating: 55%
How helpful would this review be to a person making a buying decision? Rating guidelines
Production Year: 1964 - Action/Adventure - Director: Cyril Endfield - Original Language: English - Classification: Parental Guidance - Starring:Stanley Baker, Jack Hawkins, Ulla Jacobsson, James Booth, Michael Caine, Nigel Green
Production Year: 2002 - Action/Adventure - Director: Vincenzo Natali - Original Language: English - Classification: 15 years and over - Starring:Lucy Liu, David Hewlett, Anne Marie Scheffler, Joseph Scoren, Matthew Sharp, Jeremy Northam
Action/Adventure - Director: Gore Verbinski - Original Language: English - Classification: 12 years and over - Starring:Bill Nighy, Keira Knightley, Johnny Depp, Geoffrey Rush, Orlando Bloom, Chow Yun-Fat
Advantages: Back to the cruising scene with great cars, great sound systems and great girls. Action packed Disadvantages: It's not as good as Fast and Furious, poor acting, unrealistic story
Advantages: Plenty of action, nice effects, Vin Diesel, no need to think too hard. Disadvantages: Not really any, unless you're expecting something that it's not.
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Oct 2nd, 2001
very helpful by (100%):
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