Fast and Furious
Nathan Swank
September 18th, 2009
Vin Diesel and Paul Walker reteam as ex con Dominic Toretto and FBI agent Brian O’Conner, to take down a drug dealer who likes to race cars…I smell a wacky sit com! The duo infiltrate the drug dealer’s crew by racing tricked out cars to obtain an open position. This is very convenient since the ex-con and FBI agent are both very good at driving seeing as it is their passion as well….small world.
Director Justin Lin does a fairly decent job of filming some of the action scenes, particularly the opening. The opening scene is sadly the best part of this movie. It does a great job of pulling the audience in with an action-packed, high-energy intensity that is perhaps an over dramatic way to steal gas. The problem here is I saw nearly this entire scene in one of the films extended previews well before I saw the film. Nonetheless, the opening is very inventive and exciting and it’s too bad the rest of the movie can’t keep up with its drive. There are some high-adrenaline, great action scenes later on but comparatively, they are definitely subpar. While exciting, the problem is that they are so extremely outlandish and unbelievable that it takes you right out of the movie. I asked far too many “why” and “how” questions, which stopped me from just enjoying the cool car racing action.
The acting here is adequate but is fitting for the bland script. Vin Diesel has definitely mastered the craft in delivering flat lines with no emotion and has lines that are ridiculously laughable. To be fair, that is actually more of a highlight of the film. If you like to see cool cars and scantily clad women making out in the background and over testosterone-filled men then have at it. Don’t get me wrong I like a pretty lady as much as the next, but there are other types of movies to fulfill that need. I do think this is an extremely forgettable film that just couldn’t keep my interest. I began thinking of other things during the movie and I never do that. It is slightly aware of itself as fun popcorn flick, but that doesn’t mean it still isn’t bad. The story stalls out and bores in between the action scenes, which are far too few. The action scenes that do show up are in hyper overdrive and are less impressive, but more ridiculous. I think the movie actually believes in itself at times which makes it more enjoyable but for the completely wrong reasons. The film didn’t end fast enough and that made me a little furious.
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