Fast and Furious

Viewer Rating:simonconnolly has rated Fast and Furious rating: 3 Star

I watched Fast and Furious recently and after doing so I found myself being reminded of the films tagline. New Model. Original Parts. What they mean to say is 'Fast and Furious is more or less The Fast and the Furious, we just removed a couple words from the title. And I can't say I am surprised. After the disappointing 2Fast 2Furious and the abysmal Tokyo Drift they really needed to get back to their roots. Unfortunately I knew they weren't the most imaginative bunch and so I knew it would be more or less the same. For a start Vin Diesel and Paul Walker are reunited for the first time since the first film. Michelle Rodriguez is back, although not for long. The story is also a bit too familiar. When we start the film Diesel's Dominic Toretto is doing the illegal truck robbing thing he was doing in the first film, he and Walker/ Brian O'Connor team up to take down the bad guy, for their own reasons and O'Connor is even back with Dom's sister Mia. To call it another sequel doesn't seem right, because as far as I can tell this is without doubt a remake. That being said I guess big fans of the franchise won't be disappointed in the slightest. There are criminals, guns, races, sex, fights and a few brutal crashes. You go see these films to witness some no holds barred, mindless entertainment, and on this level Fast and Furious doesn't disappoint. I will admit I did get a cheap thrill from seeing Diesel and Walker together on screen again, but it was a short lived pleasure. I have no complaints about Vin Diesel, I think that he is a good actor, he just makes the worst career choices. I mean this, The Pacifier, The Chronicles of Riddick, Iron Giant. For a man who made his name in a classic war film celebrated to this day (Saving Private Ryan) he really let his career go downhill very quickly. Walker, on the other hand I have never really liked. He has been in some undeniably brilliant films such as Pleasantville and Flags of our Fathers but I've quite simply never warmed up to him. There are two actors who I just have this unprecedented hatred for: Walker and Keanu Reeves. I'm almost certain the reason for this is simply that they are both such dreadful actors but they keep getting film roles. They are just such stone faced and to this day I have yet to see either one of them successfully express any emotion besides the 'I know I'm cool' look. And they deliver their lines so monotonously I do find it quite unbearable at times. Michelle Rodriguez does alright but her screen time is short lived so she didn't make a substantial impact. Jordana Brewster, as Mia, fits right in with the background and is once again utterly unmemorable. So all in all this is a fairly decent return to this once respected racing franchise. This being said when I say return I am hoping it is actually a departing film as I highly doubt they'll come up with anything better in the future. Considering the cast performances, the films plot and the dull twist at the end I would call it a bad film. But considering what it is this film provides for the main target audience then I would have to call it a huge success. And so I will give this film the benefit of my ever increasing doubt and give it 3 stars. 5 stars for giving the fans a more exciting and entertaining film, minus 2 stars for my own personal disappointment.

Review published on the 08 December 2009 10:56