[Movie 253 / Day 266]
The original the Fast and the Furious was a good, fun, car chase movie. Light on plot and heavy on action, it successfully combined lots of half-naked women with macho men and fast cars. The result was a popcorn movie; a guilty pleasure. The makers then decided to try and repeat the formula with the second movie. Unfortunately, a terrible script and some terrible acting, combined with a general lack of Vin Diesel meant it was total rubbish. After a few years, as the sport of drifting got more and more popular in the states, they thought they’d have another stab and out came Tokyo Drift. This time it had none of the original characters in it (apart from a small cameo at the end) but concentrated on the action and the half-naked women. The result was easily better than the second but not quite as good as the first.
Now, they’ve decided to have another crack at it, and have dropped both definite articles from the title but added four members of the original cast. So, ignoring the second movie because it was rubbish, this is actually a prequel to Tokyo Drift. I guess playing it safe, this movie is really little more than a rehash of the original, but it works. They’ve dropped some of the more garishly modified cars that were prevalent in the first movies, I guess finally realising they looked like crap. Instead, there are lots more muscle cars and grumbly V8s to go with the whizzy Japanese turbos. Brian O’Connor (Paul Walker) is an FBI agent. Dominic Toretto (Vin Diesel) is still a thief who uses cars in his robberies far more than a normal person would. There are still lots of pretty ladies in skimpy outfits. There are still large explosions and nail-biting races. There are still STUPID little incorrect details that annoy. There is still crappy CGI. All in all, they’ve made an admirable fist of replicating the original.
It’s fun. It’s a popcorn movie. Just don’t think about the wooden acting, the crappy dialogue or the terrible CGI. Sit back and enjoy the cars and the stunts and you might just enjoy it. It’s certainly the best F&F movie since the original; although rumours are afoot that big Vin wants to make a fifth, which has the potential to be as bad (or even worse) than the second. I’d probably still watch it though.
My Rating: 
[ IMDB rating: 6.6 / 10 | IMDB link | Running time: 107 mins ]
