It feels like we really kicked of the summer blockbuster season. Or does that really start in May, or June? Anyway, I will try to cover some of the bigger movies with a small review or impression, pretty much spoiler free. Here’s the one for this weekend’s Fast and Furious.
The Story
In Fast and Furious the originals are back. Dom, his sister Mia, Brian O’Conner and let’s not forget former Lost star Letty. After something happens I won’t spoil for you, Dom goes out for revenge and of course, crosses paths with Brian. This involves, yes, here comes the surprise, a lot of racing.
Let me start by saying this one is much better than the last one, Tokyo Drift. And better than the second one, 2 Fast 2 Furious. It might even be a little better than the first one, but I don’t really remember. I’m not really into racing movies, so I didn’t watch it again. Actually, I’m surprised to say the movie was better than expected. Although at the same time, exactly what you would expect.
The cars
As I’m not really into these movies, I’m glad this movie isn’t about the cars. No geeky talk about engines and all the stuff inside the cars, this one’s mainly about the story. Still, if you’re in it for the cars, there’s no shortage there. But it’s mainly racing. The muscle cars against import.
The races
The story keeps a pretty good pace between the story and the races. Sometimes it needs to tell some unconvincing storylines to get them to drive yet again, but who cares. That’s why you’re seeing this movie and not Monsters vs. Aliens. I must admit, the high speed scenes didn’t blow my mind. The best scene is in the trailer and we’ve seen it over and over. But the whole scene where it comes from is pretty big and probably the most awesome of the driving scenes in the movie. Some scenes however, with navigation screens and navigation voices, really don’t make the movie look as cool as it wants to be.
The Characters
The movie benefits from the return of Vin Diesel, but Paul Walker still isn’t great. Actually nobody really shines in this movie. And this is the main problem of the movie. It’s just more of the same for the people that liked the other movies. It’s what you would expect. But I mean this in a positive way. Nothing great, but if you’re into popcorn, this is the one to eat it with this weekend.
The Verdict
I’m tempted to give this movie 3.5 out of 5 stars, but I know I will regret it. The movie just brings nothing new to the table. Still, for what it is, it’s pretty good. I was totally rooting for Monsters vs. Aliens, but I actually kind of liked Fast and Furious better. 3 out of 5 stars.
Fast and Furious review (3:14 minutes) added to the Cultjer video catalog on April 3rd, 2009.
