Fast & Furious (2009)

Good story, Not enough for a whole film

good back-story, and good acting

To all those who have watched it: I hope you enjoyed it as much as I do.

Strong acting helps the film overcome an uncertain premise and create characters that hold our attention absolutely.

With a few meandering and unproductive features, 'Fast & Furious' takes the series to new grounds. Bringing back familiar faces but finally implementing some much needed emotional depth, the fourth installment was the best of the franchise to that date.Back after a short hiatus are Vin Diesel and Paul Walker playing Dom Toretto and Brian O'Connor respectively. Not that the previous two films were entirely pointless, but Dom and Brian are the heart of the films. Without them, you don't get the same feeling of family and meaningful relationships. 'Fast & Furious' may not feature the high-octane stunts and action that its successors do, but it brought the series back to being about family, and particularly the drama that sometimes goes on between family. O'Connor is miraculously back to being an FBI agent after betraying their trust multiple times in the past, but with this series that type of stuff doesn't matter. Toretto is on the run once again since he went missing following the events of the first film. As ridiculous as it is to see Brian once again after Dom, I feel like it was the one last obstacle these two needed before they gained back each other's trust. Once they do, the film takes off. I love all the tension between Brian, Dom, and Mia, especially knowing where all of them end up. But I also love watching the cast drive insanely fast cars at ridiculous speeds and wreck every bit of them. The fourth film still tries to tell a lame undercover racing/drug/crime story with its villain, but the rest of it is a hell of a ride.The supporting cast includes the likes of Michelle Rodriguez, Gal Gadot, Sung Kang, Jordana Brewster, and John Ortiz. The latter plays the villainous Campos and probably has the most depth and/or personality out of any previous F&F antagonist. Rodriguez is back as Letty, who's death (being a central plot line to the film) is probably the most complicated and convoluted death I've ever seen from any franchise, and I'm still not sure I know exactly what happened.Overall, Fast & Furious progressed the series back to its Toretto vs O'Connor roots, but managed to finally give us the balance of emotion and action that we've wanted. It also happens to be the film that set up what is now more of a heist franchise than it is full of big muscles and muscle cars.+Dom & Brian+Finally balances emotion and action+Supporting cast is written and acted very well-Letty's death & Brian's time with the FBI is still puzzling8.2/10

Although this movie is the 4th in the series, the story actually takes place between the 2nd and the 3rd films with "Dominic Toretto" (Vin Diesel) and his girlfriend "Letty" (Michelle Rodriguez) having relocated to the Dominican Republic where they make a living by hijacking trucks transporting gasoline on a local highway and selling the fuel for a hefty profit. Meanwhile, "Paul Walker" (Brian O'Connor) has just returned from a successful operation in Miami and is now helping the F.B.I. in Los Angeles in its attempt to capture a notorious drug lord named "Arturo Braga" (John Ortiz). However, when Letty is killed by one of Arturo's men, Dominic subsequently returns to Los Angeles to take revenge upon the people involved. Soon both Dominic and Paul run in to each other and begin working together once again. Unfortunately, the cooperation between the two of them isn't fully sanctioned by certain law enforcement officials and as a result Dominic has to be on his guard at all times. Now rather than reveal any more I will just say that, although the plot was somewhat predictable, it still had some good suspense and a couple of surprises here and there to keep things interesting. Likewise, having two attractive actresses like Gal Gadot (as "Gisele") and Jordana Brewster ("Mia") certainly didn't hurt the scenery in any way either. Slightly above average.

Vin Diesel and Paul Walker are back, and they are having to work together even though they kind of don't really like each other still. The movie basically is all about the bad guys and the good guys being Walker and Diesel where both of them have the old shared enemy thing going on and have to help each other to achieve their goal. The plot kind of plays out like a crime thriller but with lots of cars, in fact I even felt at times like the cars were not as important in this one as before, they don't talk about them as if they are humans like they have before. The reasons I think this movie is poor I will go into but first I must say if you haven't seen the one's before this then go and watch them or this will make no sense.Let's start with the actors and the star attractions to the show, Paul Walker and Vin Diesel return in the style they left us with last. The duo have a strange problem in which I felt was actually the director and writers fault, giving them lines that make them look really dumb and obvious although neither actor does that well in this. The film has a lot of poor acting throughout and though it definitely isn't really dislikeable, still just far from good enough in this already high grossing franchise. The thing is I didn't hate this movie far from it in fact it isn't actually bad, but for me it is too close to being bad for it to even break average, the whole story is pretty basic but the people behind the scenes are the one's who make it a let down.Justin Lin is the man in the directors chair and for me he is again poor, the vision he sets out is just too like I said before, obvious, and he turns some moments which could have been good into over the top action and acting. Chris Morgan writes again and the collaborating between Lin and Morgan just is not going well, the dialogue is messy and like I said the whole plot is set out in such a generic and basic way. This movie will try to draw you in with all its action and big chases and races but all of it is false things to make you excited and I refused to be won over by disappointing work behind the scenes. Now the fourth instalment is probably somewhere so far into the series around third in my rankings, just about better than Tokyo Drift but below the first two. If you're interested in the series and have maybe already really connected with certain characters then maybe you will enjoy this more than I did and although I didn't really not enjoy it, I just felt it too much of a mess to be a film I could look back on with positivity. What Justin Lin tries to create is a movie that is fast but sombre and contains a whole lot of one-liners to try and impress, some come off well but the majority do not and overall I didn't feel pleased enough by the lines.So The Fast and Furious marches on and although this does it fast and furious, they forgot to make it actually good. One weird thing I felt about this was that actors like Walker and Vin Diesel are getting better as their respective characters and for the first time in the series since the first maybe, I could feel a little connection with them if only in select points. Finally I would recommend this to of course fan's of the series but also those who like big stunts and a bit of action + fast cars too, it feels a bit like a movie that someone attached NOS too and then flung into a cinema screen full pelt.

The fourth instalment in The Fast and the Furious franchise and third in line when it comes to series chronology, Fast & Furious follows the events of the second film and works its way backwards to connect with whatever transpired in Tokyo Drift. And while it does bring back the original cast, the story is so dull & forgettable that it marks a new low for this franchise.Set 5 years after the events of The Fast and the Furious, Fast & Furious tells the story of Dominic Toretto as he returns to Los Angeles after learning of a tragic news while Brian O'Conner on the other hand is now a FBI agent and has been trying to track down a Mexican drug lord. As the two meet again & realise that they have a common enemy, they team up to infiltrate into his gang.Tediously directed by Justin Lin, I get it that this sequel is Lin's attempt to close the gap he himself created between the last two instalments but apart from seeing the original cast on screen again, there is nothing worth watching in this movie. Even the chase sequences are tiring & timidly filmed, visual effects are not wholly convincing and performances by its reprising cast is an absolute letdown.On an overall scale, Fast & Furious is the weakest entry in the long-running franchise so far and everything this unnecessary sequel tries to do only ends up working against it. Despite having seen it less than 24 hours ago, I've already forgotten most of its plot, can't recall anything that was impressive about it, and never for once cared about any of its characters. Bringing nothing new to the table, Fast & Furious is a sequel on a standstill.