Tag Archives: The Fast and the Furious

James Wan revs up the humanity, drama and believability in “Furious 7”

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Tyrese Gibson, Michelle Rodriguez, Paul Walker and Lidacris reprise their roles in “Furious 7”. Photo by Scott Garfield.

Whether you love or hate the The Fast and the Furious movies, there’s no denying their box office success and escapist appeal. I honestly never had much interest in the franchise until WWE superstar The Rock became a fixture with 2011’s Fast Five. Even then, I recognized that these are still big dumb action movies that require more than a reasonable suspension of disbelief and offer little more than a bunch of crazy stunts and spectacular fight scenes. When I found out Furious 7 would be directed by James Wan, better known for directing cerebral horror films like Saw and Insidious, I was more than curious to see how this latest sequel would turn out.

Wan puts the proverbial pedal to the metal early on as government agent Luke Hobbs (Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson) meets Deckard Shaw (Jason Statham), who seeks revenge for the death of his younger brother Owen Shaw (Luke Evans) in Fast & Furious 6. The result of this meeting is an amazing fight sequence that results in Hobbs plummeting several stories, landing on top of a car and ending up in the hospital with a broken arm and other injuries.

Kurt Russell (right) plays the secretive government agent that recruits Dominic (Vin Diesel, left) and his crew in “Furious 7”. Photo by Scott Garfield.

Dominic (Vin Diesel) and his crew of car-racing criminals become Shaw’s next target, and it doesn’t take long for them to figure out they’re being hunted. After Dom gives chase, resulting in a brutal head-on collision between him and Shaw, in steps Kurt Russell as a mysterious government agent who recruits Dom for a covert operation. In exchange for rescuing a hacker named Ramsey, creator of a Big Brother-esque program known as God’s Eye that allows one to hack into any surveillance system on the planet, from her overseas kidnappers, Dom will be allowed to use this program to track Shaw and stop him before he takes out his entire crew.

The globetrotting adventures commence with cars parachuting onto mountain roads from a plane and a chase scene that is choreographed much like a battle royal, with Roman (Tyrese Gibson) being taken out early on only to return at the perfect moment to save the day. Brian (Paul Walker) fights Kiet (Muay Thai star Tony Jaa) on a Road Warrior-esque bus that eventually slides to the edge of a cliff, forcing Brian to climb out and race up the side of the bus as it slides over the cliff. Letty (Michelle Rodriguez) arrives just in time for Brian to grab the spoiler of her car, preventing him from toppling over the cliff with the bus.

After rescuing the surprisingly beautiful Ramsey (Nathalie Emmanuel), the race moves to the Middle East, where Dom is forced to drive an incredibly expensive car out the window of one skyscraper, into the window of another skyscraper, out another window and into another skyscraper before he and Brian jump from the car, allowing it to crash below (thankfully there were no pedestrians around). Meanwhile, Letty and Kara (Ultimate Fighting Championship Women’s Bantamweight Champion “Rowdy” Ronda Rousey) have an impressive bout. Unfortunately Rousey and The Rock don’t share any screen time, despite their recent interaction at WrestleMania.

Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson channels Jesse “The Body” Ventura in this climactic scene from “Furious 7”. Photo by Scott Garfield.

Later, back in Los Angeles, Ramsey and Tej (Ludacris) try to hack God’s Eye and regain control of it. Jakande (Djimon Hounsou), using the God’s Eye to track them, is hot on their trail in a helicopter. In order to stay one step ahead of Jakande, Ramsey is forced to jump from one car to the next as they race past each other. From his hospital bed, Hobbs sees what is happening and, after powering out of his full-arm cast and stealing an ambulance, comes to the rescue. In a scene reminiscent of fellow wrestler-turned-actor Jesse “The Body” Ventura in Predator, The Rock then tears a machine gun off a downed drone and opens fire on the pursuing helicopter. I’m mentioning these sequences not as spoilers, but to point out that the action in Furious 7 is just as ridiculous as its predecessors. However, Wan is able to portray these scenes in such a way that they seem possible, no matter how implausible they might actually be.

Furious 7 also revs up the drama just enough to make it more compelling than the previous films. The fact that Walker died (in a car accident no less) during a break in the filming of this movie probably adds to that dramatic quotient a good bit. It’s easy to suspect that each time his character is in danger he might be the next one killed off. But Wan finds a much more tasteful way to explain why Brian won’t be in any future installments of this franchise, also serving as an emotional homage to Walker’s contributions to this series.

Other than that, there seem to be more closeups of shapely female body parts and other gratuitous sexuality than I recall in previous installments (no complaints here). The Rock says “sumbitch” far fewer times than he did in Fast & Furious 6, which is a good thing. There’s also a cameo by Iggy Azalea, which is kind of funny. Though I do feel Wan offers a little more humanity and believability, I’m not certain I would have noticed these differences had I not, as a Wan fan, been looking for them. But I will say that Furious 7 is, by far, the best Fast & Furious film I’ve seen (which isn’t many), and I am looking forward to seeing what else he might do with this franchise.

www.furious7.com

“Fast & Furious 6” is everything you should expect from a film starring The Rock and Vin Diesel

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Paul Walker, The Rock and Vin Diesel are working together in the latest installment of the “Fast and the Furious” franchise. Photo by Giles Keyte.

Oh, look. The Rock has another new movie in theaters. Since February, he’s had a new movie out each month in 2013, so why should May be any different? This time its Fast & Furious 6 and he’s reprising the role of Luke Hobbs, the federal agent he portrayed in 2011’s Fast Five. But while he was in pursuit of Dominic (Vin Diesel) and his gang of criminal street racers in the last movie, this time he’s seeking their help in stopping an even bigger threat in Owen Shaw (hey, that’s Luke Evans who was just in that other movie with Brodus Clay). Shaw leads a gang of street racers who drive these seemingly indestructible little wedge racers in order to procure all the pieces needed for a device that could become a global threat if it ends up in the wrong hands. Oh, and apparently Dominic’s thought-to-be-dead girlfriend Letty (Michelle Rodriguez) is still alive, and working for the enemy.

The Rock and Gina Carano are just two of the good-looking badasses in “Fast & Furious 6”. Photo by Giles Keyte.

The Rock and Vin Diesel (alongside Ludacris, Tyrese Gibson, Gina Carano and a bunch of other good-looking badasses) make an imposing team, but their hot rods and sports cars just don’t stand a chance against Shaw’s resources. Especially when the guy steals a tank and starts blasting and crushing everything in his path during one big chase scene. It seems, however, that the resources and expertise of The Rock and Vin Diesel’s crew are equally unlimited as they have a headquarters filled with all sorts of computers, weapons and other gadgets that allow them to figure out Shaw’s next move whenever needed. Oh, and they steel this homemade harpoon gun thingy from one of Shaw’s cohorts that will end up being crucial to the outcome of pretty much every other action sequence in the movie.

So they figure out that Shaw is working with Arturo Braga (John Ortiz), who is in a Los Angeles prison. Then Paul Walker decides to just waltz back into America (where he is not only a former FBI agent turned criminal, but is also still a wanted fugitive), sneak into prison using an alias, confront Braga and his gang of thugs, leave prison and fly back out of the country to join back up with the rest of the gang. And after he beats up Braga and his thugs, he finds out that Letty is, indeed, still alive and has amnesia, which explains why she shot Dominic earlier in the movie. (Oh, and Dominic just pulls the bullet out of his chest and continues on his mission as if he was just stung by a bee or something.)

Vin Diesel prepares for one of many death-defying stunts in “Fast & Furious 6”. Photo courtesy Universal Pictures.

Anyway, so after that tank chase scene, Shaw is captured (and Vin Diesel defies all laws of logic and science by catapulting himself through the air, catching Letty as she is thrown from the tank and safely landing on the windshield of a car without even scraping an elbow). So even though Shaw was able to obtain the chip he needs to finish his master plan, the good guys now have it. But Shaw has something of more personal value to some of the good guys, so they set him free with the chip. There is a pretty good twist at this point, when Shaw asks Letty if she will be leaving with him. But as soon as Shaw is out the door, the good guys give chase. Then a huge military plane descends so Shaw can drive into the cargo bay and escape. But those harpoon guns come into play here as the good guys chase the plane down what has to be the world’s longest runway in an attempt to stop the plane from taking off.

I haven’t seen any of the previous Fast and the Furious movies, but I don’t think it really matters that much. This movie leaves a lot of ridiculous questions such as: Why does The Rock repeatedly say “sumbitch” even though he otherwise doesn’t have a Southern accent? Why does Vin Diesel always sound like his sinuses are stuffy and his mouth is full of marbles? How does Tyrese Gibson keep his muscular physique while always munching on candy bars and junk food? None of these questions are answered, but this movie can still be fun if you let it. The fight scenes are well choreographed, the car chases are spectacular and it doesn’t pretend to be anything more than what it is. Which is to say that Fast & Furious 6 is everything you should expect from a movie starring The Rock and Vin Diesel.

www.thefastandthefurious.com

“Fast Five” revs the engine on action franchise

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Stars from previous “The Fast and the Furious” films return for “Fast Five”.

The summer action blockbuster season is officially underway this weekend as Fast Five races into theaters. The latest installment in The Fast and the Furious franchise stars Vin Diesel and other members of the previous four films’ casts, as well as some new faces for more high speed thrills.

The basic story is nothing new: everyone gets back together for one last heist, only this time around the stakes are higher due to the fact that Brian (Paul Walker) and his wife Mia (Jordana Brewster) are expecting. Many themes of family repeatedly come up in this latest installment, which  becomes a bit ironic considering how many shootouts take place during the film.

This time around, the gang finds itself in Rio de Janeiro (though filming was actually done in Atlanta) trying to steal millions from a high-powered drug czar, played by veteran actor Joaquim de Almeida, a role he has  played before and pulls off well. Chasing them along the way is WWE superstar, Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson and his team of special forces, including a beautiful cop played by Elsa Pataky.

The cinematography is great and I particularly enjoyed the way the  subtitles where incorporated, using italics and removing subtitles when characters in the film walk past them. Each character also gets in his one liners (sometimes too many), but the actors play their parts well.

Vin Diesel squares off against Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson

The film has more of an Ocean’s Eleven feel to it then past Fast and the Furious installments, with lots of character development, information about how to pull off the heist and foreshadowing about future problems, with less visceral action. This explains it’s longer-than-expected run time of 130 minutes. This slight change in formula is not a bad way to continue the series, but people looking for just nonstop car action may be a little turned off . Still, the stunts are incredibly well done, especially the beginning sequences, which are almost breathtaking.

Fast Five is by no means a great film. But there are enough one-liners, action sequences and beautiful women to keep the viewer entertained. With its mix of ’80s action and ’60s heist drama, it is still a great start to the summer movie season, and breathes new life into this ongoing series.

www.fastfivemovie.com