Fast & Furious

A few years back, I remember going to see a movie that I thoroughly enjoyed. The movie had lots of action which revolved around street racing. This was a subject that I thought was very interesting and got to see on more than one occasion while I was younger. Of coarse, none of the racing that I saw was nearly as showy as what this movie portrayed, but I think that is what made it all the more appealing to me.

This movie was a pretty big hit, which I still enjoy watching every now and again. The movie I’m talking about was the original Fast and the Furious. The movie starred Paul Walker, as an undercover cop, and Vin Diesel, as a street racer.

The Fast and the Furious was pretty straight forward and had plenty of action scenes. All in all, it was something that was fun to watch. After the success of this film, a sequel was introduced to the market. This time around, Vin Diesel was not in the film. Instead, Tyrese acted aside Paul Walker.

Seeing the trailers for 2 Fast 2 Furious left me a little skeptical and I skipped seeing it in theaters. Some time later I watched the DVD and it turned out to be pretty much what I expected. The film lacked the entertainment that I got out of the first one and seemed to really miss an element without Vin Diesel.

Even later yet when I heard about Fast and the Furious: Tokyo Drift, I was skeptical but hoped the movie could rebound from the sequel. To my surprise, neither Paul Walker or Vin Diesel played a major role in the film. Just like the previous movie, I skipped seeing this in the theater. I wound up seeing it on a whim while hanging out at a cigar shop and was disappointed by what I saw.

The only part of the third movie that grabbed my attention was the closing scene. Seeing Vin Diesel make a cameo appearance at the end gave me a little hope for the potential fourth movie in the series. With two movies leaving me disappointed, I didn’t have high hopes for what would come in the next release.

While catching up on some online video, I came across the trailer for Fast & Furious. I checked it out and was thrilled to see a handful of the original cast in the upcoming release. When it finally hit theaters, I heard a lot of mixed things and decided to skip it and catch it when it released to DVD. The day after it began selling, my wife and I sat down to check it out.

Things start off with Toretto and Letty (Michelle Rodriguez) racing down a road in the Dominican Republic. They are trying to hijack the tankers from a big-rig hauling what appears to be gasoline. Behind him is Han Lue (Sung Kang from Tokyo Drift, which I could have sworn died in an explosion before the movie ended) in a truck to haul away the tanker as they are broken away from the moving rig.

After an action packed opening scene, Han Lue goes his own way after Toretto learns that he has been discovered and is being tracked down. After the separation, there is a surprising death that takes place and Toretto is called back to his old stomping ground with his sister Mia (Jordana Brewster) for a funeral.

Along the way we learn that Brian (Paul Walker) was reinstated into the FBI and is working the case revolving around this death. Before long, Toretto and Brian run into one another and begin working together to track down the person responsible for the death.

After a series of action scenes, the good guys win and the movie begins to close out. The end of the film leaves the storyline wide open for yet another film featuring the original cast (minus one due to that death I mentioned).

While I don’t regret picking up Fast & Furious, I wasn’t totally impressed by it either. It seemed to lack the punch that the original had and instead replaced it with more action scenes. While it was certainly better than the second and third films, it did not exceed the first in giving me that “fun to watch” sensation.

I’m sure I’ll check out the next movie, if there is in fact a next release, but I don’t expect it to be as good as the first.