Here at Hecklerspray, we love Vin Diesel, we really do. Maybe it’s because he looks like the love child of a polar bear and Chuch Norris, it could be because his voice can cut through a can of baked beans or perhaps it’s because he has to kiss Michelle Rodriguez so we don’t have to.
One thing it definately isn’t, though, is his choice of films!
Returning to the Fast and Furious franchise, all the cast seem keen and eager to get back to where they began (i.e. obscurity) and get in on the action(i.e. pay cheque).
Going into the fourth installment (which, sadly, didn’t opt for the title 4 Fast 4 Furious), this is actually a prequel to the previous installment, Tokyo Drift (not that it matters). The main draw here is all the original actors return: Diesel, Paul Walker, Michelle Rodriguez and Jordana Brewster.
Fast and Furious movies come with a few prequisites; firstly we expect fast cars, cinemas full of dribbling ASBOs and impressive stunt work. In fact, we sat down with a few beers and pals to enjoy this latest installment, the way it should be watched.
The film starts off with a bang (in the form of a big CG truck), but before that rolls towards us, we are propelled straight into a moving canyon-path heist. Dom (Diesel) and Letty (Rodriguez) show some skills and throw the audience into an impressive action set-piece, full of vehicle to vehicle jumping, crashes and explosions – not a bad way to get things going!
Sadly, the fun soon slips its foot off of the accelerator. While FBI Agent O’Conner (Walker) even makes a decent entrance in the form of a nifty foot-chase, the fun is short-lived. Dom and O’Connor soon team up again on the trail of a murder, the two then getting back in the fast cars to beat the evil drug dealers (A couple of villains so lacking in any substance, subtitles may as well appear saying ‘booo!’)
The film has about four major action set-pieces, two of which (including the climax) take place in the same uninspired CGI cave – Clarkson would feel shortchanged by the level of cheap-looking, fabricated stunt-sequences contained in this film! It is dissapointing that a film reliant on car-based action, chooses to save money by going down the bluescreen route!
The film becomes a pedestrian trip of lacklustre action, effects and storytelling. The extras on the DVD disc do little to impress either, although, Vin’s Driving School is a highlight, even the gag-reel bores. It appears, for a franchise still with some power under the hood, it seems to be taking direction from a dodgy sat-nav!
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{ 3 comments… read them below or add one }
You’re hilarious, except that part about Michelle Rodriguez. She’s super hot. You’re crazy if you don’t want to get with that!
I may be looking at this from the wrong angle (or hopelessly under-informed), but why not film a real chase with stunt drivers at 5am when the streets are less full of prole-filled SUVs; and then use CG (or After-Effects) to mask out the street lights and convert dawn to full daylight?
I know that it has been a long time since Billy Friedkin’s wonderfully real chase in the French Connection, but why not use CG intelligently instead of intensively or extensively? If a stunt driver loses control then keep the shot, and CG in some dents to the object car and create a target car from which it can carom impressively.
(I swear that if they fuck up Tron 2 – which should be douche-proof by design – by being flash instead of clever, I shall march alone on Hollywood; and my wrath will be both cruel and overwhelming. Arizona Bay made manifest sounds an apposite response to such a trespass on the orginal.)
The movie was okay, but enough is enough with glamorizing illegal street racing. To many people are getting hurt and dying from it. Why hasnt Universal taken a great position to stop it from occuring. I for one joined forces with an organization called evo street racers to stop the problem in my town.