[this review may contain spoilers]
When a movie lives up to its title, you know its a good movie. Fast & Furious, which is the fourth installment to the popular franchise, was both fast and furious, without doubt. Justin Lin who directed The Fast and the Furious: Tokyo Drift, which I thought was close to crap, does a better job for Fast & Furious which sees the cast of the original movie reunited.Set several years after the original movie, Fast & Furious starts off with Dom Toretto (Vin Diesel) finds out that his girlfriend (Letty) is murdered. Dom returns to Los Angeles after being on the run from the law in Central America for several years to find Letty's murderer. The guy who killed Letty works for the one of the most want drug trafficking gangs around, who was being tracked by the FBI and Agent Brian O'Conner (Paul Walker). Dom and Brian must put aside their differences to work together in the hunt for the drug lord of the Braga gang. And of course they do it with the help of lovely cars to say the least.
Continuing the theme of flashy cars and flashy girls, Fast & Furious certainly delivers on that note. But if you're looking forward to seeing a lot of the two female leads, Michelle Rodriguez as Letty and Jordana Brewster as Mia Toretto, don't get your hopes up. Both of them get very little screen time especially Rodriguez who dies within the first 10 minutes of the film.
Probably the best film of the franshise, it had action, great car scenes (duh), a good foot race scene and some nice fist on face action from buffed as hell Vin Diesel on Paul Walker. Poor him. Agreeing with what Louis said in his review of the film, I found Vin Diesel's dry humor very funny and entertaining, proving that the film isn't all about cars. Paul Walker, on the other hand, I was quite disappointed with. I understand his character is supposed to be cool and held back but I just didn't feel it. Instead I thought his performance was quite mundane and half-hearted.
The effects could have been better. I could tell in some scenes that it was very green screened. The plot was, for the most part, pretty decent and straightforward. There were a few stunts that came off pretty preposterous and implausible. Like the scene with Dom skidding underneath a bouncing, rolling, flaming gas tanker as seen in the trailers. There were times when my eyes were starting to hurt from the messy cinematography. But only in some parts, like the race scenes.
Having said all that, Fast & Furious is undoubtedly a fun and entertaining movie that will get your blood pumping. So go out and see this movie with your friends. Especially if your friends are car enthusiasts.
Popcorn-meter: 6.5/10 Popcorns
Special thanks to Louis and Nuffnang for the premiere passes.
