Series Review 1.4: Fast and Furious(2009)

Series Review 1.4

'Series Review' is Movie Freak 77's new type of Post where a Review of a series's films will be done. Each couple of months films of a certain series will reviewed . 

The first series to be reviewed will be 'Fast and Furious' series. Movie Freak 77 has already reviewed 'The Fast and the Furious(2001)' , '2 Fast 2 Furious', 'The Fast and the Furious: Tokyo Drift' and 'Fast and Furious 6'(click on them to check them out). Expect Reviews of the sequel movie to come soon.

Review: Fast and Furious(2009):
   Do NOT forget to rate this post when you finish.

Official 'Fast and Furious(2009)' Poster.

      With the return of the stars of the original movie, 'Fast and Furious (2009)' further improves on what made the original movie such a hit.

"Vin Diesel".

"Paul Walker".

      After the events of 'The Fast and the Furious(2001)', 'Dominic Toretto'(Vin Diesel) and 'Letty'(Michelle Rodriguez) are still doing what they know best: hijacking trucks for money. But when things go to the worse, 'Dom' decides to run away fearing that he is getting 'Letty', the one he loves, in danger. But the consequences of this decisions forces 'Dom' to return back to Los Angeles. Meanwhile, agent 'Brian O'Connor'(Paul Walker) uses his experience in racing to infiltrate a Mexican drug cartel, which uses racing as a mean to smuggle drugs at the U.S./Mexican Border. Their paths will collide and once again they will join forces to get what they want and to gain justice. Other characters include 'Dom''s little sister and 'Brian''s love interest 'Mia Toretto'(Jordana Brewster), 'Ramon Campus/Arturo Braga'(John Ortiz), his henchman 'Fenix Calderon'(Laz Alonso), 'Braga''s liaison 'Gisel Yashar'(Gal Gadot), member of 'Dom''s crew 'Han'(Sung Kung), member of 'Dom''s crew 'Leo Tego'(Tego Calderon), member of 'Dom''s crew 'Rico Santos'(Don Omar), head of FBI 'Penning'(Jack Conley), FBI agent 'Ben Stasiak'(Shea Whighman) and FBI agent 'Sophie Trinh'(Liza Lapira).

"Jordana Brewster".

"Michelle Rodriguez".

      In my opinion, this movie saw the beginning of the turning point of the whole 'Fast and Furious' franchise. Let's be clear on one things, 'Fast and Furious(2009)' is not a perfect movie. At the same time the producers, director and the studio are aware of this matter, same goes to the fans who actually allowed this movie to be a huge box office hit. With the return of the main characters and the 'Fast and Furious' racing style we all love. The decision to make the events of this movie is set before the events of 'The Fast and the Furious: Tokyo Drift' at first were a bit weird but later on would realize its significance. So overall, this 4th installment was able to reignite the franchise once again.

 'Fast and Furious'.

"Michelle Rodriguez"
 and "Vin Diesel".

      "Justin Lin", the director who was brought on to the franchise with the third movie, performed a very good job. He tuned the faults of the first movie and was able to improve upon them bringing is a better movie, immersing his beautiful directing style into the action scenes, which were pretty entertaining. Writer "Chris Morgan" also returned to helm the story, which this time around had a very serious tone and toned down the humor unlike other franchises, which was a bit of a negative point. Yet he was able to show the potential and glimpses of this being a series beyond just racing. "Brian Tyler" composed a beautiful score and merged scores with mainstream culture songs in a very beautiful manner. 

"Vin Diesel", "Laz Alonso",
"John Ortiz" and "Gal Gadot".

"Paul Walker" and
 "Jordana Brewster".

      The opening sequence was a very big and thrilling scene to watch, especially realizing that the gang is back. The movie in its first half successfully managed to inform us on what is happening to all characters since we last saw them, and the serious tone as well as the whole story is shown clearly. In  the middle half, the development of the story was smooth and the inclusion of more sophisticated ways to include races was commendable. The third half was also enjoyable, yet a bit of a downer. Other than the first sequence, my favorite scenes were, Los Angeles night street race, 'Dom' exploring the murder scene and 'Dom' and 'Brian' capturing 'Braga' and attempting to escape. And the cliffhanger at the end was a perfect way both possibilities: the film being a flop or the film's success(and we all know how that turned out to be).

"Vin Diesel" and "Paul Walker".

"Vin Diesel" and
"Michelle Rodriguez". 

      What make these movies attractive are the cast and the ability for audience to relate to such close and familial bond that characters have. "Vin Diesel", one of the series success factors, provides an emotional portrayal for his character. "Paul Walker", the other star of the movie, also provides a very solid and believable performance. The chemistry between those two actors was the highlight of the movie and what fans have been waiting for. "Jordana Brewster" as usual does the job of delivering, same as "Michelle Rodriguez", whose both character's romantic relationships with "Vin" and "Paul"'s characters are wonderful. Though "Michelle"'s involvement was less than expected and her character fate was a huge shock for many fans. "John Ortiz" and "Laz Alonso" gives us an adequate villainous performance. "Gal Gadot" was a pleasant addition to the series. Appearances from “Sung Kung”, “Tego Calderon” and “Don Omar” as ‘Han’, ‘Leo’ and ‘Rico’ respectively were exciting. "Jack Conley", "Shea Whighman" and "Liza Lapira" provided enjoyable and comedic relief performances.

      With 'Fast and Furious(2009)''s success in the box office, the series suddenly reignited and provided us pleasurable movies to come including the soon to be reviewed 'Fast Five'.

'Fast and Furious(2009)'.

-'Fast and Furious(2009)' Info:
-Release Date: April 3, 2009.
-Starring: Vin Diesel, Paul Walker, Jordana Brewster, Michelle Rodriguez, John Ortiz, Laz Alonso, Gal Gadot, Sung Kang, Tego Calderon, Don Omar, Jon Conley, Shea Whigham and Liza Lapira.
-Studio(s): Relativity Media, Open Roads, One Race Films and Universal Studios.
-Directed by: Justin Lin.
-Written by: Chris Morgan.
-Music by: Brian Tyler.
-Running Time: 107 minutes.
-Budget: $ 85,000,000.
-Box Office: -Domestic(US): $ 155,064,265.
                   -Foreign: $ 208,100,000.
-Ratings: -IMdb: 6.6/10.
               -Rotten Tomatoes: 27%.
               -Metacritic: 45%.

               -PERSONAL RATING: 8.0/10.

-'Fast and Furious(2009)' Trailer: