Fast and Furious by Justin Lin (2009)
18 April 2009I have always been a fan of the fast and the furious films, with the first being my favorite, though I have enjoyed the whole series (and i liked how the 3rd was kind of a sequel to Better Luck Tomorrow, Lin’s first film), probably part of having 2 really good friends who are really into the whole rice burner thing. And even if these films did not start out too accurate to the scene, they were still enjoyable fun, especially Vin Diesel and Paul Walker, who made a great onscreen team. And for this film they brought back the whole crew (even Han [Sun Kang] from The Fast and the Furious 3 Tokyo Drift making this film a prequel to that film) and pumped everything up to the max, making this a rollercoaster thrill ride. Sure there are too many digital effects, but it is good to see Vin Diesel back in a role that suits him, and this film is exactly what it should have been, and honestly I enjoyed it a great deal, though it is of course just a popcorn action film. And sure the story isn’t too great, or too plausible, but we are here for the characters and the action, and this film gives us that in spades.
Dominic Toretto (Vin Diesel), his girlfriend Leticia “Letty” Ortiz (Michelle Rodriguez) and his crew, including Han Lue (Sung Kang) who are robbing gasoline trucks using tow trucks that they spin around, and break off one fuel truck at at time, and Letty freezes the hitches and breaks them with a hammer. Of course they are noticed and things go bad, with Dom barely saving Letty, and the two of them almost getting killed. It seems the cops are on their trail too, so Dom breaks up the money, and tells Han who says he will head to Japan (for the fhird film) and Letty doesn’t want to be left alone, but Dom thinks it is too dangerous, so he leaves her. Dom gets a call from his sister Mia (Jordana Brewster) telling him Letty was murdered. Meanwhile Brian O’Conner (Paul Walker) is now an FBI agent, and working on a case trying to take down a Mexican drug lord named Arturo Braga, and of course with Letty’s death they want him to catch Dom as well.
REVIEW CONTAINS SPOILERS…
Dom comes bak and sees Mia, seeing that Letty had been fixing up his dad’s car he crashed in the first film, and goes and sees where Letty was killed. He sees burns which could only be from nitormethane, which leads him to a mechanic who installs it, and which leads him to a Korean named David Park.
Brian is also after Park, and shows up while Dom is interrogating him. Dom gets away, but Brian gets Park. They find out about street races going on, which get you a position on a racing team running drugs into the US for Braga. Brian visits Mia, who he dumped after the first film, and warns her to stay away from Dom. She asks why he let Dom leave before, and he says he doesn’t know, and she leaves.
Dom works on his Chevy Chevelle which he plans to enter the race, so he can find and kill Braga, and whomever killed Letty.
Brian is given a Nissan SKyline GTR from police impound, and modifies it for the race.
Dom and Brian enter the race, and Dom manages to win, because he plays dirty, so he gets the position. Brian then has another racer arrested on trumped up charges, so he gets another position on the team.
Dom and Brian meet Braga’s right hand man Ramon Campos (John Ortiz) and they get invited to a party. Dom finds the car that killed Letty and finds out it is a driver named Fenix (Laz Alonso) and Brian tries to find Braga.
The next day the drivers are all smuggled on trucks into Mexico and their cars are loaded with heroin, and are told they will meet Fenix on route and he will lead them across the border and under US sensors. They make it through an underground tunnel, and Dom realizes they will be shot, so he booby traps his car, realizing this is why Letty was killed. The cars explode, and Dom and Brian steal the heroin and take off.
The FBI wants the money, but they hide it in a police impound lot. Brian claims Dom owes him a 10 second car, so the steals one from impound, this a Subaru Impreza WRX. They go to Brian’s place and meet up with Mia who patches up a gun shot Dom got. Dom goes through Letty’s stuff, and finds her phone, and Brian’s number, and realizes she working for him when she got kille,d and wants to kill him, but he manages to say she did it to get a deal so Dom could come home, because she just wanted him back with her, so Dom does not kill Brian. And Mia forgives Brian.
Brain tells his superiors about a plan to lead Braga into a trap for us $6 million, and he wants a pardon for Dom for his help. Campos agrees to the deal, and they dhow up with Braga, but an FBI agent who hates Brian springs the trap early, just as Brian and Dom realize that it is not Braga, and in fact Campos is Braga, and he manages to get away, but Dom saves a woman who works for him named Gisele (Gal Gadot) who helps them to find Braga in Mexico.
Dom and Brian go into Mexico to get Braga, and find him in a church, and they take him, but his men give chase including Fenix. Brian has Braga and is being chased by Fenix through the tunnels, while Dom tries to block the other drivers. Brian and Braga crash, and Fenix is going to kill Brian, but Dom drives into him, killing him.
The cops arrive, and Dom does not run. At the hearing the judge says he listened to Brian’s please for clemency, but because of Dom’s record, won’t let him go, and gives him life without parole in Lompoc.
Dom is being transported in a bus to Lompoc, when Brian comes up in a Dodge Charger R/T with Mia driving a Honda NSX and Dom’s friends from the dominican republic Tego (Tego Calderón) and Rico (Don Amar) in a pontiac trans am to break him out.
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Fun fun fun! Looking forward to a sequel which I assume will lead into how Dom got to Japan for his cameo in the 3rd film. Too bad Han and Letty are dead now, but it is fun to see Mia is now going to be racing. Haven’t seen Jordana Brewster in much except the under appreciated Chuck, which looks to be cancelled soon.
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