The Fast and the Furious

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Movie Stills:

Cars Crashed…and I Was Happy:  The Fast and the Furious

by Christian De Matteo

Solid

Show me a preview involving high speed chases, high octane cars and high level car crashes and you’ve got at least one person as a guaranteed audience member.  I love that stuff, but you’ve probably gathered that from my Driven review.

Well, comparatively speaking, of the two car racing movies this year, Driven was the better film.  Fast, however, is a very worthwhile viewing if you like the things I mentioned above.  The film begins with a race car heist of a tractor trailer, which sets up the attempted “plot” of the movie, cuts to an individual racing scene that rocks, goes into a fight sequence and after that a drag racing sequence, followed by a police chase between cop cruisers and drag racers.  This is the first half hour of the film.  Excellent and exactly what I went in to the theater for.

(FIRST HALF HOUR SPOILER IN NEXT PARAGRAPH)

The problem that holds this movie back from a SUPER rating arises right after the first half hour when the attempt at a plot is made.  I believe strongly that filmmakers should always strive to make the best movie they can, but they should also accept what kind of movie they are making, and not try to make it something else as well.  Fast is basically a B-Movie with an A budget. What I loved about Driven, also a B-movie with an A budget, is that director Renny Harlin knew his source material, knew his audience and played to them.  I literally groaned out loud, however, when the movie’s star Paul Walker (taking his acting queues from Keanu Reeves right down to vocal intonation and blank stares), turns out to be a cop busting a heist ring, and not just the young drag racer we thought he was.  To me this does not count as a surprising plot twist.  It’s more of a cliché retread from tons of other movies like this, and one I didn’t need to see again.  To be specific, it’s the Keanu starrer Point Break all over again, and while I very much liked that movie, I didn’t need to see it again with drag racers.  I just wanted to see drag racers.  But again we have adrenaline thrill seekers who also do heists being infiltrated by a young cop whose alliances are going to be tested (and whose heart will be stolen) as he gets to like his prey.  Honestly, this is unnecessary and taking time away from cars crashing, which is the reason I came.

The parts of the movie dealing with this “major plotline” hold up what should be a nonstop excitement and eye-candy flick.  Luckily, we all know how this plot line goes, so the audience doesn’t need to expend too much energy on it and can instead enjoy the interspersed action sequences that lead up to the intense last half hour that includes some of the coolest car race stuff I’ve seen in a long time, an intense climax involving a tractor trailer with some breathtaking stunts, and one last incredible car and motorcycle chase.

Overall, The Fast and the Furious is pretty much what I wanted it to be, a very exciting showing of car crashes and stunts, held back only slightly by an attempted plot that could have been dropped and substituted with a respectably trite justification for the film.  The director should remember that us folks who like these kind of movies don’t need you to justify them…we know we’re there to see things crash and burn.

Definitely a film worth seeing on the big screen, though you might want to aim for a matinee.

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