Fast and Furious (2009)

"You're a lucky man."

"How's that?"

"You're still breathing"

Dominic Toretto (Diesel) has been on the run for 5 years. After pulling a job with his girlfriend Letty Ortiz (Rodriguez), Dom feels the police are on their trail. He leaves everyone behind, until his sister Mia (Brewster) calls with the new that Letty was murdered. Dom is heartbroken and comes home to avenge the woman he loved.

Brian O'Conner (Walker) is now working for the FBI. His team is tracking a deadly drug dealer named Braga. This puts him at odds with Dom who is also looking for Braga. Can they put aside their history to take down Braga and his team?

This is the 4th film in the Fast and Furious franchise, following The Fast and the Furious (2001), 2 Fast 2 Furious (2003), and 

The Fast and the Furious: Tokyo Drift (2006). To date there are 6 subsequent films in the franchise: Fast Five (2011), Fast and Furious 6 (2013), Furious 7 (2015), The Fate of the Furious (2017), F9 (2021), and Fast X (2023).

The Good:

This film reunites some of the team from the original film. The filmmakers (director Justin Lin and writer Chris Morgan, returning from the 3rd film) wisely put Vin Diesel's Dom and Paul Walker's Brian at odds and reluctantly working together again.

The heist at the beginning of the film catches your attention right away. It also features a cameo by Sung Kang as Han, which sets this film earlier than #3.

The Bad:

Even with the introduction of a third female cast member, Gal Gadot's Gisele, and the return of both Michelle Rodriguez (briefly) and Jordana Brewster, the women are still mostly eye candy.

The acting is still rough.

Other Comments:

-Short film Los Bandoleros sets up the scene from the beginning of this film and how Dom started working with Han, Leo, and Santos.

-An 11th and final film is planned for the franchise. 

-Puerto Rican singers Tego Calderón and Don Omar are funny as new characters Leo and Santos, who make the most of their brief appearances. 

Fast and Furious (2009) 107 minutes

Rating: PG-13 for intense sequences of violence and action, some sexual content, language and drug references.

Director: Justin Lin

Starring: Vin Diesel as Dominic Toretto

Paul Walker as Brian O'Conner

Michelle Rodriguez as Letty Ortiz

Jordana Brewster as Mia Toretto

John Ortiz as Ramon Campos

Gal Gadot as Gisele Yashar

Laz Alonso as Fenix Calderon

Sung Kang as Han Lue

Ron Yuan as David Park

Tego Calderón as Leo

Don Omar as Santos

Shea Whigham as Michael Stasiak

Liza Lapira as Sophie Trinh

The Fast and the Furious: Tokyo Drift

 

"Life's simple, you make choices and you don't look back."

Teenager Sean Boswell (Black) loves streetracing. After racing gets him in trouble again, he is sent to Japan to live with his father (Goodman). His father has simple rules: go to school, get home at a reasonable time, and no racing.

The last rule is broken immediately, when Sean discovers drift racing. Despite warnings from his new friend Twinkie (Bow Wow), Sean clashes with the "drift king" Takashi (Tee), literally destroying a car. The wrecked car belongs to Takashi's business partner Han (Kang), who takes Sean under his wing.

Han, Twinkie, and their friends teach Sean to drift and warn him to stay away from Takashi, who has dangerous connections. But that is difficult as Sean grows closer to Takashi's girlfriend Neela (Kelley). Can Sean master drifting and survive until graduation?

This is the 3rd film in the Fast and the Furious franchise, following The Fast and the Furious (2001) and 2 Fast 2 Furious (2003). To date there are 7 subsequent films in the franchise: Fast and Furious (2009), Fast Five (2011), Fast and Furious 6 (2013), Furious 7 (2015), The Fate of the Furious (2017), F9 (2021), and Fast X (2023).

The Good:

Sung Kang steals the show as Han. He is charismatic and the best part of every scene.  

The fishermen commenting on Sean's drifting practice are entertaining, brief but memorable. 

The Bad:

The acting is still rough. Lucas Black is fine as Sean, but he looks too old to be in high school... which is true for most of the "teenage" characters.

Still has a lack of female characters. There are plenty of women on the screen, but they have no purpose other than being part of the scenery in tiny and tight clothes. 

Other Comments:

-This is director Justin Lin's first film in the franchise. The character of Han Lue was originally introduced in Lin's film Better Luck Tomorrow (2002).

-This film feels more like a standalone film, as it has a brand new cast and different style of cars and racing.

-Features a brief cameo by Vin Diesel's Dom 

-An 11th and final film is planned for the franchise. 

The Fast and the Furious: Tokyo Drift (2006) 104 minutes

Rating: PG-13 for reckless and illegal behavior involving teens, violence, language and sexual content.

Director: Justin Lin

Starring: Lucas Black as Sean Boswell

Bow Wow as Twinkie

Sung Kang as Han Lue

Brian Tee as Takashi "D.K.".

Nathalie Kelley as Neela

Sonny Chiba as Kamata

Leonardo Nam as Morimoto

Brian Goodman as Lieutenant Boswell

2 Fast 2 Furious

"You ready for this?"

"Come on man. Guns, murderers and crooked cops? I was made for this, bro."

Brian O'Conner (Walker) is hiding in Miami, until he is arrested by the FBI. He is offered a deal, go undercover for a combined FBI and Customs Enforcement operation and have his slate wiped clean. Brian accepts, but only if he can select his partner. He chooses childhood friend Roman Pearce (Gibson). They have not spoken in years as Roman blames Brian for his incarceration, but he agrees to the chance for a fresh start.

The FBI and Customs Enforcement are trying to take down drug lord Carter Verone (Hauser). They have Customs Enforcement Agent Monica Fuentes (Mendes) undercover with Verone, but Verone needs drivers for an upcoming job. With the agents tracking their every move, Brian turns to friends Tej (Ludacris) and Suki (Aoki) for help. Can Brian and Roman repair their friendship, while staying a step ahead of Verone and the authorities?

This is the second film in the Fast & Furious franchise, following 2001's The Fast and the Furious (2001). To date there are 8 subsequent films: The Fast and the Furious: Tokyo Drift (2006), Fast and Furious (2009), Fast Five (2011), Fast and Furious 6 (2013), Furious 7 (2015), The Fate of the Furious (2017), F9 (2021), and Fast X (2023).

The Good:

The stunts are good. Production values are better.

The Bad:

The acting. It's rough. Also, I complained about the characters in the first film, they are worse here: everyone is very one dimensional, with little to no personality. They try to be funnier, but it doesn't work as well as it could.

Paul Walker is the only main character to return for this film, although they do reference the previous film a few times (this is the only film that does not include Vin Dieselin some capacity). Walker has decent chemistry with Tyrese Gibson, but not enoughbto save the film.

Other Comments:

-Short film Turbo Charged Prelude for 2 Fast 2 Furious directed by Phillip G. Atwell and written by Keith Dinielli is a prequel to this film. It sets up what happened to Brian after the first film and how he ended up in Miami.

-So far I'm still not impressed with the franchise. This film has the lowest rating for the franchise on IMDb.com. Somehow, despite that, they made more sequels.

-Paul Walker was a fan of streetracing and did many of his own stunts in this film.

-Tyrese Gibson and Ludacris appear in future films in the series.

-An 11th and final film is planned for the franchise.

2 Fast 2 Furious (2003) 108 minutes

Rating: PG-13 for street racing, violence, language and some sensuality

Director: John Singleton

Starring: Paul Walker as Brian O'Conner

Tyrese Gibson as Roman Pearce

Eva Mendes as Monica Fuentes

Cole Hauser as Carter Verone

Chris "Ludacris" Bridges as Tej Parker

James Remar as Agent Markham

Devon Aoki as Suki

Thom Barry as Agent Bilkins

Edward Finlay as Agent Dunn

Mark Boone Junior as Detective Whitworth

Mo Gallini as Enrique

Roberto Sanchez as Roberto

MC Jin as Jimmy

The Fast and the Furious

"Let's go for a little ride."

The LAPD and FBI are investigating a series of high speed robberies. They believe the culprits are part of the street racing scene and send LAPD officer Brian O'Conner (Walker) undercover to identify the crew responsible for the heists.

Brian earns the begrudging respect of notorious street racer Dom Toretto (Diesel). He starts working at Dom's garage alongside Hetty (Rodriguez), Leon (Strong), tech wizard Jesse (Lindberg), and volatile Vince (Schulze), while preparing a car for the upcoming Race Wars.  As he growa closer to the group he begins dating Dom's sister, Mia (Brewster) and learns about the rivalry between Dom and Johnny Tran (Yune). All signs point to Dom as the mastermind of the robberies, putting Brian's loyalties to the test. With his career on the line and lives at risk, will Brian turn in his new friends?

Based on the Vibe magazine article "Racer X" by Ken Li, this is the film that launched the Fast & Furious franchise.  To date, the series boasts 9 subsequent films: 2 Fast 2 Furious (2003), The Fast and the Furious: Tokyo Drift (2006), Fast and Furious (2009), Fast Five (2011), Fast and Furious 6 (2013), Furious 7 (2015), The Fate of the Furious (2017), F9 (2021), and Fast X (2023). The franchise also includes a TV show, short films, and spin-offs.

The Good:

If you like fast cars and adrenaline, but don't care about acting or developed characters/plot, then this is the film for you. It is a mindless action flick, with flashy cars and stunts and doesn't really try to be anything else.

The chemistry between Vin Diesel's Dom and Paul Walker's Brian is good. This feels like the perfect film for Diesel, and launched his career.

The Bad:

Everyone is dirty or sweaty (or both) throughout the film. The acting is rough, but I don't really expect great acting in a movie like this.

The women. The 2 female leads (or the only women in the film with names that appear in more than one scene) are underdeveloped. The rest of the women that appear in the film are just shiny eye candy: no purpose, just shallow excuses to show women in tight and revealing clothing.

Other Comments:

-I recently discovered that almost all of the films in the franchise are available on streaming services that I have. While I have never understood the appeal, people love this series and it boasts an impressive number of big name stars, so I plan to watch them all, in the order they were made.

-How did this film launch a franchise? I know people love it, but why? I have watched the entire film twice (I've seen bits and pieces over the years) and I still don't understand why it it beloved. It is fine as a mindless action flick (with a few heists), but not woth the hype.

-Very similar to Point Break and Donnie Brasco.

-A final (11th) film is planned.

The Fast and the Furious (2001) 106 minutes

Rating: PG-13 for violence, sexual content, and language. 

Director: Rob Cohen 

Starring: Paul Walker as Brian O'Conner

Vin Diesel as Dominic Toretto

Michelle Rodriguez as Letty Ortiz

Jordana Brewster as Mia Toretto

Rick Yune as Johnny Tran

Chad Lindberg as Jesse

Johnny Strong as Leon

Ted Levine as Tanner

Thom Barry as Bilkins

Matt Schulze as Vince

Noel Gugliemi as Hector

Ja Rule as Edwin