Fast & Furious: Movie Review

Who could forget "The Fast and The Furious" and its other sequels - it brought every man's wet dream into fruition. Even now, we remember that uber-amazing trailer in which we saw cars going through the underbelly of 18 Wheeler Trucks unscathed at more than 60 MPH! Even today it gives us the shivers when we think about it (even if we know it's impossible). What is so good with "The Fast and The Furious" films is that it is not so serious, it is not so deep but what it lacks in real depth, it brings on with the Kapow and the Kaboom so in the end, you feel satisfied all-around. So what now for the fourth film? Can the franchise do it a fourth time around with "Fast & Furious"? Read on to find out the verdict.

"Fast & Furious" serves as a sequel to the second film and a prequel to the third film. The film starts off in the Dominican Republic as Dominic Toretto (Vin Diesel) and Leticia (Michelle Rodriguez) robs a trailer of oil. Later on, due to the police hot on Dominic's heels, he decides to leave Leticia to protect her and move to Panama. Moving on, the film focuses on Brian (Paul Walker). We discover that Brian is now an FBI agent and struggling to be one actually. Brian is on a mission to stop a drug trafficker named Braga. Dominic receives a phone call from his sister Mia (Jordana Brewster) about an unfortunate event that happened to someone very close to him(which we won't tell) that forces him to go back to the States. There he seeks to find revenge on the one who committed the murder to this loved one. Dominic and Brian lives again becomes intertwined as they find out that the same person who Dominic wants to  seek revenge with is the same person Brian and the Feds are out to stop for the longest time, Braga.

"Fast & Furious" surprised us that it did not take the typical route the other films did. Yes, the mature and reckless themes are still there - booze, drugs, girls and fast cars and we never felt that it was dumbed-down in anyway, significantly. So what's different? Well we felt that "Fast & Furious" just became more serious this time around and presented a package that was not only for the impression of racing around in tuned-out cars. This time, there is some depth in the story and how things are interconnected with each other. Do not get us wrong though that we did not like it because we actually loved it. We never thought a film from this franchise can be good with drama but it actually did. What people might hate though is that there are less action sequences here and there are more conversational scenes. We can confidently say that "Fast & Furious" is the best film for the franchise par none. It is not perfect but when it comes to the franchise, it is the gem that clearly encapsulates the series.  

Rating: 4 and a half reels

Why you should watch it:

- the franchise is moving to a bolder step by becoming more serious and dramatic

- has an interesting plot that doesn't get too complicated or boring

- has more depth than the other three films before it

Why you shouldn't watch it:

- less action sequences than the films before it

- some people might get bored that the running time is longer than what is the norm for films such as this

- the CGI can be clearly seen that may ruin the illusion of speed and reality