GUEST CRITIC: THE ICE BERG
As I was watching the fourth addition to the highly popular (especially among male car culture aficionados and the girls that inexplicably love them) and, apparently, quite profitable 'The Fast and the Furious' movie franchise, I felt a bit of nostalgia for the first motion picture and the past 'tough guy' encounters between the main characters Dominic Toretto (Vin Diesel) and Brian O'Connor (Paul Walker). In this recent new edition, one of the characters in a scene blurted out, "5 years ago" and when that happened, I immediately started to think,
"Damn, has it been that long?" I started to wonder if I really changed in many aspects in my life and sadly realized, some parts have not really changed at all (Too long to mention in a movie review). Anyhow, the same can be said in "Fast and Furious" (no need for the article 'the' in this fourth title) where we see Toretto and O'Connor are still up to their old tricks. In the beginning, Toretto is still robbing trucks with fast cars (Couldn't he have gotten a real job by now) and O'Connor is still catching bad guys and looking like he hates every minute of it (Always remember, cops hate life in movies and television). Due to a somewhat plausible plot development of revenge and justice, they meet up again and team up to take down a Mexican drug cartel.
However, enough with the characters or plot, this movie is about fast cars and half-naked women, both definitely plentiful throughout the movie. The racing scenes were very entertaining and not stale or redundant at all. It definitely showed that they had a way higher budget for this film than the first one. The skimpy-clothed women who were walking
around aimlessly in the movie is always a nice touch for the male demographic. Even Michelle Rodriguez and Jordana Brewster were looking very hot as well (Their characters were underused, but hey, it's a guy movie I guess.)
The only part that can deter a person far away from this fast-paced and energetic film is a touch of tacky, unbearable dialogue during sparse moments of the film. One scene of cheesiness was when Jordana Brewster's character Mia Toretto was talking to Dominic and she says something of the sort, "It's not too late" and Dominic in typical, obvious fashion interjects with, you guessed it, "It's already too late". But hey, whatever soothes the audience for a few minutes until the next visually, entertaining car racing scene. Kudos to director Justin Lin for focusing on what's important in this 'popcorn' movie.
After watching the Fast and the Furious movies, almost everyone who watches them wants to drive their speedster (aka crappy cars) out of the theater parking lot as fast as possible. This movie doesn't disappoint in that fantastical sentiment. Fast cars, fast women, a little Vin Diesel and Paul Walker 'bromance' (Okay, I'll admit it, I missed them),
what more can a male movie watcher want.
