Review of Fast & Furious (2009) by Troy F — 26 May 2013

I can say first of all (in placing my mind back in '09 when this released) that it was great to have the original cast back, and this film proves enough that there's still some fuel in the Fast and Furious series.

However, that's not to say this is the ultimate comeback by any means. Fast & Furious 4 (I'm calling it 4 so that the title has some damn sense) features some occasionally neat action bits and story turns, as well as nicely linking a few elements of the series together.

It's nice to see Brian and Dominic team up the way they do, and the old gang just returning to what they did best. But the problem with the film is: not a whole lot happens. You've just got some drug trade going on, which is least to say cliche, antagonists that aren't all too thrilling, and some action scenes that are either not as exciting as they should be, or just laughable.

I couldn't help but feel the conclusion was more of a climax deal. One of the biggest action sequences was a tunnel chase, and I cringed and laughed at how artificial and video game-ish the visuals were.

Sure it was enjoyable to some extent, but scenes like this are laughable to a degree where the intensity is lost and just funny to look at. Overall, despite many issues with the film, it's still fun to watch and is essential to the later films.

Definitely one of the weakest of the franchise, but to say I still liked this to a certain degree as one of the weaker films shows how strong the series is.