Film-Tech Forum ARCHIVE: Fast & Furious (2009)

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Posted by Sam Graham (Member # 2889) on 04-04-2009, 07:45 PM:

CINEMA: 13th Avenue Warren, Wichita, KS
AUDITORIUM: 14
PRESENTATION: 35mm/Mystery Meat Digital/THX
PRESENTATION PROBLEMS: None [Cool]

RATING: Two and one half stars (out of four)

A couple sitting in front of me are...well...just sitting there...until the guy gets up and moves four seats to the right.

She's pissed. Apparently, she said something to him that he didn't appreciate. And he got up and moved.

She says "Fine. Just sit alone then."

He does.

She flips him off.

"Right here?" he says.

"Never EVER!" she snaps back.

She sits there and stews. She's getting more and more upset. He occasionally asks her some completely random question about nothing, which really annoys her.

Ten minutes later, she caves, gets up, and moves down to where he is. They remain there through the feature.

That was awesome.

THE PLOT: Revenge. Wackiness ensues.

I'll warn you right now...Don't read Ebert's review. He throws a HUGE spoiler out in his description of the plot that annoyed even me.

The movie is about what you'd expect, with more emphasis on the police activity than street racing (though using the phrase "street racing" is stretching it...The Fast & the Furious movies have always played more like live action tributes to racing video games). There are some seriously kickass action sequences, however ridiculous they may be.

Posted by Jim Cassedy (Member # 4115) on 04-05-2009, 10:10 AM:

I watched the first show at my theater the other day.
A friend asked me how I liked it and I said:
"It is what it is . . . guys driving fast, shooting guns,
crashing cars and blowing stuff up . . . what more do
you need know?"

But I enjoyed it- - on that level.
I've watched the last reel several times. I think that
chase sequence through the tunnel near the end of the
movie could have been even better if it was done in 3D!

Posted by Pravin Ratnam (Member # 1417) on 04-08-2009, 09:19 AM:

I was disappointed. It starts off fine. But the middle part was kind of dull. Tokyo Drift was more entertaining even if that one did not have a signature action sequence.
My rankings 1)THE Fast and THE Furious 2) Tokyo Drift 2)Fast & Furious 4)2Fast2Furious

Posted by Mike Heenan (Member # 392) on 04-08-2009, 04:47 PM:

2 Fast 2 Furious was hilarious. I loved all the biracial homoeroticism in it. "Hey man, whatch ya checkin her out for" "Bro, I wasn't checkin her out" "Brian you always get us in trouble over a female". Lol

Posted by Joe Redifer (Member # 3) on 04-08-2009, 05:26 PM:

I saw about 45 seconds of this movie at the Regal Colorado Mills 16 the other day. This is a shitty movie. Nothing but cars and Vin Diesel driving around. Lame. The title is way too close to the original to differentiate between it and people new to the series won't know which one to watch first. The sound was way too high in the 1-5k range resulting in ear-splitting treble, but otherwise the presentation was good.

Posted by Bill Gabel (Member # 1105) on 04-09-2009, 01:21 PM:

This is the first theatrical released film to feature D-BOX Technologies. Right now Mann's Chinese 6 Theatre in Hollywood and UltraStar's Suprise Pointe 14 in Arizona are equipped with it.

Posted by Mike Heenan (Member # 392) on 04-09-2009, 04:18 PM:

Hmm, that might just be worth the drive out to Surprise. I think.

Posted by Joe Tommassello (Member # 4632) on 04-09-2009, 04:34 PM:

I'm with Joe R. I can't watch this kind of movie. I need more plot and less driving. Probably a genetic thing...my dad even hates car chases in movies. WTF? He watches NASCAR every Sunday! Silly Dad!

Posted by Sam Graham (Member # 2889) on 04-09-2009, 04:36 PM:

quote: Joe Redifer
The sound was way too high in the 1-5k range resulting in ear-splitting treble, but otherwise the presentation was good.

Ear-splitting treble is a Regal/Klipsch trademark. It wouldn't be a Regal build without it.

Posted by Kurt Zupin (Member # 2751) on 04-09-2009, 06:47 PM:

Mike be prepared to pay 8 bucks more on top of the regular ticket price. So your looking at a $18 ticket to see it.

Posted by Joe Redifer (Member # 3) on 04-10-2009, 12:36 AM:

Ooo I didn't know they were using Klipsh. However the building was assembled by United Artists. Did they go Klipsh right before the Regal thing?

Posted by Mike Heenan (Member # 392) on 04-10-2009, 12:41 AM:

Kurt, is it in every seat? Might be fun to try it once... and F and F is something I want to see anyways.

Posted by David Stambaugh (Member # 1102) on 04-10-2009, 10:08 AM:

quote: Sam Graham
Ear-splitting treble is a Regal/Klipsch trademark.

This is definitely not the case at the Regal/Klipsch 15 here in Eugene. Just sayin'.

Posted by Sam Graham (Member # 2889) on 04-10-2009, 11:08 AM:

quote: Joe Redifer
Ooo I didn't know they were using Klipsh. However the building was assembled by United Artists. Did they go Klipsh right before the Regal thing?

Good question. Who knows what's in that building. Regal's had a deal with Klipsch for about a decade now.

quote: David Stambaugh
This is definitely not the case at the Regal/Klipsch 15 here in Eugene. Just sayin'.

I would LOVE to know they've improved their speakers since the buildings I've been in were built. But Joe's description of the UA building is exactly what I've experienced in every native Regal build that I know was designed by them.

Posted by Joe Redifer (Member # 3) on 04-10-2009, 11:14 AM:

The building I describe is fairly important to Regal, so perhaps they made the rounds and replaced the speakers in the bigger auditoriums.

Posted by Kurt Zupin (Member # 2751) on 04-10-2009, 06:39 PM:

Mike, from what a friend told me it is in all the seats in the one theatre.

Posted by Stu Jamieson (Member # 4626) on 04-18-2009, 08:06 PM:

Um, anyway, Fast And Furious......

Genesis 2:3 (and a half) And on the 8th day God created fast cars and Vin Diesel and, behold, it was very good. It was very good indeed!

Scholars and critics have subsequently wished that The Lord had skipped smoko, lunch and dinner in order to find time to create a decent accompanying script writer but alas it was not to be. Perhaps He did it for the good of all mankind as fast cars plus Vin plus an excellent script would cause audiences heads to explode through sheer awesome overload. It would have been tempting to find out though.

After a couple of wayward entries in this seminal street racing franchise, Fast And Furious finally winds it's way back to the roots of the original The Fast And The Furious (note the clever grammatical difference between the two titles) and naturally begs the question, why oh why were any of the sequels made without Vin's input? That the best part of Tokyo Drift was Vin's fleeting cameo in the final frame is testament to this.

It's a fine line that Fast And Furious traverses with it's exhilarating albeit supremely infeasible action sequences but it is partly this outrageous impracticality which makes the film so much fun; you'll find yourself joyously laughing out loud at the proceedings rather than groaning in disbelief. The dialogue is quite awful at times....well, OK, most of the time.....and the plot is likewise predictable but it's all about the cars, man! And I for one just can't get enough of this stuff. With it's abundance of Torinos, GTOs, Skylines, Imprezas and Silvias (among others), Fast And Furious continues this franchise's rivalry of American muscle vs. Nippon pocket rockets with a small showing of European racing engineering (Beemers and Porsches) thrown in so as not to snub our continental friends. Aussies remain snubbed however; not a PhaseIII GTHO or Monaro in sight. Definite room for improvement there!

Exactly where the film sits in the chronology of this franchise is not made entirely clear but a throw away line referring to the Tokyo drag scene would suggest it sits somewhere between 2 Fast 2 Furious (more clever grammatical acrobatics) and Tokyo Drift. The films conclusion also segues nicely into Tokyo Drift so we can expect a direct Vin Diesel-starring sequel to that film sometime in the future.

Nobody expects sterling performances in a movie like this but, make no mistake, when it comes to high octane, nitrous injected action, Vin Diesel is da man! Paul Walker remains the weak link in this duo but he's certainly adequate and possesses the requisite spunk required to keep his side of deal afloat. Besides, he's no more wooden than Keanu (a highly appropriate analogy given that the first film in this franchise is narratively identical to the Keanu-starring Point Break and likewise Vin is the charismatic equal of Patrick Swayze). Naturally the girls are sidelined in this macho machine-dominated world. Michelle Rodriguez (who is barely in it - probably a good thing) delivers her special brand of I'm-Vin-Diesel-with-tits sass and Jordana Brewster injects some requisite racy curves and glamour, but they're both adequate and well suited to their limited roles.

Fast cars and Vin Diesel - little else is needed really.

7.5 out of 10.

Posted by Tim Reed (Member # 137) on 05-02-2009, 08:12 AM:

Killed some time waiting for shows to end the other day, and sat down for the last half of this one. I was pleasantly surprised.

"Diesel" is more likeable than I imagined. Action scenes had that "CGI" look to them, however (when is Hollywood going to start taking more time with this stuff?), and detracted from the experience somewhat. However, I was enjoying the character play.

3 stars.