Fast and Furious Retrospective Part 2: High-Octane Narcissism
We are still celebrating this week’s release of Furious 7. Part 1 can be found here. In it we talk about the first “trilogy” (if you can even call it that).
Ok, those first three movies are kind of a train wreck. There didn’t seem to be any coherent direction, all casting and stories seemed to be decided by business decisions and after Tokyo Drift the future of the series looked in jeopardy. Luckily, that cameo seemed to ignite a fire that no one knew was possible.
Vin Diesel’s star was rapidly fading, his movies weren’t flopping, but he was no longer the break out star he once was. He was then what Ryan Reynolds is now. When asked to return to the series that made him a household name, I’m sure it was an easy decision. With both Walker and Diesel on board the only thing the series needed was a vision and oh boy did it get one. Let’s talk about installments 4-6.
Fast and Furious
We as movie-goers are lucky Justin Lin stuck around and directed 3 more films after Tokyo Drift. Had the 4th installment been given to any other team Tokyo Drift would have been written off as pointless fodder. They might have even had the balls to name the 4th movie The Fast and the Furious 3. Lin, did the exact opposite. He turned into the skid and rode with it.
First, he brought the best character from Drift into this film to establish a timeline. This timeline put Drift in the future. It became the story’s destination per se. Lin basically said “You know that terrible Tokyo movie I made, well, this movie and the movies for the forseeable future all lead up it”. He then took the hallmark traits of the series, turned them all up to 11, and made you want to care about that dumb Drift movie. This tactic is part genius and part narcissist.
Lin, his team and Universal have got to know the public opinion of that third movie. It would be like finding out in the new Star Wars that Jar Jar Binks became the next Sith Lord and that movies 7-9 were the story of his rise and fall. The genius part is that for Lin and Co, the stunt worked, it completely worked.
Drug-lord? Check! Over the top action scenes? Check! Seemingly pointless streetracing scene? Check! Spot-on oneliners that somehow aren’t cheesy? Check! Plot-twist? Check! Lin knew exactly what makes these movies work. They only work if you take how dumb they are really seriously. Fast and Furious is the first sign of the creators being super self-aware of why they have an audience.
Still full of plot-holes, this film was the best Fast film upon its release. There were actual character arcs and genuine emotion being thrown around. You really don’t realize how much you miss Dom’s character until you have another full movie with him. By the conclusion of Fast and Furious your left with the question, “How the hell do you top that?” Enter Fast Five.
Fast Five
Further cementing Tokyo Drift as the third film in the series and continuing the bonkers-ass naming scheme they have established, Fast Five is the absolute culmination of everything the series has ever done. If Fast and Furious was Universal testing the waters to see if there was still interest in these movies, Fast Five is a full-on canon ball into the deep end (that sharp canon pun was intended btw…lol).
Everyone comes back. The original crew, Walker, Diesel, and Brewster, Ludacris and Tyrese from 2 Fast, Sung Kang from Tokyo Drift, Gal Gadot from Fast and Furious, even that douchey guy Vince from the first movie comes along for the ride. Eva Mendez from 2 Fast is in the post credits stinger too. The kitchen sink mentality makes Fast Five feel like an event. Its a callback fest that only the “cool kids” that know the lore will completely understand.
Fast Five is the movie that gives the original trilogy all of its weight. It makes you want to see where these characters came from. Its one of the best action movies I’ve ever seen and legitimizes the entire franchise. Unlike most movie series, Fast and Furious is strangely back loaded with quality and no one seems to care. There were 5 original Planet of the Apes films, but by the time the fifth one was out, they were passé. A cheap cash grab that didn’t make much green and no one cared to watch. Fast Five is the absolute antithesis to that.
At this point, all attention to logic and physics has been thrown out the window. The safe scene with the two Dodge Chargers is science fiction, and the destruction on the screen rivals that of a Transformers movie. The Rock adds a level of testosterone not previously found in the series and the characters interact with each other so well it seems like they have been in the movies together all along. If you only watch one Fast movie, make it Fast Five.
Fast and Furious 6
At this point in the series each movie’s only goal is to out do its predecessor in every way possible. Bigger, faster, and more muscly, Fast and Furious 6 is just that. If Fast Five was over the top, #6 fabricates a new top and then goes over that.
Dom’s team literally uses three cars to ground and completely destroy a jet-engine airplane. Then, to escape the flaming inferno Dom drives a car through the nose of the plane, and emerges from the fiery wreckage terminator-style. All rules have been thrown out, any character can switch sides at any time and whatever confusing plot points need to happen to get that plane on the runway, will absolutely happen.
All of this is done in service of Dom’s approach to family. If there’s a positive message in these movies that’s it, family is the most important thing. Your family may be a band of felonious murders who have little to no remorse for destroying property and lives, but at least you gather around the dinner table when you eat. That’s important…right?
How do you top #6? Who knows? The trailer for 7 shows sky-diving cars and even more high octane action. The only logical conclusion we can draw from Fast and Furious 6’s ratcheted up action is that by the 9th movie Dom better be driving a spaceship. Otherwise, they will have dropped the ball. The beauty of both this movie and this series is that its almost impossible to get it wrong.
The worse the movie is, the funnier it becomes. Bigger, dumber, louder, if they did a Fast and Furious movie about go cart racing and meth labs in a trailer park it would probably be my favorite in the series. As long as its set in the same world the other films are nothing but gold can come from it.
What’s Next?
I will be watching Furious 7 this weekend and mourning the loss of Paul Walker, he finally seemed to figure out how to emote…at least a little. The most believable piece of acting he ever did was the screen at the end of Fast and Furious 6 when Mia was kidnapped. Talks are already starting around Fast 8 and the films beyond it.
A quaint little car movie has turned into a monster (ok that pun was un-intended), just think about it. An energy called NOS exists right now in stores across the world. Without the F&F movies as an in-ad-vertant ad for the name, that drink never-ever-ever hits the market…ever!
No other movie series has that, there’s not a Star Wars Cola, or a Batman Oatmeal. Sure there’s temporary promotional crap, but NOS the energy drink stands on its own without the Fast name on it, but only does so because of the Fast movies. That’s truely insane!
The last few movies have each fit into their own genres. #4 was a straight up revenge based action movie, #5 was a heist, and #6 was a spy/special ops film. The second Fast trilogy is like a Mexican menu, each dish is distinctly different but you know they all have the same ingredients. I don’t anticipate writing a review of the 7th film, but who knows, if it ties into Tokyo Drift really tightly I just might. That seems to be my kryptonite when it comes to these films.
Furious 7 hits theaters April 3rd, 2015.
