Film Excess - Free Ukraine - Stop Putin - End the war NOW!!: Fast & Furious (2009) - Franchise revamped in dumb and poorly made sequel

6/27/2017

Fast & Furious (2009) - Franchise revamped in dumb and poorly made sequel

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This stylish poster for Justin Lin's Fast & Furious lets the returning stars throw their reflections on the shiny hood of a hotrod

Dominic Toretto's sister Letty dies in an accident, and a criminal named Braga seeks drivers.

The stars of the first film (The Fast and the Furious (2001)) are brought together again for the first time since in this the fourth entry in the increasingly gilt-edged franchise, which, unfortunately, is enormously hollow, superficial and lacking in suspense.
Screenwriter Chris Morgan (Wanted (2008)) takes simplicity to a new level and even has the heroic characters refer to the villains as the bad guys. From the head-scratching intro scene (the hijacking of a tanker truck ends in a huge, disastrous explosion, - but somehow also in payment, which makes little sense), Fast & Furious unfolds as a bland mix of lukewarm dramatic scenes among the friends, who usually refer to each other as family, and action with unsubtle sex references (like fueling up...), destruction and sketchy CGI, including a poor climax taking place on roads inside a mountain. Taiwanese Justin Lin (Fast and the Furious: Tokyo Drift (2006)) returned for his second of four turns as director in the franchise here.
Gal Gadot (Wonder Woman (2017)) makes her cinema debut in the film, but it can't change the fact that Fast & Furious is a solid bummer.

Related posts:

The Fast & Furious franchise: The Fast and the Furious (2001) - Cohen & Co.'s corny teen dream franchise opener
Justin Lin: Star Trek Beyond (2016) - Lin's adventurous, foundation-honoring entry
Fast & Furious 5/Fast Five/Fast & Furious 5: Rio Heist (2011) - Dwayne Johnson refuels the world's probably most ridiculous franchise
2009 in films and TV-series - according to Film Excess [UPDATED II]
2009 in films and TV-series - according to Film Excess [UPDATED I]

Watch a trailer for the film here

Cost: 85 mil. $
Box office: 363.1 mil. $
= Big hit
[Fast & Furious premiered 12 March (California) and runs 107 minutes. In the franchise's chronology, the film takes place between 2 Fast 2 Furious (2003) and Fast and the Furious: Tokyo Drift (2006). Shooting took place in California, including Los Angeles, Mexico, Panama City, Panama and the Dominican Republic from February - June 2008. The film opened #1 to a 70.9 mil. $ first weekend in North America, where it stayed in the top 5 for 3 consecutive weeks (#1-#2-#5) and grossed 155 mil. $ (42.7 % of the total gross). It made more domestically in its opening weekend than Tokyo Drift made in its entire run there. It broke the domestic opening record for April and Spring overall. It was the 17th highest-grossing film of the year globally. Roger Ebert gave the film a 1½ star review, equal to its rating here. It sold more than 3.3 mil. home video copies in North America, accruing an additional 53.8 mil. $. Lin came back to helm two more top-grossing entries: Fast Five (2011) and Fast & Furious 6 (2013). Fast & Furious is rotten at 28 % with a 4.5/10 critical average at Rotten Tomatoes.]

What do you think of Fast & Furious?

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William Friedkin has died

Born in Chicago, Friedkin accrued TV credits prior to his advance to the big screen as the director of Good TImes (1967), The Birthday Party (1968), The Night They Raided Minsky's (1968) and The Boys in the Band (1970) before his major breakthrough, The French Connection (1971), for which he won his only Oscar. He followed it up with the even bigger smash, The Exorcist (1973), arguably the best horror film of all time, for which he was Oscar-nominated. Later credits include Sorcerer (1977), Cruising (1980), To Live and Die in L.A. (1985), Rampage (1987), Rules of Engagement (2000), Killer Joe (2011) and The Devil and Father Amorth (2017, documentary). Friedkin passed away at age 87. R.I.P.

Louise Fletcher has passed away

Born in Alabama to deaf parents, Fletcher got her first credits in late-1950s TV-series.She took a 10 year-long sabbatical to devote her time to motherhood after the release of A Gathering of Eagles, but then came back and soon saw her career's most important part, as Nurse Ratched in One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest (1975), for which she won her sole Oscar. Later credits include Exorcist II: The Heretic (1977), The Lucky Star (1980), Brainstorm (1983), Two Moon Junction (1988), Cruel Intentions (1999), A Perfect Man (2013) and many more. Fletcher passed away at age 88. R.I.P.

Jean-Luc Godard has passed away

Born in Paris, France, Godard lived much of his life in Switzerland. He wrote for French film criticism magazine Cahiers du Cinema and became foundational for the New French Wave that inspired new waves in scores of other countries across the world with his Breathless (1960). Later credits include A Woman Is A Woman (1961), Vivre Sa Vie (1962), Le Petit Soldat (1962), Contempt (1963), Alphaville (1965), Pierrot le Fou (1965), 2 or 3 Things I Know About Her (1967), Weekend (1967), Every Man for Himself (1980), King Lear (1987), Century of Cinema (1995, documentary), Goodbye to Language (2014) and many more. Godard died of assisted suicide at age 91. R.I.P.

Wolfgang Petersen has died

James Caan has died

Caan was born the son of Jewish immigrants from Germany in New York. He got his start on TV in the early 1960s. His credits include El Dorado (1966), The Rain People (1969), Brian's Song (1971, TV movie), The Godfather (1972), - for which he earned his only Oscar nomination, - Slither (1973), The Gambler (1974), Funny Lady (1975), Rollerball (1975), Silent Movie (1976), Hide in Plain Sight (1980), - the only film he also directed, - Thief (1981), Misery (1990), Honeymoon in Vegas (1992), Bottle Rocket (1996), Eraser (1996), Dogville (2003), Elf (2003), Las Vegas (2003-07), Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs (2009) and many more. Caan passed away at age 82. R.I.P.

Jean-Louis Trintignant has died

Born in Vaucluse, France, Trintignant's theatrical debut as an actor was in If All the Guys in the World... (1955). Later credits include ...And God Created Woman (1956), The Seven Deadly Sins (1961), Inferno (1964), A Man and A Woman (1966), My Love, My Love (1967), A Man to Kill (1967), The Great Silence (1968), Z (1969), The Assassination (1972), Three Colors: Red (1994), Amour (2012), Happy End (2017) and many more. He also wrote and directed two films in the 1970s. Trintignant passed away at age 91. R.I.P.

Ray Liotta has died

Adopted from an orphenage at a young age, Liotta got hooked on acting in high school. He had various TV credits in the late 1970s and early 80s, with his film debut in The Lonely Lady (1983). Later credits include Something Wild (1986), Field of Dreams (1989), Goodfellas (1990), Cop Land (1997), Hannibal (2001), Blow (2001), Narc (2002), John Q (2002), Identity (2003), Observe and Report (2009), Youth in Revolt (2009), The Details (2011), Killing THem Softly (2012), The Place Beyond the Pines (2012), Shades of Blue (2016-18), The Simpsons (2018, TV-series), Marriage Story (2019), The Many Saints of Newark (2021), Black Bird (2022, TV-series) and many more. Liotta passed away at age 67 in his sleep while on production in the Dominican Republic. R.I.P.

Philip Baker Hall has died

Born in Ohio, Hall didn't start acting until he was 30. His long list of credits include Zabriskie Point (1970), Miami Vice (1987, TV-series), Midnight Run (1988), Ghostbusters II (1989), Cheers (1993, TV-series), Hard Eight (1996), The Rock (1996), Air Force One (1997), Boogie Nights (1997), Seinfeld (1991-98), Rush Hour (1998), The Insider (1999), Magnolia (1999), The Talented Mr. Ripley (1999), Bruce Almighty (2003), Dogville (2003), The Zodiac (2005), Zodiac (2007), Curb Your Enthusiasm (2004-09), Mr. Popper's Penguins (2011), Modern Family (2011-12) and many more. Hall passed away at age 90. R.I.P.

William Hurt has passed away

Born in Washington D.C., Hurt's first film role was the lead in Altered States (1980). Later credits include Body Heat (1981), The Big Chill (1983), Gorky Park (1983), Kiss of the Spider Woman (1985), for which he earned his only Oscar as Best Actor; Chilrdren of a Lesser God (1986), for which he was also Oscar-nominated; Broadcast News (1987), for which he was again Oscar-nominated; Smoke (1995), A.I. Artificial Intelligence (2001), A History of Violence (2005), for which he was again Oscar-nominated; The Good Shepherd (2006), Into the Wild (2007), Robin Hood (2010) and many more. Hurt passed away at age 71. R.I.P.

Ivan Reitman has passed away

Born in Chechoslovakia, now Slovakia, Reitman's family fled the Soviet regime to Austria, then Toronto, when he was 4 years old. Reitman broke into movies as a director with Foxy Lady (1971). Later credits include Cannibal Girls (1973), Meatballs (1979), Stripes (1981), Ghostbusters (1984), Twins (1988), Ghostbusters II (1989), Kindergarten Cop (1990), Junior (1994), Father's Day (1997), Evolution (1998), No Strings Attached (2011), Draft Day (2014) and more. Reitman's son Jason Reitman is also a great filmmaker. Reitman passed away at age 75. R.I.P.

Film Excess - Free Ukraine - Stop Putin - End the war NOW!!

Eagerly anticipating this week ... (6-24)

6/27/2017

Fast & Furious (2009) - Franchise revamped in dumb and poorly made sequel

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