Fast & Furious
It had been eight years since the
original film. Some minor damage had been done by Tokyo Drift, and apologies to
anyone who loved that one but it just annoyed me some. The original cast had
experienced their own slew of hits and misses, so why not go back to what made
them all stars in the first place? That was the plan, and “The Second Trilogy”
(as Vin Diesel now calls it) of the Fast & Furious franchise kicked things
off, aptly just calling itself “Fast & Furious.” I suppose The Fourst and
The Fourious didn’t sound as good..?
With the tagline “New Model,
Original Parts” summing things up perfectly, the main cast from FF1 were back;
Dom (Diesel), Brian (Walker) and even the girls Mia (Brewster) and Letty
(Rodriguez). This time around, Letty would play a central part to the films
story, although she wasn’t around for most of it…
WARNING – this next part is a spoiler, so if you’d
rather not find out and watch the film first if you’ve not seen it, go ahead.
Because this reveal plays a central part in the events to a lesser extent in
FF5 but mainly FF6.
After Letty is murdered by a
criminal known as Fenix (Laz Alonso), Dom comes out of hiding to attend his
long-time girlfriends funeral. It’s here that he is spotted by Brian O’Connor,
now working with the FBI. But Dom slips away, determined to find out who killed
his woman. It turns out Dom and Brian are both looking for the same guy, and
cross paths once again. The two work together once more to bust the same guy;
Brian wants to put him away, but Dom wants revenge.
In a subplot involving heroin
trafficking across the US-Mexico border, Brian and Dom get in deeper than they
can control, fighting for their lives on the road. Brian and Mia also rekindle
their romance that began all those years ago in LA.
FF4 was a very welcome addition to
the franchise, completely re-energizing it and proving there was still fuel
left in this vehicle after the letdown of Tokyo Drift – okay I promise that’s
the last time I diss part 3. It proved so successful indeed, that a fifth film
was approved, which was already re-planned based on the ending of this one.
Instead of going on the run again, Dom hands himself in with Brian trying to
get him off due to his assistance bringing down the drug ring. However, Dom’s
life of crime is seen to be too substantial by the judge, and he’s sentenced to
25 years in prison.
No prison-specific bus could contain
Dom Toretto, and with the help of his crew (including Brian) they race after
the bus in super-fast cars, where we the audience imagine they will bust him
out. But it’s there that the film ends, perfectly setting up a sequel. And two
years later that sequel would arrive, doing what many thought was impossible…
go on to become the best film in the franchise to date and probably one of the
best action films of the past ten years.
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