Two stars (out of five). Rating: PG-13, and rather generously, for profanity, drug references, sexual candor and plenty of violence
By Derrick Bang • Originally published in The Davis Enterprise, 4.9.09
Buy DVD: Fast & Furious
• Buy Blu-Ray: Fast & Furious (2-Disc Special Edition) [Blu-ray]
Some bad movies are grindingly boring: endurance tests that make one pray to be anywhere else ... even suffering through root canal surgery.
Other bad movies are what I'd call watchably awful: generally too stupid to be taken seriously, but at least graced with momentum and punctuated by dialogue so laughable — for all the wrong reasons — that viewers have a good time making fun of the entire endeavor. Think of the movies so wonderfully lampooned by the late and still lamented Mystery Science Theater 3000
. |
| As Dominic (Vin Diesel) cautiously edges up to the rear of a huge tanker truck, gal-pal Letty (Michelle Rodriguez) prepares to jump onto the back of the big rig and then make her way to the couplings, whereupon Dominic's larcenous buddies -- racing in tandem behind them -- can seize the shipment and drive away. It's just another day on the job... |
Fast & Furious is just such a film.
Although it's nice to see the entire cast from 2001's The Fast and the Furious
back in their respective roles — something that wasn't true of the second and third films in this numb-nuts franchise — it would have been nicer if director Justin Lin's new movie were more worthy of their participation. No doubt Lin got this assignment after having helmed 2006's The Fast and the Furious: Tokyo Drift
, which begs an intriguing question: That was a lousy movie, as well, and since when does dreadful work encourage financial backers to hire a hack director again? Only in Hollywood...
Still, as my Constant Companion quite accurately noted, it's good to see Vin Diesel again, particularly in the sort of role that best suits him: tough, brooding and monosyllabic. Diesel's been off the radar since 2005's woefully miscalculated family-friendly comedy, The Pacifier
; the two movies he made since then scarcely made a ripple in the cinematic pond. Diesel's definitely an actor of limited range, but he's reasonably entertaining within that range; he has the burly, teddy-bear magnetism that also worked for Arnold Schwarzenegger, early in his career. And while one cannot fault actors for trying to stretch their range, some simply haven't got the chops.
Sylvester Stallone eventually realized that he wasn't capable of much beyond his Rocky and Rambo films; Diesel is fortunate enough to also have two franchises going for him, these Fast & Furious flicks and his Chronicles of Riddick
sci-fi action entries. Toss in an occasional XXX
, and he should be good for a few years yet. (Although one does wonder what happened to the promising young talent who was so memorable in his supporting role in Saving Private Ryan
.) 
