His Take/Her Take: Fast & Furious

Worth the price of admission, or a waste of time? Brian McKechnie and Suzanne Ellis offer you their take on the latest movies hitting screens. Read their reviews every Friday, exclusively on CityNews.ca.

Let Brian and Suzanne know what you think of His Take/Her Take via email at brian.mckechnie@citynews.ca or suzanne.ellis@citynews.ca .

FAST & FURIOUS

Rated PG-13
Cast: Paul Walker, Vin Diesel, Michelle Rodriguez, Jordana Brewster
Directed by: Justin Lin
Official Site IMDb

Paul Walker (Brian) and Vin Diesel (Dominic) team up again to bust a drug trafficker who killed one of their friends (and of course race some cars).

Brian’s Take

* out of 5 stars

Fast & Furious solely exists to make money (most of which will be made on opening day to suckers expecting to see some action). There is no other reason for it to have been made. It is neither fast nor furious and lacks all the excitement the original The Fast and the Furious had. Simply put – it sucks!

Let’s start with Vin Diesel and Paul Walker. They pulled something off I didn’t think possible – they are both worse actors now than they were eight years ago. Quite obviously they have not been taking acting lessons (or learning anything about their craft) since the original. Vin might physically be stronger but a cardboard cutout would have been more interesting on screen (as always, Paul just looks like he has too much air in between his ears). The script lacks any intelligent dialogue and if I didn’t know better I’d guess a machine (or child) spit it out. I actually put my head down in shame for the writer some lines were so bad. They could have saved the movie with better race sequences (cause that’s what it’s about) but they failed on that level too. The one big race through downtown L.A. was boring to watch and basically went: close-up of tire, close-up of GPS, close-up of speedometer. Repeat.

Save some money and stay at home and re-watch the original. It might not be a masterpiece but it pleases the urge for senseless racing action more than this cash grab.

Suzanne’s Take

* out of 5 stars

I’m perplexed. In 2001, there was The Fast and the Furious – undercover cop Brian O’Conner (Paul Walker) infiltrates L.A. streetracing world to catch criminals but questions his loyalties when he befriends racer Dominic Toretto (Vin Diesel). Then in 2003 we had 2 Fast 2 Furious: Walker returned, Diesel (then at the peak of his stardom) didn’t. In 2006, the franchise came back for a third round with The Fast and the Furious: Tokyo Drift – none of the original cast was around for this one which should give you an indication of its, um, quality.

Now, in 2009, we’re back where we started, or so it would seem. Fast & Furious returns to the story’s roots — which, let’s face it, aren’t that deep — reuniting original cast members Diesel, Walker, Jordana Brewster as Dom’s sister Mia, and Michelle Rodriguez as Dom’s girlfriend Letty. Wondering what the point of this reunion is? You’re not alone.

The new-old story is as follows – Dom and Brian meet up again on L.A. streets when they find they share an enemy, an elusive heroin importer. Brian’s reasons for getting to him are professional, Dom’s are personal – but they both return to the streetracing underworld to track him down.

And that’s all you need to know. Cue club music, scantily-clad women, and of course tricked-out cars. I haven’t seen any of the other Furious films but nothing about F&F got my motor running. The story was lame, the acting non-existent, but I pretty much expected that. What I was hoping for – the only thing I thought it might deliver – was some good action. But even that was missing.

After watching F&F I was talking to my His Take/Her Take colleague Brian about memorable cinematic car chases – the one in The French Connection, for example, or Bullitt, or more recently the inspired pursuit in We Own The Night – and they all had way more impact than anything I saw in F&F. Frankly, if you’re looking for a good car chase in the context of a better film, check out any of those rather than spending your money on this lemon.