Movie Review: Furious 6 (2013)

Plot: Hobbs has Dominic and Brian reassemble their crew to take down a team of mercenaries: Dominic unexpectedly gets convoluted also facing his presumed deceased girlfriend, Letty.

Rating: 7/10

This movie is so big for a lot of reasons. The end finally ties in with where Tokyo drift finishes, and the sad death of our beloved Han. It is also where we say bye to beautiful Gisele who dies to (ironically) save Han’s life. It is such a useless way to go, but she couldn’t have known her boyfriend would die only months later. It is also the movie that reintroduces Lettie, which probably needed to be done. The relationship between Elena and Dom felt just way too forced, like something the writers wanted but no one really thought it through. I did find it funny how nice Elena and Lettie were to each other in the end. If Vin was my honey and his dead girlfriend pitched, man, I would not have been that smiley. I thought that Brian and Mia’s baby was expected and has been a long time coming, but I also once again had to laugh at how she basically chased him away because “family needs help”. Agent Luke Hobbs is also back in the picture, and I still think The Rock was a great addition to the cast. Luke is starting to see more of who Dominic is, and realizes that this particular criminal is quite decent under it all. (I think, and it may be too touchy feely for this franchise, that Hobbs is starting to question what he has always believed in). The best scene in the entire film has to be the square off fight between Hobbs, Toretto, (Luke Evans) and his sidekick, played by Kim Kold. The way everyone automatically aims for the guy with the same body type makes me laugh without fail. Luke Evans is probably the best villain yet. Evans does everything with a quiet, dedicated intensity that makes any role he takes on a success. Could they have fleshed out his motives more? Definitely, but this series isn’t interested in doing that. I also thought it was a generally good idea to tie the villain to the villain in 4, which made Lettie’s sudden reappearance more believable. The cars and races are as impressive as always, and grounding that plane so dramatically is as completely possible as that vault scene in 5, if ya know what I mean. I also love how Hobbs is suddenly also capable of racing muscle cars. The man’s talents knows no bounds. It was very cheesy in the end when Hobbs and Toretto finally acknowledged each others’ worth, but I loved it. There is a lot of other things I’ve come to expect and enjoy – Roman Pearce’s makes the worst jokes ever as usual, Han being all calm and collected, Ludacris being his cool self. The crew in this franchise has always been its’ strongest point, and as always brings the feeling of family across. I’m a little bit apprehensive to move on to the 7^th film, because I have no idea how they addressed Paul Walker’s death in there.

Fast & Furious 6 (2013) (L to R) Hobbs (DWAYNE JOHNSON), Dom (VIN DIESEL) and Brian (PAUL WALKER)

July 8, 2016July 3, 2016 by Natasha Categories: Movies, movies, Review, Reviews, UncategorizedTags: 2013, Brian O'Connor, Dominic Toretto, Dwayne Johnson, Elsa Pataky, Gal Gadot, Gina Carano, Jordana Brewster, Kim Kold, Lettie Ortiz, Ludacris, Luke Evans, Luke Hobbs, Michelle Rodriguez, movie, Movies, Paul Walker, Reviews, Roman Pearce, Sung Kang, The Rock, Tyrese Gibson, Vin Diesel 6 Comments

Movie Review: The Fast and the Furious (2009)

Plot: Brian O’Conner, now working for the FBI in LA, teams up with Dominic Toretto to bring down a heroin importer by infiltrating his operation.

Rating: 7/10

Dominic Toretto in the Dominican Republic? Yes, he has his own republic (that was a JOKE)Man, I love Vin Diesel, and this franchise is his legacy. He gets to be a motor-head without being disgusting as most of them are. I am astounded everytime he puts on a shirt that covers his guns, because 1) who would cover them and 2) where does he find shirts big enough to fit over it? I take exception to those awful yellow shoes – YUCK. They were probably in fashion way back and is probably still in fashion in honky-donk places, but sweet holy cow, they are UGLY. Back to his character – it is quite funny that we are rooting for the criminals and not the cops in this franchise (though kudos to the cops always being depicted as good and not corrupt), and how everyone wants Dom to be as free as a bird when he highjacks trucks for a living.

The moment between Dom and Lettie is so sweet and hot stuff, but he leaves, and isn’t that typical of a man to believe that only he knows what is good for a woman?Lettie’s death was really sad, but you have to wonder how she got back there and got herself killed. It is discussed a while later, but not in great detail. I really do like Michelle Rodriguez as Lettie Ortiz. She was a bit of a joke in the first movie but finally in the fourth one it is clear why everyone loves her when they are fans of the movies. I’ve never loved her in anything except this franchise, but she rocks so much as Lettie.

Also so much pain seeing Han. I love that guy way too much. He has the calmest eyes. It also helps to understand why Dominic would want to avenge his death later on, because that barely made sense at the end of Tokyo Drift.

Brian O’Connor is back to being a cop. We will ignore how they allowed him back in as he dropped out and lost a criminal everyone is looking for, because we don’t want to spoil the happiness of seeing him in a suit and being all serious. Part of his FBI team is Tring, played by Liza Lapira, one of my favorite bit part actresses. She was awesome in Stupid Crazy Love and she has that same vibe in here that tells me we will get on so well – her facial expressions is pure sarcasm and disbelief. Brian has also stopped saying “BRO” after everything, and that is the best thing that has ever happened, ever. He probably said “bro” six hundred and eighty five times in 2Fast 2Furious. Brian has lost his need to wear board shorts and loose T-shirts – probably to fit in with his “incredibly offensive racial-profiling” black friends in 2 fast 2 furious.

Jordana Brewster is the most wooden actress. In theory I enjoy her presence in the movies – as Dom’s sister and Brian’s love interest she’s yet another thing that binds these men together, but her acting is absolutely awful.

The introduction of Gal Gadot is successfully done, and I really enjoyed her. She has this calm way about her that obviously means you should just never mess with her. I think her accent is gorgeous and so is she, and like I said, I really like her and her work in this franchise.

Fast and the Furious is the first true sequel to the first movie. It is actually far better than the first movie, which was full of racial stereotyping, awful dialogue and even worse acting. This fourth movie returns all of our favorite characters, includes some heartbreak and cause and makes much more sense than those before it. It is certainly better than 2 FAST 2 Furious, the WORST in this franchise – a movie didn’t even suit the theme of the franchise, and Tokyo Drift, a movie that I enjoyed more than the second but was introduced way too early.

Fast and Furious, as mentioned, made the correct decision of bringing back the old cast. It kept the good things – the cast and the strong male bonding theme, and introduced better graphics, better storylines, much better acting and stronger females (who for once didn’t need saving!). I really loved this movie, but it might be because number two and three is of questionable value.

See you back for review of Fast Five, a movie with the most memorable scene in all the Fast movies!

June 24, 2016June 20, 2016 by Natasha Categories: Movies, movies, Review, Reviews, UncategorizedTags: Brian O'Connor, Dominic Toretto, Fast cars, Jordana Brewster, Lettie Ortiz, Michelle Rodriguez, movie, Movies, Paul Walker, Reviews, Sung Kang, The Fast and the Furious, Tyrese Gibson 4 Comments

Movie Review: The Fast and the Furious: Tokyo Drift (2006)

Plot: A teenager becomes a major competitor in the world of drift racing after moving in with his father in Tokyo to avoid a jail sentence in America.

Rating: 6/10

Well, we’re back. 2 Fast 2 Furious was a 9 on the Richter scale of cinematic disasters, and I had plenty of concerns about watching the third one, ominously titled Tokyo Drift. I persevered, remembering that (at the very least) the last three films in the franchise have been excellent entertainment. I sneakily contemplated just skipping this and coming back at the end to watch it, but I know myself and would have ended up not watching this at all. I also really wanted to see this in the setup of the franchise and how it fits in.

Tokyo Drift is firstly much better than the load of crap that is in the second movie. The acting is surprisingly better. There is still Asians everywhere, one of the franchise most favorite groups. There are still scantily clad girls starting the races, there are still fights that can miraculously be solved with car races. It was really amusing, as it is every single time it happens, that movie makers create storylines to make teenagers think they actually have a real say in the world. They don’t, but it is sweet that people are humoring them. Anyway.

Sean Boswell certainly doesn’t inspire the loyalty that Dominic Toretto inspires. I enjoyed him however, and as the film continues he grew on me. He certainly was a little punk kid without a real cause, and that was annoying. I had the most sympathy with his dad – imagine with being tasked to take care of that rugrat.

Neela, however. If you grew up as a child in Tokyo without your mother, HOW on this earth do you still have an Australian accent? It frustrated me so much. Her character, as has become typical in the franchise at this point, could not save herself and was content to run between men for safekeeping.

Han, played by Sung Kan, has always been a favorite of mine. He has such calm eyes and SPOILER: I can’t believe he is dead. I really loved how he took Sean in (a bit bemused by how trusting film characters are, but anyhoo), and how he taught him to drift after that hilarious first loss against D.K.

Oh, D.K. You really were the most tepid of all the villains. Didn’t really hate him, he was just amusing and not really scary. I do however think his uncle should have been in a bit more, as he had a slightly more menacing presence.

Tokyo Drift should have been between six and seven, true, but the film simply isn’t good enough to fit into the powerhouse drama that the franchise has become so I guess it is a good thing that it was released third. Nothing really bad to it, but I am supportive of a world where Dominic Toretto rules with his truck highjacking, vault pulling, band of misfits. I don’t want a FF film where there are other stories going on I’m sad to say – the franchise has a particular recipe that must be followed.

To finish off, I was cheering like a mad woman when Dom’s face appeared in the last scene!

#IFoundDominicToretto

June 17, 2016June 16, 2016 by Natasha Categories: Movies, movies, Review, Reviews, UncategorizedTags: Bow Wow, Brian Tee, Drifting, Fast cars, Lucas Black, movie, Movies, Nathalie Kelly, racing, Review, Reviews, Sean Boswell, Sung Kang, The Fast and the Furious, Tokyo, Tokyo Drift, Twinkie 4 Comments