#fast and furious review

[littlemagicalstardust]

Orange Cassidy's movie review of Fast Five was 5/5 stars! Don't mess with a man and his love for the Fast & Furious series!

[ash-and-books]

Rating: 4.5/5

Book Blurb:

There's nothing more thrilling than being behind the wheel when the flag drops, a stretch of track ahead and her foot on the gas. Racing is in Jojo's blood. Or at least . . . it was.

Jojo Emerson-Boyd should be on the fast track to her own wildly successful racing career. Instead, she's spending the seemingly endless summer working at her grandmother's auto shop in the small town of Dell's Hollow. Everything changed when Jojo lost her mom, a celebrity NASCAR racer, in a tragic racing accident. Now, according to her dad, even getting her license is out of the question, so she might as well forget about racing. For the first time, her future seems foggy. But something comes into focus when Eliana "El" Blum turns up at the shop with an adorable scowl, a tough-girl vibe, and a mystery to solve.

A Motorcyle Girl™ at heart, El grew up on the sidelines of the motocross circuit, watching Maxine, her idol of an older sister, compete. When she suddenly loses all contact with Max, El won't give up until she's found. She's determined to follow Max's trail of clues, the first of which leads straight to the auto shop and to Jojo.

Jojo and El form a quick bond, and their relationship only deepens as they investigate Max's disappearance together. Falling for each other feels effortless—El the steady, measured pace to Jojo's fast lane. Impromptu road trips, heists, street races, and ever heightening stakes that feel ripped from a Fast & Furious movie test their resolve and the strength of their relationship. When the final laps of their search reveal surprising emotional truths, they'll have to trust each other and confront the grief woven into their complicated families if they hope to chase down their dreams.

Review:

Living her life on the fast track towards a racing career, one girl will do everything she can to chase her dreams and the mysterious girl who has come into her life. Jojo Emerson-Boyd is the daughter of a celebrity NASCAR racer who died from a tragic accident. Jojo spends her days workng at her grandmother's auto shop in the small town of Dell's Hollow, just waiting to finally apply to the f1 academy and pursue her own dreams of being a racer. Then she meets motorcycle girl, Eliana "El" Blum, a tough-girl vibe girl who is looking for her sister Max. El has been following Max's clues and is determined to find her... and her first clue leads her straight to the auto shop where Jojo works. Jojo and El strike up a quick relationship and they both begin to investigate Max's disappearance together as they race towards every new clue.... yet from impromptu road trips, heists, street races, and their growing feelings for each other... can they find Max and when they find the truth can they overcome both their own grief and family dramas? This book was just a delight of a book to read, especially for anyone who enjoys Fast and Furious. I loved the homage to the franchise and the journey that both El and Jojo go on was such a fun one to read. I had so much fun with this book and would absolutely recommend it to anyone who enjoys fast cars, family drama, road trips, and relationships where you both can quote the fast and furious movies to each other.

Release Date:June 11,2024

Publication/Blog: Ash and Books (ash-and-books.tumblr.com)

*Thanks Netgalley and Page Street Publishing | Page Street YA and TBR Beyond Tour for sending me an arc in exchange for an honest review*

Purchase links: amazon

Tour Schedule: https://tbrandneyondtours.com/

[rye-views]

Fast and Furious: Tokyo Drift (2006) dir. Justin Lin. 7.4/10

I wouldn't recommend this movie to my friends. I wouldn't rewatch this movie.

We started off real Footloose.

What are the chances that the first foreigners we meet in this Japanese school are in the racing community? Why are we all able to speak English so well? What a movie. What does Uncle even gain from this final race? I feel like I wouldn't have taken on this deal.

Sung Kang pretty cute here. Bow Wow acts cute lol. The drifting is crazy. Never seen this in my life. It's legendary. I love how we set ourselves up for another movie. Vin Diesel's cameo was awesome.

I don't like when people analyze and try to guess your background the way Sean did to Neela.

I do like how Japan is being shown, but don't like how it's all about like profiting off them through money and girls. I don't like any character besides Bow Wow's.

[365days365movies]

Action January: Omnibus

As I prepare for the future of this blog (and there is a future, if anybody's wondering), I find myself looking back at the good times, when I had the time to watch a movie a day and write a blog about it, which...yeah, wasn't even sustainable for me in 2021, so make of that what you will. ANYWAY, I decided that I would bring all of these posts together in an omnibus of sorts, so anybody that wanted to read these posts could find them all easily in one place. This, alongside other archives, are going to be pinned to the top of my page, and will serve as a long index of the films in the appropriate genres. The goal? To extend these archives as I go along, and have this running index for my blog. And again...there will be additions...

SO! With that, feel free to check out these films in the action genre, which remains one of my favorites! Any films you'd like to see in this list? Comment, reblog, message me, whatever! I'm always open to suggestions to add to my ever-building master list. And check out the other indices to come!

Introduction to Action (2021)

Top Gun (1986; dir. Tony Scott) (Part I | Part II | Review) Mission Impossible (1996; dir. Brian De Palma) (Part I | Part II | Review) Cliffhanger (1993; dir. Renny Harlin) (Recap | Review) First Blood (1982; dir. Ted Kotcheff) (Part I | Part II | Review) The Running Man (1987; dir. Paul Michael Glaser) (Part I | Part II | Review) Last Action Hero (1993; dir. John McTiernan) (Part I | Part II | Review) The Nice Guys (2016; dir. Shane Black) (Part I | Part II | Review) R.E.D. (2010; dir. Robert Schwentke) (Recap | Review) Kung Fu Hustle (2004; dir. Stephen Chow) (Part I | Part II | Review) Enter the Dragon (1973; dir. Robert Clouse) (Recap | Review)

Come Drink with Me (1966; dir. King Hu) (Recap | Review) Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon (2000; dir. Ang Lee) (Part I | Part II | Review) House of Flying Daggers (2004; dir. Zhang Yimou) (Recap | Review) GoldenEye (1995; dir. Martin Campbell) (Part I | Part II | Review) Casino Royale (2006; dir. Martin Campbell) (Part I | Part II | Review) Kingsman: The Secret Service (2014; dir. Matthew Vaughn) (Recap | Review) Atomic Blonde (2017; dir. David Leitch) (Part I | Part II | Review) The Mask of Zorro (1998; dir. Johnston McCulley) (Recap | Review) Léon: The Professional (1994; dir. Luc Besson) (Part I | Part II | Review) Taken (2006; dir. Luc Besson) (Recap | Review)

The Wages of Fear (1953; dir. Henri-Georges Clouzot) (Recap | Review) Drive (2011; dir. Nicholas Winding Refn) (Recap | Review) The Fast and the Furious (2001; dir. Rob Cohen) (Recap | Review) Speed Racer (2008; dir. The Wachowskis) (Part I | Part II | Review) The Poseidon Adventure (1972; dir. Ronald Neame) (Recap | Review) The Expendables (2010; dir. Sylvester Stallone) (Recap | Review) The Raid: Redemption (2011; dir. Gareth Evans) (Recap | Review) The Fugitive (1993; dir. Andrew Davis) (Part I | Part II | Review)

Mad Max (1979; dir. George Miller) (Recap) Mad Max 2: The Road Warrior (1981; dir. George Miller) (Recap) Mad Mad Beyond the Thunderdome (1985; dir. George Miller and George Ogilvie) (Recap) The Mad Max Franchise (Reviews)

Action January: Summary (2021)

[creativedifferencespodcast]

How do you take things into another gear after sending Ludacris and Tyrese into space in a Pontiac Fiero? Well, for the Fast & Furious franchise, the answer is put Jason Momoa in a snakeskin jacket and let him run wild!

[theconnoisseurreviews]

My review of "Fast X," the first part in the finale of The Fast Saga. Is the engine still revving in this decades old franchise or is it time to let it rest in the junkyard?

Follow me on my various social media site @AwesomearnoldK

or My Tumblr @theconnoisseurreviews

[crisnyra]

Fast X mini review but it's just pics because I can't say anything without spoiling something

[amwilburn]

Fast X (2023)

Well, you know going into a Fast & Furious film that you're going to get a lot of non-sequitur action scenes filled with speeding cars and explosions; this is the first one I've actually watched (other than the offshoot Hobbs & Shaw, which was actually decent); previously I'd only seen snippets of their action set pieces while dining out at restaurants, or channel surfing.

if you're into movies with an actual plot, and any sort of character development, look elsewhere. This is a big dumb film that manages to still be an entertaining popcorn flick.

Filled with ridiculous action set pieces (I burst out laughing at Vin Diesel's Dom trying 1 last thing to save the city) and some pretty hilariously bad CGI (but in a way that fits the overall tone), the only thing I couldn't forgive was giving Jason Mamoa, an giant of a man with a huge on screen presence to match, really poor dialog. Seriously, as the villian (he should've been great) but every spoken line undermines him. At one point he shouts "Toodle-oo".

Despite all this, I had fun. 7.6/10, B-

YMMV: Some may love Momoa's over the top campy performance (that would give Shatner a run for his money) but I just feel like they decided that his character was going to talk like a 10 year old girl. A little too juvenile.

If you're not into dumb movies that have more explosions than dialog (and the dialog we do get is rather cringey) then this probably drops to a 6/10 for you.

it's also a little annoying that it's the only I recall that doesn't really have an ending.

[moviemunchies]

I had decided to watch Mockingjay, Part 1, but Roku informed me that it’s been removed from all of the streaming services I have access to. Oh, well.

I promise we’ll do something different next time.

It goes like this: after the events of the last movie, Brian is now street racing in Miami, when he’s picked up by the Feds. They’re not happy with him for letting Dom go at the end of the last movie, but they don’t want to arrest him, they want him to go undercover again. See, cartel boss Carter Verone is up to no good, but he’s hiring drivers, so US Customs wants Brian to infiltrate the gang with a partner. The partner supplied is crap though, so he picks his own–his estranged friend Roman Pearce. If they complete this job, both of them will have their criminal records purged. Joining them is Customs Agent Monica Fuentes, undercover as Verone’s girlfriend.

Brian and Roman will have to get over their antagonism and use both their skills and their wits if they’re to secure their freedom, and get out of Verone’s clutches alive.

My understanding is that this movie is the least well-regarded in the series. And re-watching it now? Yeah, I get it. Despite Roman being a memorable addition to the cast and a fun character, along with a good balance to Brian, the Plot isn’t very interesting, Brian barely goes anywhere as a character, and Verone is a boring and shallow villain.

Brian gets a new love interest in Monica, but only kind of? She’s just… there. I don’t want to say she’s just eye candy, as she’s a federal agent, but she doesn’t really do that much in the Plot that  couldn’t have been done any other way. She and Brian are clearly interested in each other, but it doesn’t go anywhere, and they don’t really know each other. TV Tropes claims that there was originally a sex scene that was cut because Eva Mendes didn’t want to do it, and given how little these two actually know each other, I agree, but it seems silly, all in all. She keeps flirting with Brian even when it would blow up in her face, given her cover as Verone’s girlfriend??

Her role is dumb, is what I’m getting at.

[Also, the suggestion that Brian always instantly falls in love with whatever beautiful woman is in front of him cheapens his relationship with Mia in the first film, I think?]

Not helped is that Verone is pretty boring? He’s a generic crime lord. He doesn’t even really get cool lines or anything. He has a couple of scenes where he’s especially menacing, but he’s not a memorable villain, which leads to a pretty forgettable Plot. Look, the original film is far from genius, but it’s at least got some really interesting bits. Our lead has to choose whether to admit that his new friends are actually crooks, and from there whether to turn them in to the law enforcement he works for or to help them out. This is just, “Oh hey! This guy is an evil douchebag.”

If you like racing and car stunts though, this movie has got you covered. I think some of these scenes are downright spectacular and fun to watch. I will admit that I am not a car guy, so maybe it’s crap, but it looks nice to the layman. I suspect it is impressive all-around though, because this is a movie aimed at car enthusiasts. It’s also got a disclaimer during the credits that the stunts you see are done by trained professionals, and that you absolutely should not be doing this at home.

And Roman Pearce. He’s a highlight in this film. Brian is not that interesting of a guy, especially in this movie, and Rome is much more entertaining. He’s funny, he’s interesting, he’s got… well, not complexities, I guess, because this is not that deep of a movie. But he’s probably the best part of this movie, bringing most of the memorable moments and being a likable, capable character. He’s not always the smartest guy, but he’s fun to watch on screen, so if there’s something to watch this movie for other than the stunts, it’s him.

I did not find this movie that impressive. The first movie isn't brilliant, but this feels like a typical early 2000’s dumb action film. Yeah, you could do worse, and if you want to be a completionist for the series, you probably want to see it. But otherwise, you could do a lot better for movies. 

[spotlight-report]

"Fast X" Movie Review

"Fans get the service of their lives!" Check our #Fas X Movie Review @UniversalPicsAU #RideorDie #Family

From stealing some consumer electronics from a moving truck to launching a Pontiac Fiero into space, it’s hard to fault the Fast & Furious for a lack of ambition. In the tenth installment, Fast X, director Louis Leterrier has gone for broke and incorporated nearly everything and everyone seen in the prior installments resulting in something that feels almost like a Bollywood film about cars…

[thestingerblog]

The Fast, The Furious, and The Crazy

by Aero S. 

Read on our site!

It’s not radical to say that the Fast and Furious lore has gotten a little convoluted throughout their 11 films, and no one notices this more than me, someone who has only seen the very first and the latest Fast and Furious movies. In the wake of Fast X’s release, I decided to not only watch it in the theater but also watch the first Fast and the Furious, so I could get a little more context as to who Dominic Toretto and his harpoon-wielding, car-driving, ass-kicking family really are.

The tenth installment of the franchise was crazy in its scale and stakes, but the first movie built an entire universe at a breakneck speed, and I feel the need to share with you how the first film plays out. Whether you’ve been watching the films since they came out or are just watching them for the first time like I am, this will serve as a good recap for the first movie (though it’s mostly just an opportunity for me to express my bewilderment).

The first movie shows the franchise’s – and the entire gang’s – humble beginnings. The Fast and the Furious opens with a car chase between a truck transporting Panasonic DVD players and a handful of souped-up sedans. These sedans, containing faceless individuals armed with harpoons, take over the truck. We are then introduced to the movie's main gang, all of whom are very superficial in characteristics. “The Family” are introduced as they beat up Brian, the undercover cop, before Dominic – or as those close to him call him, Dom – stops the kerfuffle and sends Brian away with a warning never to return to his establishment. There’s Vince, Dom’s childhood friend and Brian’s #1 hater; Letty, Dom’s girlfriend; and Jesse, the gang’s resident tech whiz who apparently cannot attend college because he has ADHD.

The rest of the film plays out like a police thriller with drag racing montages cut in between. Instead of heeding Dom’s advice after the fight in the deli, Brian shows up at a late-night drag racing event with his own car and a bet Dom can’t refuse: if Brian loses, Dom gets his car, but if he wins, he gets the gang’s respect, which is a big deal as Dom and Co. are treated like The Beatles of racing when they arrive to the venue. Brian loses but gains Dominic’s respect anyway after he saves him from getting arrested and sticking with him as they get ambushed by the movie’s Asian Gang (we’ll get to the gangs later). As a gesture of appreciation, Dom invites Brian to the drag race afterparty at his house, and a friendship is struck between them.

Brian, who is supposed to investigate the series of truck hijackings happening around LA,  uses his newly procured inside knowledge of the racing scene to sneak into the different gangs’ workshops – the first suspect Brian comes across is what I call the Latino gang (the drag racing scene is racially segregated in the F&F universe), who drive Honda Civics – the same cars used in the hijackings. From the very beginning, Vince, Brian’s #1 hater, catches Brian red-handed, and he and Dom hold him at gunpoint to ask if he’s a cop. After lying and saying no, Vince and Dom go with Brian to the Asian gang’s shop because they use the same tires as the hijackers. There, they find a bunch of DVD players pushed to the corner of the shop and a mechanic being tortured by Johnny Tran, the leader of the Asian gang. The police raid and arrest the Asian gang as a result, but everyone is let go when there’s not enough evidence to charge them with anything, just like Brian warned them. At this point, Brian secretly knows it’s Dom doing the hijackings, and his cop colleagues know it too, but he’s too afraid to admit it to himself because, frankly, he’s grown attached to Dom and his family of racers.

The big event of the Fast and Furious universe is called the Race Wars, which is absolutely hilarious when you remember that the race of their members distinguishes the gangs in this movie. Among the many races in the event, the one between Johnny Tran and Jesse is the most important, as it results in Jesse losing and having to drive away without so much as a goodbye to The Family. The Race Wars also sets up the movie's climax, as Dom and the rest suspiciously leave in the middle of the night. Brian suspects they’re going to hijack another truck, and by this point, truckers along the West Coast have started to arm themselves in case they get ambushed by car ninjas, so he tails Dom’s convoy to save them. The film ends not after this car chase but another one between the Asian gang and Brian after Johnny shoots Jesse in a drive-by.

If this seems convoluted already, keep in mind that everything that has just been described happens in the first of a ten-movie franchise, excluding spinoffs. Even though the amount of information they managed to cram into one movie is admittedly impressive, I was still left with one crucial question: why don’t the police arrest Dominic and his gang during any circumstance other than post-drag race? The film establishes that Dominic’s family runs a deli named Toretto’s, which Dom and the rest of his gang frequent. It also establishes that the police are so familiar with Dom’s face that they could point him out in the middle of a dark street. If they’re so eager to arrest him, they could have simply arrested him when he isn’t in or about to be in a supercar. Whatever the answers to these questions may be, I think most people are grateful not to have them – otherwise, none of the other films would have existed, and action films may not have technologically advanced at the pace they did due in part to this franchise.

[rickchung]

Fast X (dir. Louis Leterrier).

Leterrier takes over the directorial reigns from longtime Fast & Furious franchise director Justin Lin, who previously helmed five entries and remains credited as co-writer/producer, after departing the tenth film a week into production. [This] is an ultra-maximalist sequel directly addressing the events of Fast Five. It takes the “family” to unhinged levels of car-based cinematic carnage and mayhem across the globe.

[adamwatchesmovies]

Hobbs & Shaw (2019)

Slowly but surely, the Fast and Furious franchise is raising the water temperature. Before you know it, they’ll be crossing over with the Jurassic Park series and we won’t even blink an eye. Hobbs & Shaw takes us even further from the days of simple car chases and believable heists. This is a full-blown, special-effects heavy sci-fi action movie. Intelligence is not its strong suit but the film regains some points thanks to its two charismatic leads and their chemistry.

MI6 agent Hattie Shaw (Vanessa Kirby) injects herself with "Snowflake", a deadly programmable virus, to keep it away from Eteon, a secret group who believes mankind can only evolve once the weak have been culled. To retrieve Hattie, her brother Deckard (Jason Statham) and his former comrade/adversary Luke Hobbs (Dwayne Johnson) must team up. In their way stands Eteon's cyborg operative, Brixton Lore (Idris Elba).

You read that right. In this film, two former F&F villains team up to fight an international terrorist group whose resources are vast enough to bring a man back from the “dead” as a half-man, half-machine operative. Said cyborg  drives a motorcycle that can transform (not into a robot) depending on the rider’s needs. By comparison, Dom Toretto stomping his foot to make a crumbling parkade collapse looks like a documentary. To this picture’s credit, it starts off as a science-fiction film so if you don’t buy Brixton and Eteon, Hobbs & Shaw isn't the dumb one in the room, you are.

Well, yes and no. This film’s chief concern is to entertain and this, it does well. Would it have been too much to ask for Hobbs & Shaw to also have some neurons firing in its big testosterone-fuelled head? I don't think so. This movie just doesn’t care about time. We’re told - while the characters are in Russia - that they only have a day to extract the Snowflake virus from Hattie. The plan? Fly halfway across the world to Samoa. There, they get someone to fix the extraction machine (someone who's never seen this device before) and hack into Eteon’s system to put the heroes and villains on an even playing field. To ensure their victory, our heroes set up a bunch of guerrilla-style traps too. Presumably they also had time to rehearse a bunch of vehicle-oriented battle tactics because there’s no way the moves they pull during the climax could’ve been done on-the-fly. Even if they did plan it ahead, it still stretches plausibility to its breaking point and then keeps going for another twenty minutes.

Science fiction or not, believable or not, entertaining or not, this movie is too long. It’s got two big climaxes and you could’ve easily saved the other for a sequel or another spinoff in the franchise.

All these criticisms are well-deserved but you must also admit that in terms of entertainment value, Hobbs & Shaw score high. Statham and Johnson are clearly having a great time tearing into each other. They're continuously coming up with crazier insults and finding new ways to try and split up the pair we’ve come to see. Their efforts lead to some solid and memorable lines. Right behind them is Vanessa Kirby. When it comes to the action scenes, she keeps up with them while providing the film with some nice variety. There’s no way you’d ever see Statham or Johnson doing the kind of flips and twists she pulls off. As for Elba, he makes for a good baddie. He revels in his villainy - even though his character sometimes believes he’s good and sometimes doesn’t.

If you do the math, Hobbs & Shaw is probably what you’d call a bad movie. When you factor in the entertainment value, this big, dumb, loud buffet of chases, fights and peril squeaks by and gets a passing grade. It gets a little worse every time I see it but I’ve had fun with the film three times so far and probably will again. (February 29, 2020)

[seeindat]

Review: Fast X

“Dom Toretto and his family are targeted by the vengeful son of drug kingpin Hernan Reyes.” Wow. There are two things to really say about this movie. One is that its the most ridiculous thing I’ver ever laid my eyes on, and two, is that I really miss what these movies were (the first movie I’m talking about). I have to break one of my usual rules and give a slight spoiler just to help explain…

[supermarcey]

[Review] Fast X (2023) by Marcus Wilturner

[Review] Fast X (2023) by Marcus Wilturner #FastX #FastAndFurious #Review

The Fast and the Furious. Twenty-two years. Ten films. One spin-off. One helluva ride. The family is love. The family is life. The family is forever. My Family, mi familia! I mean, come on. Of course this humble schmoe was going to talk about the global institution that redefined vehicular warfare, physics obliteration, and familial rhetoric. Even now, it remains equal parts an enigma as well as…

[nicknackmovies]

Having seen all 3 of these movies, they each have their own plusses and minuses, some more than others. Shazam! Fury of the Gods was underwhelming, The Super Mario Bros. Movie got a lot of love and was fun enough, totally fine, just not stellar enough for me.  But Dungeons & Dragons: Honor Among Thieves really stole the show!  Please do not sleep on that movie and enjoy all it and Chris Pine has to offer.

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