Furious 7

When I think back to the first time I watched 2001's The Fast and The Furious -- probably about 13 years ago -- I remember liking it but not loving it. I can safely say I never thought that six movies later the franchise would be stronger than ever, and that I also would be disgustingly excited for each new entry. I've been counting down the months, weeks and days until the latest franchise entry. Maybe you've heard of it, a little movie released in theaters this past weekend, Furious 7.

Having put their mission in England and Spain behind them in putting away Owen Shaw, Dominic Toretto (Vin Diesel) and his crew of street racers and drivers have moved on. Well, that's the plan at least. Having moved back to his old stomping grounds in Los Angeles, Dom, friend and partner and crime, Brian O'Connor (Paul Walker), and his sister, Mia (Jordana Brewster) barely survive an explosion from a bomb sent their way by Shaw's older, more dangerous brother, Deckard (Jason Statham). Worse than that? Their friend, Han (Sung Kang), has already been killed by Deckard who has vowed to dispatch anyone involved in the attack on his brother. As if the younger Shaw hadn't been good enough, now Dom, Brian and the crew are going up against the very best. Their best hope of getting Shaw before Shaw gets them? Teaming up with a government agent who knows the perfect way to bring that confrontation into reality.

Let's start with the uncomfortable. Star Paul Walker tragically passed away in November 2013 as filming was in high gear for this action-packed sequel. His death left the production in a troubled state. Should they continue on or abandon the project? How would the Brian character be treated in terms of a send-off? In stepped Walker's brothers Caleb and Cody who helped stand in for their brother in scenes that hadn't been filmed yet. Some brotherly look-a-likes, some quick CGI work, yeah, it stands out at times the scenes Walker wasn't there, but it's never distracting. Is it a difficult movie to watch at times knowing it will be Walker's last? Hell yes, but it is a fitting send-off for an incredibly likable actor and movie star.

The movie itself, well, it continues on without missing a beat. In steps director James Wan, replacing Justin Lin who had directed the last 'Fast' entries starting with 'Tokyo Drift.' I was a little wary, but Wan follows the formula that's made these movies so successful and amps it up quite a bit. The biggest compliment I can give here is that this is the type of fun, ridiculously over the top entertainment that movies SHOULD be. These movies are F-U-N from beginning to end. 'Furious' is the longest such entry at 137 minutes, but it never even remotely feels long. The pacing and story actually fly by. It's far from the most pointed story and drifts along with crazy action sequences filling in the blanks, but you go along for the ride. Pun intended by the way. This is a popcorn movie at its absolute freaking best.

Yes, the action is ridiculous and will be discussed later. I have thought and continue to think that the heart of these movies is the characters. Seven movies in, you're familiar with them. You like them and you're rooting for them. That starts with Vin Diesel as Dominic Toretto, the team's leader, a philosophizing, growling street racer who holds family and loyalty above all else. Mess with his family and brace to incur his wrath. The most important relationship is between Dom and Walker's Brian, a brotherly relationship that has gotten better and deeper with each passing movie. These aren't the youngsters of 2001's original film. They're a little older, a little wiser, but they're still two of the best, most skilled drivers around. Their dynamic throughout is the real heart of the movie, two friends off-screen who allow that friendship to carry over onto the screen.

But wait, there's more! Basically the whole team is back. Unfortunately Dwayne Johnson isn't around much for his part as muscle-bound, one-liner spewing Agent Hobbs. He's there at the beginning and end but not the middle. When he's there, it's prime stuff. He just brings an energy to the character no matter how long he's around. Along with Brewster's Mia, Michelle Rodriguez, Tyrese Gibson, and Ludacris are all back. Rodriguez's Letty is slowly getting her memory back and gets some surprisingly effective scenes with Dom about their past. Tyrese as fast-talking jokester Roman Pearce and Ludacris as tech and hacker extraordinaire Tej provide some comic relief, a one-two punch who consistently get laughs from their bickering back and forths. Kang and Gal Gadot make quick appearances in footage from the previous movies and in a cool touch uniting the seemingly disjointed timeline of the franchise, Lucas Black reprises his role from Tokyo Drift as young driver Sean Boswell. Just a fun cast who are familiar with their characters and continue to bring them to life.

What would a successful franchise be without some fresh blood? Expanding on his surprise appearance at the end of 'F+F 6,' Statham has some fun as Deckard Shaw, a brooding, menacing villain who isn't given much to do other than pop up and wreak havoc at the least opportune time. I wish he was given more to do, but it's Statham in villain mode. That's rarely a bad thing. Other new faces include Nathalie Emmanuel as Ramsey, a world-class hacker, Djimon Hounsou as an international terrorist and Tony Jaa as his brutal enforcer, and UFC fighter Ronda Rousey as a bodyguard who tangles with Rodriguez's Letty. My favorite new part? Kurt Russell having a blast as Mr. Nobody, an incredibly capable, dangerous government agent who teams up with Dom and Co. to bring Shaw to justice. Russell is smiling almost every scene he's in, and it looks like he's genuinely having some chaotic fun.

Most movies would be hard-pressed to improve on the action of its two predecessors, Fast Five and Fast and Furious 6. '7' manages to do just that. The action is flat out, over the top, ludicrously nuts, never possibly exist in this reality type of action. Car chases in abundance, Statham taking on Hobbs early and then Diesel in the finale, Rodriguez and Rousey tearing each other up (in some classy gowns at that), it is all NUTS. It works though because the story and characters commit. It never plays out like a spoof. So yes, there's cars dropping out of a plane and parachuting to take down an armored convoy. Yes, the attack is nuts. Yes, Dom and Brian crash from one skyscraper to another....and another in Abu Dabi. The finale itself is probably about 30 minutes long and just a smorgasbord of excessive action on the streets of Los Angeles. Car chases, fist fights (with wrenches), helicopters and missile-loaded drones....and very few cops in sight. Go along with it and have some fun.

I read heading into this sequel that Wan and Co. filmed a poignant tribute to Paul Walker for the finale. Yeah, about that...it's a perfect, moving ending. And no, those aren't tears in my eyes. I'm allergic to something, anything, whatever. Don't Judge Me!!! The final scene and a quick montage of Walker's involvement in the series is beyond a perfect send-off to the very popular movie star and actor. If this is the end of the series, so be it. This was a more than worthy finale. If it isn't -- supposedly there's at least 2 more sequels coming -- I'll welcome them with open arms. This is that rare series that has gotten better in the second half of its run. Judging by the box office money on opening weekend, I'm not the only one to feel that way. It made $400 million this weekend internationally. 400 MILLION!!!! That perfect popcorn movie and a fitting finale for Paul Walker's Brian O'Connor character.

Furious 7 (2014): ****/****

Fast & Furious 6

I can't say I saw this coming. When I watched 2001's The Fast and the Furious in high school, I enjoyed it the story of an undercover cop trying to bust a street racing heist crew. Did I think it would become a hugely successful series that would spawn five sequels, and more to come? Nope, I definitely didn't see that coming....but that's just where it is. Go figure. I love where the series has gone, upping the ante with each passing movie. I L-O-V-E-D 2011's Fast Five and was naturally psyched for the sixth entry in the series, 2013's Fast & Furious 6. Moral of the story....it more than lives up to expectations.

Having pulled off a successful heist in Rio, Dominic Toretto (Vin Diesel) and his team have retired to spots around the world....for the time being. Having worked with and against Dom and his crew in Rio, DSS agent Luke Hobbs (Dwayne Johnson) has tracked them down. He needs their help to take down Owen Shaw (Luke Evans), a former British special forces soldier who with his own crew of specialists has been stealing the pieces necessary to build the technology that could cripple a nation. Hobbs enlists Dom with offers of pardons for his past crime, but there's more. Dom's former love, Letty (Michelle Rodriguez) -- who was believed dead -- is working with Shaw, giving Dom all the motivation he needs to take Hobbs' offer. Dom seeks out friend and fellow driver Brian O'Conner (Paul Walker) and his team to help him, but even his crew's unique driving talents and criminal abilities will be put to the test against the likes of Shaw's crew.

Where Fast Five left off, '6' picks up without missing a beat. It does seem a long ways off from the street racing origins of the first film, but again, this is the rare series that gets better and better as it develops. I think much of that success can be attributed to director Justin Lin who quite simply just knows what he's doing. Since taking over the series with the third film, Tokyo Drift, Lin has helped take 'Fast and Furious' to different places than the first two movies. Yes, there's ridiculously exciting car chases and action and hand-to-hand fights and awesome cars and beautiful women and tough guys being tough and.....Yeah, I think that's it. That description could sound very common denominator, even stupid, but Lin has made an art of that formula. He takes these familiar genre conventions, throws them in a blender and comes up with these ridiculously entertaining popcorn flicks.

I will devote plenty of words to the action on display here (of which there is a ton), but I'm going to mention again what takes these movies up a notch beyond pure action flicks. It's the characters. If you've made it to the sixth entry in the series, you like something enough to stick with it. Yes, the cars and chases and action is awesome, but I genuinely like the characters and am rooting for them. I love the dynamic among Dom, Brian and the team, especially when you throw Johnson's Hobbs into the mix again. The script is far from Shakespearean, but it also knows these characters inside and out. At 130 minutes, you can't have all action (well, I suppose you could), but as was the case with 'Five,' some of the best moments come from the quieter moments as members of Dom's crew interact, bust each other's balls or even.....just talk!?! I know, crazy, right? Kudos to screenwriter Chris Morgan for turning in an underrated script.

Let's face it though. These are some pretty cool characters, and there's a whole lot of them. The original stars, Diesel and Walker, are the basis for it all, enemies turned friends turned family. Neither are considered great thespians, but they are great tough guys, great action stars. Their back and forth is natural, not forced, and flows effortlessly. Johnson again is a great addition to the series, and he also looks like he could tangle with a dozen or so grizzly bears and come out on the winning side. Jeez, look at his arms! Also returning to round out the team is Tyrese Gibson as Roman, the motor-mouthed driving specialist, Sung Kang as Han, the master thief and chameleon extraordinaire, Gal Gadot as Gisele, Han's girlfriend of sorts, weapons specialist and precision driver in her own right, and Chris 'Ludacris' Bridges as Tez, an electronics and tech whiz. Jordana Brewster and Elsa Pataky also return in small, cameo-like parts as the love interests.

With so much talent assembled, new names aren't necessary, but the new stars are gems here, especially Evans as Owen Shaw, the brutally efficient, ice cold master thief/criminal who finds himself working against Dom and Hobbs. As a villain, he's the best the series has seen mostly because he's a more than worthy opponent for our heroic anti-heroes. His one-on-one scene with Diesel near the midpoint of the film is a gem. Evans isn't a huge physically imposing bad guy, but his intensity goes a long way. Also joining the crew is Gina Carano as Riley, Hobbs' assistant in the developing case. She isn't given a ton to do, but she does get not one, but TWO fight scenes with Rodriguez (who's "death" in Fast and Furious is explained in somewhat believable fashion). It's tough to find fault with that statement.

Blah blah blah talking and dialogue and scripts blah blah blah. FAST CARS! EXPLOSIONS! CHASES! I thought 'Five' had set the bar at a pretty unattainable level.....well, yeah....I was wrong about that. Things get ratcheted up even more with three amazingly choreographed set pieces. The first has Dom, Brian, Hobbs and Co. racing through the night streets of London in pursuit of Shaw. An excellent sequence in itself, but just the start. The follow-up is a chase along a Spanish highway overlooking the sea. Oh, and there's a tank, and American muscle cars, and crashes, and ridiculous collateral damage. It features stunts so ridiculous, premises so beyond reality that it's almost laughable. You know what? I didn't care. Just sit back and watch it develop. This scene defies the laws of physics countless times, and it doesn't matter.

Both of those set pieces could make a movie worthwhile to watch on their own, but then there's the finale. Shaw is making his escape via an airfield (apparently the longest runway in the history of aviation) as an immense cargo plane tries to land to pick him up. Dom, Hobbs, Brian and the entire team are racing behind him in a variety of souped-up muscle cars trying to keep the plane on the ground. This extended sequence is schizophrenic in the best sense of the word. Cars zipping around at inordinate speeds, fistfights and brutal hand-to-hand fights, explosions left and right, it's an incredible, adrenaline-pumping scene. It goes on for something like 15-20 minutes, and It....Is....Nuts. It's hard to give audiences an action scene we haven't seen before, but Lin and screenwriter Morgan find a way to improve on the finale chase in 'Five,' but yep, they completely succeeded. And credit to Lin, he cuts the action so you can see it, always keeping tabs on what's going on. At no point it is an indecipherable blur.

That's enough rambling movie crush for now. Having just watched this newest entry earlier today, I feel like it's too soon to compare the films. I think I liked Fast Five a tad bit more, but it's really close. The more I think about this one, the more I like it, and here's why. This is a movie that knows exactly what it is and isn't trying to be anything else. It is a popcorn flick that will hopefully get your adrenaline pumping. It is fun from beginning to end whether it be the cast (who appear to be having a ball) or the ever-increasing and ridiculous action. It's just fun. If it isn't The Godfather or Citizen Kane or an all-time cinema classic, so be it. Sit back and enjoy it.

Oh, and yes, there will be a sequel. Much the same way Fast Five led into this film with a post-credit scene, so does '6' and it is a doozy. It ties the series all the way back to Tokyo Drift with a mystery that has baffled some series fans about the fate of one of the key characters. There's a huge star added to the mix -- no SPOILERS here -- setting the series up nicely for future ventures. I, for one, am most definitely psyched to see where it goes.

Fast & Furious 6 (2013): ****/****

Machete

Use the term 'exploitation film' and it's about as vague as you can get in describing a genre as a whole. So how to describe them? Basically any movie made on the cheap -- to a point at least -- that appeals to a mass audience. This is not The Godfather or Lawrence of Arabia. These films through the 1960s and 1970s can be amazingly bad to watch (in a good way), and influenced directors like Quentin Tarantino and Robert Rodriguez, both modern day directors who have done their own exploitation films, including Rodriguez's 2010's Machete.

It's been three years since ex-Federale, Machete (Danny Trejo), was betrayed by his boss, saw his wife and daughter killed and was left for dead. Now working as a day laborer in Texas, Machete is approached by the mysterious Booth (Jeff Fahey) who offers him $150,000 to assassinate Senator John McLaughlin (Robert De Niro), currently running for re-election. Machete agrees and takes the money, but he is double-crossed during the attempt. It was all a set-up, and McLaughlin was in on it to boost his re-election effort. Severely wounded and on the run, Machete is on his own, but he's looking for answers. You can follow his trail by the mangled bodies he's going to leave behind.

As a director, Rodriguez shot to fame with his ultra-low budget El Mariachi and kept climbing with Desperado, From Dusk Til Dawn and the Spy Kids series (I suppose on that last one). He already did a tribute to exploitation with Sin City and Grindhouse, but thanks to the fictional trailers from Grindhouse, he had the potential for this film. I understand the appeal of the genre; no pretensions about sex, violence, sex, drugs, sex, whatever. I love low-budget schlock, and all those touches are there. The grainy film, that distinct low-budget look, the ridiculous story, all there for us to enjoy. But the problem for me was obvious. You make an exploitation film and do it. Made for a little over $10 million, something just ain't right here.

The only thing I can figure? Instead of just being an exploitation flick, it comes across as a spoof. It has its moments, especially Trejo's stone-faced one-liners and reactions, including my favorite, "Machete don't text." Rodriguez just tries too hard to make those films he grew up on and loved. How many different ways can you see a machete decapitate, cripple, mangle and generally destroy a human being? I lost count, but the effort was surely made here. It's supposed to be cartoonish violence, but it ends up looking laughable. I don't know if it was just poorly done CGI or what, but the final product is bad. Low brow is one thing (and can certainly be a positive), but when Machete jumps out a window and uses a man's intestines as a bungee cord, I knew I was in trouble.

A veteran of 150-plus flicks, Danny Trejo doesn't disappoint as the titular character. He basically expresses no emotion, doesn't crack a smile and is required to look tough and be a badass who dispatches nameless henchmen in creative ways with a machete....oh, and usually saying a cheesy one-liner while doing it. That's all. Trejo nails the part. Give Rodriguez credit. The man can put a cast together. De Niro hams it up as McLaughlin with Fahey being a gravelly-voiced scene stealer as Booth, the senator's aide. In the eye candy department, we've got Jessica Alba (can't act, semi-nude scene), Michelle Rodriguez (can act, no nude scene), and Lindsay Lohan (can't act, topless). In the flashback department, we've got an enormous-looking Steven Seagal as a Mexican drug lord and Don Johnson as a vigilante "protecting" the U.S./Mexico border. Rodriguez favorite Cheech Marin is another scene-stealer as Padre, Machete's shotgun-toting brother who happens to be a priest. Also look for Shea Whigham as Booth's inept henchman.

The story that revolves around Machete's revenge efforts include De Niro's Senator, Seagal's drug lord, Johnson's border vigilante, and an evil conspiracy to control the border to curtail illegal immigrants coming into America. I'm all sorts of democratic, but I don't want any message shoved in my face in a movie named 'Machete.' The whole angle, the angelic underground network helping people across and the dastardly evil big business, gets to be too much in a movie that had a whole lot of too much for me.

Look, I get it. This isn't a movie meant to be over-analyzed and critiqued within an inch of its life. It's about seeing Machete bed down every woman he meets (almost), about twin nurses in short skirts firing machine guns, about a tricked-out, machine gun packed motorcycle, countless decapitations, perfectly slimy bad guys, topless Lindsay Lohan, and all that beautiful low-brow humor and violence that most films just can't get away with. I just didn't like it. Exploitation is one thing, but I can't get over the fact that it plays far too much like a spoof. I of course might be alone in this sentiment. The sequel, Machete Kills, is due in theaters next summer.

Machete <---trailer (2010): * 1/2 /****

Battle Los Angeles

It took me about the length of a trailer to figure out I wanted to see 2011's Battle Los Angeles. That's the beauty of trailers at their best. This specific one is one of the best I've ever seen, and I'll link to it later for your viewing pleasure. A trailer can convince you one way or another to go see a movie, but how often do you LOVE the actual trailer? I never got around to seeing it in theaters, but I'm glad I caught up with this summer.

Over maybe the last 10 years, it feels like the alien invasion movie has gone through a rebirth of sorts with waves of films hitting theaters. Think Cloverfield, Skyline, War of the Worlds, District 9, Signs, the Transformers movies, and even going back into the 1990s, Independence Day and Men in Black.  A lot of reviews talked that 'Battle' is more war movie with aliens as opposed to space invasion movie. Complaints are all over the place -- some fair, others not so much -- that it is a propaganda movie (sounds ridiculous to me), but my biggest issue would be that it is as cliche ridden as any movie I can think of. Is that a bad thing? No, not really, I revel in movie cliches. Just a warning as you head in.

After almost 20 years in the Marines, Staff Sergeant Michael Nantz (Aaron Eckhart) has requested his retirement, the paperwork coming through quickly. Days removed from leaving the Marines though the planet is thrown into a worldwide battle for survival. Bizarre meteor showers are hitting off coastal cities all over the world, some extraterrestrial beings coming from the showers and proceeding to annihilate everything in their paths. Nantz is quickly transferred to a platoon of Marines commanded by the intelligent but inexperienced Lt. Martinez (Ramon Rodriguez). Like cities all over the world, Los Angeles is being torn to pieces, but Martinez, Nantz and their men are given a mission. Deep in the city is a hospital overrun by these attacking aliens. They must get into the city, rescue any survivors and get out before an air strike is called in on the whole coast. Can they do it in time, or is something else waiting for them?

In the midst of an alien invasion story, I was pleasantly surprised to see this story develop, that of the unit picture, a group of soldiers in an impossible situation trying desperately to hold on for survival.  Think as far back as 1934's The Lost Patrol or more recently with movies like 2003's Tears of the Sun or 2010's Predators. At times 'Battle' does play like a recruiting tool for the U.S. Marines more than just an action sci-fi movie with its penchant for Marine mythology and reputation. But for the most part, I liked it for the interesting alien storyline and a small group of specialists trying to maneuver through a war-torn city. There is something simple about mankind vs. aliens. There is good and bad, no cultural differences or race issues, just survival.

So from the "unit picture" comes a list of stock characters that just about everyone is familiar with. Making the most of a very stereotypical, cliche-ridden character, Eckhart is the brightest star from the cast as he plays Sergeant Nantz, the veteran Marine dealing with emotional issues from his last tour overseas where some of his men were killed (how we don't know, but it was supposedly his fault). His lines reek of cheese and are way too over the top, but Eckhart has a way of making it believable and not painful to watch. Rodriguez too (who I thought was awful in Transformers 2) is surprisingly decent with the very recognizable young, inexperienced officer. Also look for Michelle Rodriguez as Santos, an Air Force survivor traveling with the platoon, Will Rothhaar as Cpl. Imlay, maybe the most capable soldier in the bunch, Cory Hardrict as Lockett, a Marine with a bone to pick with Nantz, Jim Parrack as Kerns, a vet from Iraq/Afghanistan trying to get back,  Gino Anthony Pesi as Stavrou, rapper/hip-hop artist Ne-Yo as Harris, and Adetokumboh M'Cormack as Adukwu, the medic, among others.

What can be fun about the alien invasion movies is the reasoning, the explanation, and of course, the visual of what the aliens look like. Part of the reason Cloverfield worked was because basically all those things were left unexplained. It's a weird, immense creature attacking New York City. That's all we need to know, and the movie was better for it. 'Battle' doesn't go overboard trying to piece things together, to rationalize why the aliens are attacking Earth. The reason does seem a little suspect, but it never dwells on it. The aliens -- in whatever form they are and for whatever reason -- are good bad guys here, boasting impressive futuristic technology that forces U.S. forces and the Marines to improvise as to how to beat them. They aren't invincible, and thankfully we don't defeat them by giving them a cold/flu bug.

Battle Los Angeles was made for a relatively cheap $70 million, a modest sum for an action movie.  For all the complaints of the cheap special effects, I thought the action was a major selling point. Scenes of the city being attack provide some nice scale, a nice comparison, because the rest of the action is on a smaller, more personal scale.  It is a handful of Marines running low on ammunition navigating through L.A. as aliens work their way through the city looking to kill them. Guilty at times of using too much handi-cam and ridiculously fast editing, director Jonathan Liebesman manages to find the right balance of the loud chaotic extremes of the fighting with the personal, terrifying moments of extreme fear together.

Especially now as I look back, I'm probably overrating the movie a bit. Through the cliches in characters and story and hammy, patriotic 'Go America!' speeches, I still liked this movie. It isn't ground-breaking or new in basically in any way. It's just a fun, exciting shoot 'em up alien invasion action movie. Enjoy the trailer below too. Also mostly because I forgot, look for Michael Pena and Bridget Moynahan in pointless supporting roles as civilians along for the ride.

Battle Los Angeles <---trailer (2011): ***/****   

The Fast and the Furious

Not to get nostalgic over a movie that came out just 10 years ago, but for better or worse, I've grown up with the Fast and the Furious movies. Other generations had Star Wars, Indiana Jones, Lord of the Rings...I had these street racing movies.  Saying the series has come a long way isn't exactly a spot-on description because they're all fun, entertaining, popcorn movies. It started with 2001's The Fast and the Furious, a movie that seems like it was in theaters a long time ago, especially considering the series' fifth movie, Fast Five, was just released in May. You've got to start somewhere though, right?

Watching this movie now -- having seen the other four movies since, some of them on repeated viewings -- I couldn't help but notice a couple things.  One is something that didn't even register for years after it was released.  More on that later, but it involves the whole story being almost a complete rip-off of another cult classic from the early 1990s.  The other thing, the bigger thing? The original is pretty bad overall, definitely a guilty pleasure that is a success because of its badness.  It stays close to home with plenty of fast cars, gorgeous women, a rap and hip hop soundtrack, and fast cars. Oh, wait, I mentioned that already.

Working an undercover job, young police officer Brian O'Conner (Paul Walker) has been given a timetable to bring a case to court.  A group of hijackers using premium, high end foreign cars are taking down 18-wheelers all over California, taking their shipments of everything from electronics to car parts and selling them on the black market. Posing as a mechanic at a car parts store, Brian is forced to become part of the underground street racing world. One of the biggest and most obvious suspects is Dom Torretto (Vin Diesel), an ex-con who has gained a reputation as one of the best racers around. Losing a race to Dom, Brian owes him a 10-second car and is quickly accepted into Dom's team.  As the evidence mounts though, can Brian put aside his friendship with Dom and relationship with Dom's sister, Mia (Jordana Brewster), if he thinks they're the real masterminds behind the hijacking?

Does the basic story sound familiar at all?  It didn't click at all on my first couple of viewings, but at some point it hit me like a bag of rocks. The story is basically a blatant rip-off of 1991's Point Break starring Patrick Swayze and Keanu Reeves. Instead of bank robbers we've got hijackers, Walker taking over for Reeves and Diesel stepping in for Swayze.  The undercover agent must take down his new friends, balancing out the duty he feels with this legitimate friendship and bond that has developed as he goes undercover. It doesn't ruin the movie by any means, but it certainly is on your mind as you watch it.

Through all the bad lines and really hammy acting, the things that work well here are the things that work well in all the movies.  Diesel is a solid lead as Dominic Torreto, an action star and a presence more than an actor.  Walker has improved significantly as an actor over the last 10 years so here as undercover cop Brian he's not the most impressive actor around. Still, they have a good chemistry together, two opposites becoming fast friends through their love of cars and racing. The best moments -- like in Fast Five and the others -- are Dom, Brian and his crew shooting the breeze, hanging out in the garage, having a group BBQ. The team include Michelle Rodriguez as Letty, Dom's girlfriend, Chad Lindberg as Jessie, the computer/tech/engine expert, and  Johnny Strong and Matt Schulze as Leon and Vince. Through all the fake, forced confrontations, the movie is at its best when it lets the characters relax and be themselves.

Enough with the acting conversation about a movie about street racers. Let's talk fast cars and street racing!  Credit to director Rob Cohen for finding an appropriate middle ground for his racing sequences.  They're heavily edited and lightning quick, but never to the point where you lose track of what's going on. For the most part, the story doesn't revolve too much on the racing sequences, focusing more on Brian's investigation and his friendship with Dom and relationship with Mia. A highlight is the final 30 minutes when all the stops are pulled out. Dom....brace for it....is leading the hijackers with Brian trying to stop them as the truckers go vigilante, arming themselves. A high-speed chase on a desert highway is crazy, and the following chase with a rival racer, Johnny Tran (Rick Yune in a truly bad performance), on motorcycles is a great finale.

Over the course of five movies, directors/producers/writers have figured out what works and what doesn't work with the story and characters.  The first 45 minutes are pretty painful as the story just tries too hard to be currently hip or cool (and yes, I realize pointing that out and using 'hip' and 'cool' makes me just the opposite). There are some beyond cringe-inducing moments, line deliveries that make you wonder if a little kid wrote them.  Thankfully the movie finds it rhythm pretty quickly once everything is established. Like any movie, just know what you're getting into. Some other supporting roles include Ted Levine as Brian's immediate supervisor, Thom Barry as Agent Bilkins, the FBI liaison on the case, and Noel Gugliemi as Hector, a possible suspect.  

Fast Five and even Fast and Furious are better movies overall, 2 Fast 2 Furious probably on the same level, but the first movie in the series is still worth watching and a must-see for fans of racing movies.  It is the rare franchise that got better -- not worse -- as the movies have been released. Still, it's the original. Enjoy it.

The Fast and the Furious <---trailer (2001): ***/****

Avatar

When I first heard about James Cameron's Avatar, I can honestly say I wasn't interested in the least.  Sure, I saw Titanic twice in theaters while in grammar school, but this new project he'd been working on for years held little appeal to me.  The story sounded weak at best, and the attraction of some new technology did little to impress me.  It got worse when the movie actually hit theaters and was a huge success, lots of friends and family saying I'd love it, just go see it.  Well, that sealed the deal. I wasn't going to watch it. Most of a year later, I caved, getting it from Netflix this week.  Final result? Good but not great movie, one that's definitely not one of the greatest movies ever made regardless of how many bajillion dollars it made in theaters.

Going in with as open a mind as possible, I wanted to give Avatar a fair shot...even if that voice deep down inside wanted me to hate it.  I couldn't help it.  I saw all this craze last winter and thought it was ridiculous how much fans got into it.  I read stories that some fans were even going through variations of depression and withdrawals since they couldn't visit the fictional planet of Pandora where the story takes place.  It just all added up.  It was Harry Potter, Twilight, and any number of other popular series in pop culture rolled into one.  Still, I buckled down and tried to enjoy it, and overall, I did.  But that doesn't mean there weren't flaws along the way, major flaws.

Sometime in the future, a paraplegic Marine, Jake Sully (Sam Worthington), is sent to the far-off planet of Pandora in place of his recently deceased twin brother. On Pandora, a corporation is struggling with how to handle the indigenous population, the Na'vi, a humanoid race of creatures, who sit on a hugely lucrative element needed back home called unobtanium.  Through an extensive, expensive scientific process, Jake can become a Na'vi as an avatar, looking like them and eventually living with them.  His superior, Dr. Grace Augustine (Sigourney Weaver), wants to learn about the Na'vi and their culture and way of life, but Jake receives pressure from the corporation's head (Giovanni Ribisi) and the head of security (Stephen Lang). Living among them, Jake begins to become one of them, even falling in love with Neytiri (Zoe Saldana) and is torn between his duty as a former soldier with his desire to do what's right.  A fight is coming, and Jake's right in the middle.

Props to Cameron right off the bat because he basically invented a new form of technology to film this movie, taking existing motion capture software and making it ridiculously better.  The whole movie is basically CGI (which I despise), but it's so good, so perfectly handled, that you don't even process that you are watching anything completed by a computer.  If you can convince me CGI is a good thing, you've done your work.  Point to Mr. Cameron.  The movie is beyond gorgeous.

That's by far the strongest aspect of the movie, the first 90 minutes or so as Jake explores Pandora and all it has to offer.  The storyline is similar to Dances With Wolves -- except in the future and in space -- so we see Jake learn how the Na'vi live from day to day in the jungles of Pandora with all its plant life and vegetation and various sorts of wildlife, some friendlier than others.  The sequences that blow you away are phenomenal, like Jake flying through the suspended mountains that hang in mid-air, the exploration of the immense tree the Na'vi live in, and many more.  It's all new to Jake as he takes advantage of his new legs, and it's all new to us as we see the ins and outs of this idyllic planet somewhere in the galaxy.

One of the rising stars in Hollywood, Sam Worthington is an ideal choice in the lead to play marine Jake Sully.  He's been in Terminator Salvation and Clash of the Titans, but he's still a new face here in Avatar.  He needs to be a new face because if you've seen this guy/character in various other roles, it loses some of the appeal, the wonderment as Jake transforms into something else. Saldana is the equally strong-willed Neytiri who fights Jake but comes to love him.  The technology that makes Saldana into a Na'vi is obviously something special, but credit to her for not getting lost along the way as she makes Neytiri a very strong female character.  Weaver and Ribisi are solid in supporting parts, Lang is hamming it up for all he's worth as the evil security head, and also look out for Michelle Rodriguez, Wes Studi, and Joel Moore in supporting parts.

Now for the disappointing part of Avatar.  With a budget of over $300 million, Cameron apparently didn't spend much on a well thought out, well written finished script.  The dialogue is embarrassingly bad at times with some lines that made me cringe hearing them and more so now just thinking of them.  I mentioned earlier the story is similar to Dances With Wolves.  That's not true.  It is Dances With Wolves with the Na'vi filling in for the Sioux and evil white men filling in for...oh, wait...that one is the same.  Cameron clearly went to town on the special effects, and good for him because they're amazing, but at 162-minutes the movie feels incredibly long in parts and could have been tightened up or at least been better utilized.

The finale is a combination of all this good and bad as Lang and Co. launch an all-out offensive on the Na'vi and their villages.  It is an inspiring sequence full of scope and a truly epic feel that is also limited by a heavy-handed ending that I hoped wouldn't be there.  SPOILERS For awhile, it looks like the Na'vi are going to lose only to have a naturalistic, spiritual ending of the Pandoran ecosystem work together to fight off the intruders.  SPOILERS It of course leaves the door open for a possible Avatar 2 -- God help us -- but doesn't ring true at all.  But that's the movie.  Lots of good and lots of bad, but in the end the amazing technology wins out.

Avatar <---trailer (2009): ***/****

Fast and Furious

Let's play a game. You make a movie that is a huge success and makes you a huge star. Naturally, talk of a sequel comes up, but you want nothing to do with it. So the sequel is made without you while you make such classics as Babylon A.D., Chronicles of Riddick, and xXx. Then eight years after the first movie, you finally return to the series that made you a star with a sequel. If you've guessed I'm talking about Vin Diesel, you win a cookie.

To be fair, I don't mean to criticize Diesel who I'm a fan of even if his choice in what movies to do isn't great. But eight years since the huge success of The Fast and The Furious and two sequels that he didn't star in (although he does make an appearance in Tokyo Drift), Diesel returns to the franchise with this year's Fast and Furious. What happened to both of the 'the' from the original title?

I haven't seen all of Tokyo Drift, and I liked 2 Fast 2 Furious as much if not more than the original, but it's still nice to see the whole crew back together for the third sequel. Michelle Rodriguez and Jordana Brewster both return with Paul Walker also coming back after sitting out 'Tokyo.' The story picks up five years since the original with Dom Toretto (Diesel) and his girlfriend Letty (Rodriguez) leading a crew in the Dominican Republic who take down high-octane fuel shipments. If you saw the trailer, you got a good idea of the very cool opening sequence as Dom and crew take down a semi leading four tankers down a rocky, windy mountainside.

But SPOILER ALERT their actions put them back on the radar of any number of law enforcement officials looking for them. Hoping to keep Letty safe, Dom leaves her but when hiding out in Mexico finds out that she's been murdered. Dom returns to L.A. and with just one clue about the murder gets back into the world of illegal street racing...sort of. Meanwhile, Brian O'Conner (Walker) is now working for the F.B.I. on a case to bring down a drug cartel led by a man called Braga. And what do you know, Braga is looking for drivers to get a new shipment of heroin across the U.S./Mexico border. What are the odds then that Dom's and Brian's paths cross? I'd go with pretty good.

What surprised me about this third sequel from beginning to end was the more serious tone. We're not talking hardcore cop movie, but 'Fast and Furious' is not so light and fluffy with its story. The first three movies were loud, colorful and in your face with hip-hop and rap playing from end to end. Directed by Justin Lin, this one leans more toward getting into the minds of both Dom and Brian, Dom looking for revenge pure and simple and Brian hoping to close a case that's been open for years. I guess that happens when revenge is added to a storyline, the darker tone, but it works here. Previous villains in the series were over-the-top but never very intimidating. John Ortiz as Campos, Braga's right-hand man, and Laz Alonso as Fenix, Braga's top driver, are both strong villains, bad guys you're really rooting for to get shot.

I know what you're saying though, enough with the casting and the story. Get to the RACING! I was disappointed with the driving sequences here. The opening sequence, Dom and Letty taking down fuel tankers, is top notch and a great way to get your blood flowing for the rest of the movie. But much of the rest of the movie's racing scenes are heavy on CGI. Say what you want about the previous movies, especially the first two, but much of the driving was done by...you know, actual drivers. The end has an exciting chase as Dom and Brian gun it for the border across the Mexican countryside, but it derails when they're chased into a tunnel that goes under the border. It's all CGI and not necessarily good CGI.

All flaws aside though, I really enjoyed this newest entry into the F & F series. It was good to see Diesel and Walker back together especially with so much unresolved between them since the original. Maybe it's just because I liked the characters to begin with, but I liked those scenes between them as much as I did the action scenes. They form the uneasiest of alliances because they have the same final goal so for me, any buddy movie tandem is a good one. Walker doesn't look quite as baby-faced as he did in the original, and Diesel is cool regardless.

Rodriguez makes a quick cameo and is dead in the first 20 minutes and Brewster is eye candy and basically a background player, but she's still there so we've got that going for us. Who would have thought there's some remaining sexual tension between Mia and Brian? Also keep your eye on Gal Gadot who plays Gisele, one of Braga's assistants who takes a shine to Dom. The Israeli beauty is drop dead gorgeous.

So maybe not as action-packed as the trailer made it out to be, Fast and Furious is a worthy sequel and one fans of the franchise should be able to appreciate. The trailer is one of my favorites and really got me psyched to see the movie. As pointed out before, it's also a shorter version of the great opening sequence. The song choice, Does it Offend You, Yeah?, is a good one although the use in the trailer is better than the actual song. So if you've made it this far in the review, kudos because I stopped writing about racing paragraphs ago. It's a good sequel with a darker, revenge-driven story. You won't be disappointed.

Fast and Furious (2009): ***/****