Buckle Up
To this point, I had yet to see the new Fast & Furious. I saw the original three a few months ago when Universal released them in a trilogy box set. The original was very good, and the two sequels were mediocre, but I had heard very good things about part four. Having seen it now, I can see where the ‘best of series’ argument comes from as it’s a very well put together action flick and one that really brings the series full circle.
Fast & Furious begins in the Dominican Republic, with Dom (Vin Diesel) and Letty (Michelle Rodriguez) leading a three car assault on a five-tank long gas truck. The team intends to hijack the gasoline for themselves and for the folks of the Republic who can’t afford it. It’s not often that an opening scene sets the tone for the entire film as well as this particular hijack scene did. The action is, if you’ll excuse the pun, fast and furious, and quite exhilarating. After the successful heist, Dom continues to feel mounting pressure from the police who are eagerly trying to capture him. He decides to leave Letty without her knowing so that she can avoid any trouble that is headed for him.
Meanwhile, Brian O’Conner (Paul Walker), has been reinstated into the FBI. His team is on the hunt for a Mexican drug cartel leader known as Braga. Braga’s cartel has been bringing in car loads of heroin into the US from a bordertown in Mexico. He uses a narrow tunnel that is built into a mountain that connects LA to Mexico, but the FBI have been unable to locate him or even get a picture or a fingerprint of him in over two years. Recently, the team lost their third undercover member, and the Director threatens to pull the plug on the operation within 72 hours if Braga isn’t brought in.
As Dom eventually finds out, that third FBI undercover “agent” was Letty, who had agreed to bring down Braga in exchange for a clean slate for Dom, so that he might comeback to the US someday. Mia contacts Dom to tell him that Letty died, although neither of them know at the time she was doing this for Dom. He comes back to America, with revenge on his mind. Meanwhile, Brian is wants more than just Braga — he wants the entire cartel brought down and is operating under a cooler temper than Dom is, as always.
The two get their chance to infiltrate and destroy the cartel when Braga hosts a race. The winner becomes the new driver that is needed to help run the drugs. This race pits Brian against Dom, who spend a good portion of the film rebuilding their friendship and trust (and Brian and Mia’s relationship is a subject of several scenes too). Along with two other racers, the duo blaze through LA streets in what is one of several very exciting, yet unique races. Dom ultimately wins with a bit of a cheat, but Brian uses his FBI connections to quickly take up the spot of another driver who gets arrested. Together, Dom and Brian team up with their unique styles of interaction and driving to confront the cartel and Braga.
Fast & Furious works great as a standalone movie, but if you’re familiar with the original you will get so much more out of it. Either way, if you can stand to suspend disbelief and just enjoy high quality Hollywood action film, there’s a ton of fun to be had here. It’s great to see the original characters and actors back at it, and the combination of Brian and Dom is just a blast to watch.
Rollin’ Onto Blu-ray
I’ve long believed that Universal produces the best Blu-ray releases, with Disney as a close second. Their consistent menus, U-Control features, and sheer production values just seem to outshine everyone else in the biz right now. This release of Fast & Furious is no different. The presentation quality is outstanding from start to finish. This BD-50 disc is packed with a very crisp transfer of the film and a pumping DTS-HD 5.1 audio track, not to mention loads of extra features. It helps that Director Justin Lin used some really pretty locales for filming, and the variety of scenes brings some good contrast as well. No matter the scene though, the image just pops off the screen in brilliant 1080p. Rich, vibrant colors, smooth edges, no grain — it’s a visual treat to be sure. Similarly, the audio was excellent; dialogue came through crisp and clear, engine revs and other action effects were accurate and really added to the atmosphere.
This BD contains quite a few extra features too; let’s examine them shall we?
-Digital Copy – A second disc included in the packaging contains a digital copy of the film that you can transfer to your PC or Mac. This is a limited time feature and after 7/31, this digital copy will no longer be available.
-Audio Commentary with Director Justin Lin
-Gag Reel (HD, 5m) – An amusing collection of gags and outtakes. This mostly centered around Paul Walker and his laughing during green screen sequences, but also included Vin cutting up; definitely good for a few laughs.
–Los Bandeleros (HD, 20m) – An interesting short film that features several of the main stars, minus Paul Walker. This short film acts as an excellent introduction to the opening scene.
-Under the Hood: Muscle Cars (HD, 7m) – Cast and crew talk about muscle cars and their role in the film. Dom talks about his Charger and how he’s missed it. Discussion over the rivalry between Dom and Fenix, who drives a Torino, is also included.
-Under the Hood: Import Cars (HD, 5m) – Similar to the Muscle Cars feature, this one focuses on foreign cars like Brian’s Subari STI. Once again, more behind the scenes footage is shown and complimented with lots of cast and crew interviews.
-Getting the Gang Back Together (HD, 10m) – A nice piece that has the cast and crew talking about how this fourth film came about. It was talked about ever since the end of the third, and Vin was very happy and satisfied to be able to get the others back. I thought it would have been the other way around given that Vin is the biggest star, but he surprises me sometimes and seems to be a whole lot more down to Earth than I thought he was. Good stuff.
-Driving School With Vin Diesel (HD, 3.5m) – The stunt driving crew takes Vin out for a spin. Lots of quick interviews and footage of Vin practicing various 180s and 90 degree turns with an old Chevy Caprice.
-Shooting the Big Rig Heist (HD, 10m) – A close look at the opening scene that took months to film. Stunt crew and cast chime in and lots of production footage is included.
-Races & Chases (HD, 11m) – Even more interesting behind the scenes and production footage, with a good amount of time spent on green screen filming. Cast and crew interviews are present, including the stunt folks; again, good stuff.
-High Octane Action: The Stunts (11m, HD) – This time the focus is on the dry lake chase scene towards the end of the film. Once again, cast and crew talk about the scene and there is a ton more production footage.
-South of the Border: Filming In Mexico (HD, 3m) – Magdelana, a border town of 30,000, flocked to see Vin Diesel as the producers decided to film in a real border town rather than somewhere in Hollywood or New Mexico. Vin pleases the crowd with some Spanish and comments on how nice the people were.
-Virtual Car Garage – This is an interactive feature where you can take a look at computerized versions of some of the vehicles in the film. You can rotate the car 360 degrees and read brief descriptions on what after market parts were used.
-Fast & Furious Video Mashup – A BDLive 2.0 feature whereby you can create and share a mashup video collage.
-Music Video (HD) – Artist Pitbull featuring Pharrell perform their song “Blanco.”
-Trailers (HD)
-D-Box Motion Control Support for those with the ultimate home theater.
-My Scenes – Universal’s bookmarking ability so that you can cut your own clips or scenes from the film.
-U-Control – Universal’s cool U-Control feature has an option that allows Actor Paul Walker and Director Justin Lin to guide you through the film as you watch it. They’ll step into the screen, pause the action, talk about particular scenes — it’s like a video commentary, with picture-in-picture of the movie and behind the scenes footage of the scene as it was being filmed.
These are some really great features; now to the summary…