Fast and Furious falls flat for fans

By Chris Passero
Contributing WriterWith three successful movies under their belts, the producers of "The Fast and Furious" reunited the series' most valuable characters for a fourth addition.

The latest movie in the series, "The Fast and the Furious 4," takes place between the second movie, "2 Fast 2 Furious" and the third movie, "Tokyo Drift." Dominic Toretto (Vin Diesel, "The Chronicles of Riddick," "Knockaround Guys") and Brian O'Conner (Paul Walker, "Into the Blue," "Running Scared") team up for the second time in four films, after they were both absent from "Tokyo Drift."

After a failed attempt to highjack a fuel tank, Dominic learns the police raided his garage, and they have a target on him. Dom decides to break up his team and take a leave of absence from the high jacking business, leaving his girlfriend Letty (Michelle Rodriguez, "S.W.A.T.," TV's "Lost") behind.

While hiding in Panama, Dom receives a call from his sister with the news that Letty has been murdered. After visiting the scene of the crime, Dom discovers nitro methane on the ground. With a little investigation and forceful interrogation, Dom discovers the substance is connected to a man named David Park.

Meanwhile O'Conner, who has been reinstated to the police force after 2003's #2 Fast 2 Furious," is also hunting down David Park. As O'Conner arrives at Park's apartment, he finds Dom dangling Park out of the window. O'Conner reveals to Dom that Letty was doing illegal work for a man named Braga before she was murdered. Park, who also works for Braga, tells Dom he can get him entered into a race to compete for a spot on Braga's team.

Both Brian, an undercover cop, and Dom, an undercover fugitive, enter the race. Both men earn the spot, and although their feud is reignited, they are forced to trust each other in order to take down the common enemy.

The major flaw in the series' fourth installment was neither Brian O'Conner nor Dominic Toretto appeared to be the same character portrayed in the previous movies. The characters simply did not fit the descriptions depicted in "The Fast and the Furious."

In the first movie, Dom was respected, feared and regarded as legendary. In "The Fast and the Furious 4," Dom seemed more vulnerable. For the first time, Brian seemed like a typical cop, rather than the street racer battling for respect, a character who captured audiences in the first movie.

Walker was the face of the first two "Fast and the Furious" movies, but this film focused on Vin Diesel's character.

The addition to the series deterred from the base of the original storyline: fast cars, furious drivers and exciting races. Although the overall plot was more intense than the previous films, only one actual car race took place, which was forgettable at best.

Instead, the plot centered more on Dom's revenge. The film did appear to be a race between Dom and Brian, except they were racing to get a hold of Braga rather than to cross a finish line in tricked-out, lightning-fast cars.

The computer-generated imagery was better than any other movie in the series. The movie came complete with advanced special effects not included in the other films.

Although it did not outshine the first two, "The Fast and the Furious 4" was superior to "Tokyo Drift." However, it did not live up to its hype. The plot offers great entertainment, but it is not what true "The Fast and the Furious" fans expected.
e-mail passercd@sbu.edu