Vin Diesel and Paul Walker in "Fast and Furious"
courtesy of Universal Home Entertainment
“Fast, Furious & Flat”

You have high hopes for any series that has created as much fun as “The Fast and the Furious” movies have, but “Fast & Furious,” the fourth installment is fast and furious to be sure, but it is also fatally flat in regards to characterizations and plot development. You get one exciting racing sequence after another but who are the characters the four leads play? If you didn’t know before this movie, now out on DVD, you certainly won’t know after it.

The film starts with Dom (Von Diesel) and Letty (Michelle Rodriguez) pulling off an impressive fuel heist. It all takes place on a mountain road in some place like Guatemala. It is breathtaking to watch but when it is over you don’t know why it happened. Is Dom living completely outside the law? And is Letty his partner in crime?

Later a tragic event takes place that brings Dom back to the States. There he reunites with his sister Mia (Jordana Brewster) and later his rival Brian (Paul Walker). Brian is back working for the FBI and he finds he and Dom are pursuing the same master criminal, a man named Campos (John Ortiz). They go undercover and agree to race cars for him in a hope he will hire one of them to do some of his drug business,

They both get hired and this leads to more exciting car races. A particular one through a mine shaft is so good it is repeated later in the film. And it is just as exciting the second time around.

The plot is not as clear as what I have described. You are never sure of who the bad guy is and who is the good. Are the FBI Agents the bad guys, particularly agent Stasiak (Shea Whigham), or is Dom a bad guy for his sins of the past?

Diesel and Walker have their moments in the movie but neither comes across as a particularly good actor. Still they are heads and shoulders above Brewster who just walks through her role. Rodriguez has so much charisma she stands out just by showing up.

“Fast & Furious” is an easy DVD to sit through as it has one exciting scene after another. Still it would help if the actors were better, the characters more clearly defined, and the plot even halfway sensical. Maybe that will be done in the next installment of “The Fast and the Furious” franchise. The final scene in this one set that movie up completely.

You may have seen it on the Internet or you may have seen it on Spike TV, but you have never seen it like you can now see it on DVD. Zoe Bell stars in “Angle of Death,” a film about a paid assassin. Through a twist of fate she changes her attitude and her actions. She begins to go after the people who ordered the deadly hits. Wow!

Also starring in this movie are Lucy Lawless, Doug Jones and Ted Raimi. The script was written by Ed Brubaker who also wrote “Captain America” and “Daredevil.” This is gritty filmmaking at its best. If you like this sort of thing then don’t miss “Angel of Death.”

Another scary film is “Messenger 2: The Scarecrow.” This film is actually a prequel to the original “Messenger” movie and ex plains why the scarecrow is such an integral part of the tale. Norman Reedus and Richard Riehle star in this spooky and chilling movie.

If you like edge of the seat horror movies then this should be just the one for you. Pick up the DVD and watch it in the dark. That makes it even more fun. BOO!
 

 

 

 

 

©2009 Jackie K. Cooper

Click above to find out more about Jackie's books!