JUSTIN LIN

Bil’s rating (out of 5):  BB.5.  USA, 2009.  Universal Pictures, Relativity Media, Original Film, One Race Productions, Dentsu.  Screenplay by Chris Morgan, based on characters created by Gary Scott Thompson.  Cinematography by Amir Mokri.  Produced by Vin Diesel, Michael Fottrell, Neal H. Moritz.  Music by Brian Tyler.  Production Design by Ida Random.  Costume Design by Sanja Milkovic Hayes.  Film Editing by Fred Raskin, Christian Wagner.  

Paul Walker‘s Brian O’Conner is now working for the FBI, while Vin Diesel‘s Dominic Toretto has been living in exile when he hears that his lady love has been killed in a car accident. Her death is linked to a heroin smuggler who transports drugs across state lines, which is also the case Walker is working on, meaning that these two will be reunited by the same goal for the first time in three films. Diesel is pissed because Walker had pretended to be his friend when he had actually been an undercover operative in the first movie, while Walker is amazed because Diesel had acted like he was too big for sequels until, eight years later, it appears he could do no better. Three years after the much ignored Tokyo chapter (which, because the world is a hilarious place, is actually a sequel to this one), this one gave new to life to the franchise and led to three more films in quick succession thanks to its high energy and a game cast.  Exciting stunt driving and an easy to digest, paint by numbers plot are marred only by an overemphasis on computer graphics, which take the sweaty fun away from the film’s bigger sequences. A sequel-baiting ending is somewhat infuriating but, fear not, as the next one is around the corner before long.