With Fast Five opening today, I have been inspired to make this thread for one reason:
Why is this an ongoing film series???
To explain further - I actually haven't seen ANY of the films. I've just observed from afar, and found it amusing when they started to make sequels without Vin Diesel at first (just like they made a sequel to XXX without him), but I thought enough would be enough when they reunited all the original actors for part 4.
Reading the plots of all the films on Wikipedia, they have really made a film series out of the adventures of a thief and racing junkie (aka Vin Diesel's Dom?) This is like making a series out of Point Break, with the plot getting recycled over and over...
Yes, good and thoughtful films have been made about friends on opposite sides of the law, like Thief and Heat, but making a continuing film series out of the same dynamic again and again??
Someone convince me about this.
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Convince you about what? It's a movie. Movies are made to make money. If there is a fan base who will pay lots of money to watch movie, the movie will be made.
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It has fast cars, hot chicks, explosions and gun fights. It is a franchise designed to appeal to the lowest common denominator, people too stupid to realize they've paid to see the same movie going on five times now.
That said I want to see the Rock fight Vin Diesel so I'm thinking of seeing this one in theaters.
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So it's basically a modern-day franchise in the mold of the old Friday The 13th series? It has it's niche audience that it appeals to, and doesn't want you to think deeply about how these characters should be a lot smarter in real life?
I remember back in the 1980's, Roger Ebert reviewed one Friday The 13th film (badly) and basically attached at the end *This review is good for the Friday The 13th film of your choice.*
So are Fast & Furious films like that?
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My brain couldn't comprehend why Vin & co didn't STOP the trucks when highjacking them & the FBI being terrified that truckers would take the law into their own hands...
The Fast and the Furious - Good Fun.
2Fast 2Furious - One of the worst films ever made.
Tokyo Drift - Best of the series. Karate Kid with cars.
Fast and Furious - Trash.
Fast 5 - Nice action scenes. Best attempt at story though still horrible.
What they have to do is make it a "dynamic franchise" instead of a "static franchise". What I mean is, when Fast 3 came out, it was a refreshing movie and thoroughly enjoyable once you get over Lucas Black's accent.
When they decided to bring back Vin and Paul, they kinda ruined it. It kinda feels a lot like the Street Fighter video game series, but with 1 and 2 swapped around. 1 was probably one of the worst, 2 was the best, 3 was awesome but considered "too new", and 4 brought back the original characters but it kinda sucked. The same thing has pretty much happened here.
Once you change something, it is hard to bring the original back and make it any good. I reckon they should have explored different paths. There are many options they could have done. Have a former rally champion rallying in the streets and eventually into the mountains with a powerful street car that everybody wants because the original driver had a contract on him, now that would be a good example of doing something different. It would kind of break away from the original concept of the movie though, which would be the "someone thrown into the street racing scene and staying there" type movie. But, it would be a much better, albeit less profitable, way of continuing the franchise (actually, there is no real way of telling whether it is profitable or not, with the right casting and good flow, it can be considered a better direction for the franchise).
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Re: Re: Fast & Furious series: Discussion & Criticism
Well, if you are saying there are a lot of subtitles to the plot and characters that I would see watching the films, rather than just reading the synopsis, then just say that. Becasue like I said earlier, from afar I don't get how this became a franchise.
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Apr 29th, 2011 08:21 PM
