Den of Thieves and The Furthering of the Flawed Modern Action Hero

By
Jourdan Aldredge
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Gerard Butler is the perfect flawed anti-hero, but is he the action hero we actually need?

I liked Den of Thieves! I really did. After watching Bloodsport for the thousandth – but first on Netflix – time, the app autoplayed a trailer for Den of Thieves and I was amazed that I had never seen this film since it came out in 2018. The auto-play trailer was actually just a scene from the movie, the hostage-heist of the bank towards the end that brought a hard-cinema vibe similar to Sicario or Savages.

So, I bought in and watched it full and through because what else is anyone going to do! (Editor’s note: this review is coming out during the times of coronavirus.) And I gotta say, Den of Thieves is a hella awesome action slapper that is another ultimate bonnet for unsung modern action star Gerard Butler. However, while I did love Butler’s portrayal of Detective Nicholas “Big Nick” O’Brien, as well as his counter-star’s work with Pablo Schreiber as Ray Merrimen, what really stuck out to me is just how far we’ve come in modern action cinema from having anything close to an old school, noble, bonafide action star.

Instead, as Den of Thieves is a perfect example of a loooooong list of action vehicles with damaged, devious and dastardly anti-heroes who we’re supposed to feel a bit sick to our stomachs when they A) “win” at the end of the movie, or B) flame out and die due to their own character flaws as a reminder that action stars are dead and nothing is good in the world.

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From Heat to The Departed

Den of Thieves is nothing new to any of this though, it’s just a nice packaging and some great performances of a familiar tale in action and thriller tradition. Butler’s Detective O’Brien is the good guy cop who’s actually maybe more of a bad guy, and Schreiber’s Merrimen is the bad guy robber who’s actually maybe more of the good guy. It reminds me a little of The Departed for its opposite-sides of the law leads, but of course much more of movies like Heat as the two leads don’t quite play the infiltration game and share many scenes together – but are always at each other’s throats.

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Gerard Butler and Pablo Schreiber

It quickly gets messy as to who you’re supposed to be rooting for as the characters evolve throughout the film with Butler’s O’Brien showcasing some serious anger issues and a toxic masculinity that is ruining the lives of everyone around him. And while Schreiber’s Merrimen is maybe supposed to become the more virtuous of the two, the movie doesn’t quite go all in on making him a better person save for a few moments where he seems to care about the rest of his crew (guess what happens to all of them though).

These character dynamics notwithstanding though, Den of Thieves does a great job of creating two seperate, but similar worlds which the viewer gets to hang out in. There’s some great action sequences in it too with a very powerful opening car heist, as well as a very intense – and deep – 20 minute chase, shootout, showdown at the end. Butler chews the scenery with his over-the-top O’Brien and does channel a little vintage action in his great interactions with other agencies trying to take him off HIS case. And Schreiber – perhaps an unknown to much of the action community – bulks up into a very formidable foe to Butler. Along with a great ending, there’s a few tense, Heat-esque, sequences where these two briefly meet that are outstanding.

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The Future of Action Heroes?

Trying my BEST to not give away any spoilers, the movie does have somewhat of a twist at the end and all I can say is that O’Shea Jackson Jr.’s character Levi Levoux is of some importance. It also leaves an ending where, flawed as both our dual pro/antagonists are, Jackson Jr. might be the only character of any virtue. And while this might be because he’s more of a minor character (you can’t develop every character thoroughly), as well as maybe just a cop-out in the narrative storytelling, it almost feels like one of the last options for action movies as a way to not give any of our majorly flawed anti-heroes any sort of recognition – because they don’t deserve any.

That was pretty much the biggest takeaway from watching Den of Thieves, especially during some very sequences in the middle where Butler’s O’Brien was at his absolute worst was the question: is this the future of action heroes? Just making them more awful by the decade? I know anti-heroes have been big for awhile from TV heroes like Don Draper and Walter White, and it might be too unbelievable to go back as far as Chuck Norris as Matt Hunter in Invasion U.S.A., but jeez. There’s gotta be a way for action movie heroes to be something a bit less than despicable.

The Best Cannon Films Classics from The ‘Ultimate Action’ DVD Pack

By
Mike Culton
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Eight Cannon Movies, Two Discs, One Incredible Journey

If you’re anything like me, a significant percentage of your DVD collection came from the $5 bin. There’s no shame in it, I tell myself. Surely, we’ve all been there at various stages in our lives, rummaging around for whatever scraps of entertainment and hidden gems lie in its depths. Sometimes you find the stray Cobra or bare-bones edition of Point Break. Earlier this year however, the gods of physical media bestowed upon me a particularly wondrous gift, a singular collection of action movies at an unparalleled value. Eight Cannon Films flicks, plucked from the golden age of its library, grace two discs that are unburdened by special features and previews.

Today, I summoned the will to complete the journey from which I embarked months ago. From the swamps of Exterminator 2 to the mountain tops of the Missing In Action trilogy, I’ve roundly experienced their sorrows and joys. Here is the ultimate hot wash of that momentous mission along with my exclusive and totally objective five-point rating unique to each film. May the DVD deities favor your next adventure to Walmart or wherever fine movies are sold near you!

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Death Wish II (1982)

Down and Dirty: Paul Kersey moves out to LA erroneously thinking that it’s a safer community than NYC. Just when things seem normal, sure enough, another random street gang shows up in his life to rape and kill his previously traumatized daughter and housekeeper. Kersey recovers his favorite watch cap and Beretta to hunt down the thugs by happening upon them one-by-one in the only scuzzy part of LA, apparently. An aging Bronson and B-movie auteur Michael Winner turn 70s-style grit into 80s hardboiled action in this serviceable follow-up to the 1974 classic.

Ultimate Action Greatness: When a trio of Kersey’s targets exchange drugs, stored in their fanny packs, for guns, from a dealer wearing a pink silk shirt with rainbow suspenders, the conditions are right for all hell to break loose. Despite being seriously outnumbered, Kersey gets the upper hand somehow and the sequence ends with an exploding car.

Rating: 3/5 Beretta 84s

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Missing In Action (1984)

Down and Dirty: James Braddock picks up John Rambo’s torch in the first of a series of explosive ‘Namsploitation films that launched Chuck Norris’ collaboration with the Cannon Group. Col. Braddock is sent on a diplomatic mission to Vietnam to investigate whether POWs are still being held captive. Well, Braddock knows for darn sure because his buddies from Missing in Action 2 are still there, so he contracts some comic relief to assist in a covert jailbreak using only his finely-tuned infiltration skills and cat-like stealth…along with full-auto machine guns, grenades, and bazookas.

Ultimate Action Greatness: The amphibious assault to spring the POWs from the Vietnamese convoy. The sequence features a combat pontoon boat that gets totally rocked, only for an unscathed Braddock to emerge from the water with his M-60 blazing and absolutely demolishing the enemy. This legendary scene is one of the greatest moments in 80s action history.

Rating: 5/5 Belt-fed M-60s

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Missing In Action 2: The Beginning (1985)

Down and Dirty: This was supposed to be the first Missing In Action, and both movies were filmed at the same time, but Golan and Globus thought the original sequel had more exciting action. So, the sequel became the original and original became a prequel. Get it? MIA 2 aligns more closely with Bridge on the River Kwai. It develops the POW characters and shows what they sacrificed and how they endured cruelty and physical hardships. This serves as the backstory and establishes Braddock’s entire motivation in Missing In Action.

Ultimate Action Greatness: Although there is a fair amount of grenade tossing and gunfighting towards the end of the movie, the hand-to-hand combat scenes with collaborator Nester and camp commandant Col. Yin feel raw and more personal. These scenes carry more weight for the characters and overall plot, so they are more effective in this story vs. more traditional Cannon action schlock.

Rating: 4/5 M-16s

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Braddock: Missing In Action III (1988)

Down and Dirty: Col. Braddock discovers his wartime wife is still alive and had his kid 12 years ago, so he suits up for a raucous family reunion in the jungles of Vietnam. The rescue expands to an exfiltration mission to transport war orphans to the Thailand border. After a series of explosions and helicopter standoffs, Col. Braddock saves the day yet again. We’re about due for Braddock’s adult son to go on some adventures of his own. Praying for an MIA 4…

Ultimate Action Greatness: Braddock acquires a ridiculous omni-gun that’s part machine gun, grenade launcher, and sword, which he uses to great effect breaking the orphans out of the prison camp. In a scene that would make Commando jealous, Chuck stands in the middle of an open courtyard and demolishes a few guard towers and a dozen or so guards with the contraption.

Rating: 3/5 AK-47s

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Cyborg (1989)

Down and Dirty: The future is devastated by a plague and it’s dominated by street gang pirates that looted the same sporting goods stores from Road Warrior. An inexplicable cyborg lady seeks the help of Jean-Claude Van Damme, a hired gun, to escort her from New York to Atlanta, so she can upload the cure for the plague to scientists based there. The pirate gang, who have a pirate ship and all, gets wise to the plan and steals Cyborgette, so they can collect a ransom or reward or whatever from the Peach State scientists. Either way, she’s going to Atlanta, so I guess it doesn’t really matter who’s getting her there and frankly, I’d rather go in style on the pirate ship.

Ultimate Action Greatness: An otherwise mediocre movie ends with a knock-down, drag-out fight between JCVD and a constantly roaring Vincent Klyn. The pouring rain and water-resistant garbage fires provide an excellent backdrop to this brutal hand-to-hand combat sequence. I think by the end, the filmmakers forgot that Vincent Klyn was playing a regular human bad guy and turned him into a ferocious mutant monster with advanced healing powers. Either way, we get quite a few minutes of aesthetically pleasing carnage along with an exploding pirate goon for good measure.

Rating: 3/5 Modified, Multi-barrel Paintball Guns

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Invasion U.S.A. (1985)

Down and Dirty: A motley crew of commies storm Florida in order to set up a base, from which they will conquer the land of the free and the home of a denim-wearing, Uzi-packing Chuck Norris. B-movie villain veteran, Richard Lynch takes on Chuck along with a few tanks and several battalions of terrorists. This is the quintessential Cannon movie that’s chock – sorry – Chuck full of explosions, roundhouse kicking, and gunfighting action. And it all takes place during the Christmas season, so add this one to your Yuletide watchlist alongside Die Hard and Rocky IV.

Ultimate Action Greatness: So hard to pick just one. Chuck drives his pick-up into a festively decorated mall and totally wrecks the holiday shopping experience for dozens of local Floridians. Car chases, gunfights, punching, explosions, plowing through hundreds of feet of Christmas decorations, this scene rivals the Blues Brothers in terms of thrilling interior destruction.

Rating: 4/5 M72 LAWs

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Exterminator 2 (1984)

Down and Dirty: Watch nice guy Robert Ginty occasionally strap on his flamethrower to take on the gutter trash forces of “X” the crime lord. X is played by a young Mario Van Peebles who makes his feature film debut in the cheesiest way possible. We get a whole lot of Ginty and not nearly enough BBQ’d bad guy in this lackluster sequel.

Ultimate Action Greatness: Ginty upgrades his buddy’s garbage truck A-Team-style and sets up a trap in an abandoned factory. He mows down the baddies with an assortment of machine guns, rocket launchers, a chomping man-eating snow plow, and a series of Home Alone booby traps.

Rating: 2/5 Flamethrowers

Ninja III: The Domination (1984)

Down and Dirty: It takes several nasal cavities worth of blow to come up with a narrative involving a haunted arcade game, demonic ninja possessions, a magic sword, aerobics, and some light phone-line repair. The possessed Christie and her hairy cop boyfriend must figure out how to expel her ninja spirit, either by performing an intense aerobics routine or completing a mystical ceremony in a hidden mountain-top temple. It gets weird but Sho Kosugi shines through the fog of silliness to deliver some truly outstanding martial arts sequences and fight choreography.

Ultimate Action Greatness: The seemingly indestructible demon ninja is having none of the modern game of golf with a protracted fight scene on the green with dozens of kills, a multi-vehicle pursuit, neutralizing a police helicopter by hand, and a shootout involving dozens of rifles and shurikens. This sequence is one of the greatest first acts in Cannon’s filmography.

Rating: 4/5 glowing katanas

*Shout out to the Internet Movie Firearm Database (imfdb.org) for assisting me in identifying the weapons used in these productions, even the fake ones.

The Ultimate and Wholesome Action of Clint Eastwood’s ‘In the Line of Fire’

By
Jourdan Aldredge
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Is there anything more heartwarming than old man Clint Eastwood kicking John Malkovich’s ass?

For the life of me, I don’t know why this Wolfgang Petersen and Clint Eastwood by-the-numbers political, action, thriller hasn’t been the absolute staple of late-night TNT programming for the past three decades. It has everything the baby boomer dads of America would want. Quasi-political intrigue: check. Hallmarks back to bygone eras of the past: check. Clint Eastwood being the catch-all late 50s thru early 70s action movie everyman: check. Said older action star wooing a mildly-appropriately-aged younger woman: check. 

It also has some of the best / least challenging cinematic storytelling that has ever existed from Petersen, and across the board great character performances highlighted by John Malkovich doing his John Malkovich thing as one of the best villains in action movie history.

So, today, for anyone looking for something fun, not too challenging, but quite enthralling and with enough ultimate action sequences for a great payoff, to watch, let’s dive into In the Line of Fire (1993).

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Clint Eastwood in Ultimate Dad Action Mode™

In a term that I’ve just decided to coin, Clint Eastwood is going to receive our prestigious UAMC Ultimate Dad Action award. It was a tough call between Eastwood, Charles Bronson and Harrison Ford in Air Force One, but Eastwood is the ultimate example of the suave, aged but able, comforting action star. Which is quite a feat for the “golden era” of action in the 80s and 90s as their regular build and abilities was in stark contrast of the muscle men like Arnold, Stallone, Dolph and Weathers, as well as the sleek and strong martial artists like Bruce Lee, Chuck Norris and Van Damme.

Yet, Hollywood found a recipe for success for these classic action types even as they had to find new, and innovative, stories and narratives to tell with these older action gentlemen still standing strong at the center. In the Line of Fire does a great job of walking that rope as it balances Eastwood’s role as Secret Service Agent Frank Horrigan between being a rock star of perception and agility, and an obviously aging agent with declining abilities and ineptness. 

And thankfully too, it doesn’t dive too deep into Eastwood spending too much time actually wrestling with this and his own mortality, instead he pushes through it aptly as long as he has both an able love interest (in Rene Russo as fellow agent who is apparently quite easily seduced by piano playing Lilly Raines), and mark (John Malkovich as the hyper-talented, and hyper-crazy, wacko who is targeting both Agent Horrigan and the President of the United States, Mitch Leary), alike.

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And while we have to commend Russo for another solid supporting lady role in the Ultimate Action Movie Club halls (alongside her great 90s work in Lethal Weapons 3 & 4, Outbreak and Ransom), as it often is with Malkovich, he nearly steals the show. And if it wasn’t for Eastwood being so stoically born for almost every role he’s ever donned, it could easily his movie to lose in the memories of audiences. Instead, it’s one of the best matchups between hero and villain in any actioner and should be remembered as much.

It’s fun to compare Malkovich’s Mitch Leary (a name which we learn later, he originally goes by just “Booth” as he uses CIA-level skills to track down Agent Horrigan and torment him with calls in the middle of the night, riling up Horrigan with painful reminders back to Horrigan’s time as the body man on John F. Kennedy’s fateful assassination), with many of the other action movie crazies.

His role felt very familiar to me from a movie which came out just less than a year later with Dennis Leary’s over-the-phone terrorist exacting vengeance by tormenting the story’s star. And fittingly, some of the best sequences of the film come near the climax as Malkovich finally comes out of his cave and can be pursued, and eventually taken down “aim high!” by Eastwood.

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So Where’s the Ultimate Love?

The question to me is yet again, for another great actioner that I only barely remembered, yet once I sat down and watched it through is where is the love from ultimate action movie fans? My only guess is that In the Line of Fire got lost up in an action-heavy decade and stands out as solid, but not quite the noteworthy best of any of its stars from Eastwood, to Malkovich, to Russo, which is saying quite a lot for their abilities!

It also doesn’t even perhaps stand out from the great direction from Petersen with other titles like Das Boot, Air Force One and The Perfect Storm. The only person connected with the film that might have really held their hat on its success was writer Jeff Maguire, who while smashed a home run with this flick didn’t quite have many hits after.

Still, if you ever see In the Line of Fire on a streaming platform, or when browsing late night television it’s absolutely as good as you remember it, or even better if you’ve never seen it. Because, just like Clint Eastwood will always remind us, ultimate action just gets better as we grow older.

Fast & Furious 6: The Fast Saga Goes Full Superhero Action

By
Daniel Pappas
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The Long and Winding Road: Chapter 6 – Kick It Up A Notch

Things are finally meshing well. The tide finally rose on Fast & Furious movies, despite the stiff competition from superheroes. In fact, Marvel’s rising success made the Fast Saga Universal’s answer to international conglomerate IPs easily exploitable for a myriad of profits. They didn’t have a Captain America but they did have Dominic Toretto and his crew.

The next outing, the 2013 film, would bring in all the same elements from Fast Five only this time they were bringing back Michelle Rodriguez. This movie continued the success of its predecessors by upping the ante on all the things fans loved before: a multinational cast of personalities, big fights and even bigger stunt scenes, family melodrama, a bumping soundtrack, and Vin Diesel’s gritty voice saying “Ride or Die.”

In the longevity of the franchise only its initial three entries really bared a resemblance to its Point Break meets Gone In Sixty Seconds origin story. Still, stories grow. This story, especially, grew beyond it’s south L.A. setting into an international caper, whether by accident or by choice can be argued forever but it doesn’t change the fact that: The Fast Saga was now in the upper echelon of summer blockbusters.

Justin Lin returned to direct the sixth entry off a script that Chris Morgan wrote. The pair had worked so well for three movies before this. Lin’s penchant for practical effects and go-big-or-go-home set pieces. Morgan’s intimate knowledge of the “Fast universe” and soap opera dynamics helped fuel the franchise’s plot. Vin Diesel was back on as a producer with Neal Moritz (the great Granddaddy of this whole thing.) Dom’s Team would go on another international adventure, this time on the other side of the law.

Luke Hobbs finds Dominic Toretto in the Canary Islands canoodling with Elena (Elsa Pataky’s underutilized character from Fast Five.) He needs Dom and his crew to take down Owen Shaw, the new baddie for this movie. Shaw’s bona fides as a former special ops soldier in the mobility combat division makes him legitimately terrifying. More importantly Letty’s back and she’s running with his crew.

Dom consults with Brian, and they agree “You don’t turn your back on family, ever.” Dom assembles the crew to stop Owen Shaw and his evil team from robbing important tech pieces to make a Nightshade device – an EMP-like device that can knock out the military communications of an entire country. Hobbs brings on a new partner, one equally good at ass-kicking: Riley (played by MMA legend Gina Carano.)

Read along on the rest of our Fast Saga coverage with these articles on the other Fast & Furious installments:

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The Most Ultimate Fast Cast Ever?

The cast list for this movie is insane. Just starting with Dom and his crew you’ve got Vin Diesel, Paul Walker (of course), Jordana Brewster, Ludacris, Tyrese Gibson, Sung Kang, Gal Gadot, and Dwayne Johnson. Don Omar and Tego Calderon sit out this adventure (and future adventures as well) proving they were never series regulars.

Fast & Furious 6 adds subsections of fandom by incorporating more international icons: Luke Evans, Gina Carano, and Joe Taslim. Evans holds prominence in British television and movies. Carano pioneered women’s MMA to international renown. Joe Taslim may be recognized in another Ultimate Action favorite: The Raid: Redemption. While unfamiliar to many in the North American markets these new members bear significance around the world as performers AND as athletes; a win-win as far as the Fast Franchise goes. All three rise to the occasion.

Michelle Rodriguez’s return to the franchise signals soap opera territory. In later films this revolving door of villains echoes the rebounding plot points of a soap opera, only Fast & Furious tells it over several movies. Fast Five was family fun but Fast & Furious 6 has some continuity to lean into and that means doubling down on the bizarre plot twists. Don’t forget: the cornerstone of this whole Saga started with Han dying in Tokyo (something they allude to in this sixth movie.)

Fast & Furious 6 puts the crew back on their feet as they react to Shaw’s villainous designs. The initial encounter has them up against the Anti-Crew: evil doppelgangers of Dom’s crew. At one point Tyrese Gibson even comments about their anti-qualities. Only once they start stepping forward does the movie really fly. It sends them off on different paths to investigate providing opportunities to really settle in to the roles we enjoyed seeing them play in Fast Five.

Paul Walker’s performance in the movies especially needs to be commended. While Diesel carries the franchise on his shoulders with a dour tone Paul Walker helped balance him out as an even-keel character. His love for car racing was genuine and half the time he’s on screen he’s playing himself: a self-serious man with pure love for fast cars. Each movie he’s turned in a performance that shows love for the franchise and the role he plays. Whether he’s cheering, making fun of Tyrese Gibson, or musing on being a father you can tell he takes it seriously. Without knowing it Walker’s level head and character loyalty made him as much a pillar of the franchise as Diesel and it would take losing him to find out just how much that meant.

The sixth outing in the Fast Saga requires even more over-the-top stunts and fights than its predecessor. Topping the bank vault heist sounds difficult, but clearly the studio had faith as it not only one-ups Fast Five but also ups the ante with every single fight and chase. Notable Ultimate Action fights include the beatdown Joe Taslim gives to Roman Pearce and Han as well as the knock-down-drag-out brawl between Michelle Rodriguez and Gina Carano culminating in a stairway fall that looks downright brutal.

On the stunts side we get a new invention alongside our more common stunts. One of the new element worth enjoying is the Flip Car (it’s a formula one European model car with a low angle battering ram designed to flip cars racing towards it). Dennis McCarthy, the vehicle designer for the entire franchise, went all out and designed a car that can actually flip other cars (albeit when it’s the right angle and with a little wire help.)

Lin manages to drag out entire sequences for twenty or thirty minutes at a time. The cars race across an international highway attempting to chase down a military tank as it shoots at itty bitty dodge chargers racing around. The final sequence features six cars attempting to take down a plane while it’s taxiing off the runway. In a fit of inspiration Dom yanks the wheel of his car, while standing on the hood, to shoot himself over the gap between the two bridges and intercept Letty as she falls off the back of a tank. That, ladies and gentlemen, is the superhero moment.

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The Superhero-ification of Fast & Furious

At this point in cinema history the Marvel Cinematic Universe was in full swing. Disney/Marvel churned out two to three superhero movies a year. Fox clung to the Bond franchise putting out critically lauded Skyfall and Sony taunted Marvel by making their own Spiderman movies. Universal flirted with it’s own shared universe of famous movie monsters by creating The Mummy but the entire idea came dead-on-arrival with the film’s failure. The Fast & The Furious franchise was Universal’s greatest cash cow and that meant Dominic Toretto had to compete with Captain Marvel and as such he was going to need a super power.

Now, it may feel like extrapolation to say Dominic Toretto defying gravity to football tackle his girlfriend and save her life is a superhero beat but these moments of beyond-human capabilities became a recurring part of the franchise. Not only does he time it perfectly to save his love he also doesn’t break a single bone. Admittedly this is the franchise where two Dodge Chargers can toss around a bank vault like it’s a tetherball so concerning ourselves with physics seems an exercise in pointlessness. Still, this gravity-defying stunt stretches our suspension of disbelief pretty thin as we watch Vin Diesel literally fly. Voila! Superhero.

Just like the semi-nude models and flag girls of the franchise the movie’s women carry little to no agency except at the very top. While Michelle Rodriguez utilizes her tomboy persona for her character and Gina Carano kicks genuine ass the more effeminate female characters seem to drop out of the plot entirely as more devices than anything else. While not intentionally an endorsement of sharply divided perspectives on femininity the movie wastes a chance at providing the full package by losing Gal Gadot.

At the beginning of this franchise Gadot was introduced as a glorified assistant with style who flirts. In Fast Five she’s introduced as a mercenary or stone cold killer, constantly cleaning guns or filing weapons. In that movie she never actually delivers on a true fight. Love interest Han constantly saves her. In Fast 6 one might hope they finally gave her something to bash, but it appears once again that she’s relegated to “strutting around and getting saved by Han.” Which is a criminal negligence and Gadot would go on to prove her REAL action bona fides by playing icon Wonder Woman.

Gal Gadot can literally get in the trenches with the boys but the Fast franchise wastes it. In the end she’s used as a plot point: she dies saving Han in the final battle, confirming her love for him as she literally falls into darkness. The actual stunt- falling off a car and shooting a man in the head while smiling – plays like gangbusters but it underscores a more ominous beat: you can be effeminate or kickass but you can’t be both. It will literally kill you. Gadot’s death would motivate Han to go to Tokyo and become the misanthrope from Tokyo Drift we first knew him as. The circle is complete. Or is it?

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Where is the Fast Saga Heading Now?

The Fast Saga, in competition with the MCU, opts to include yet another mid-credits scene. This time Deckard Shaw, a character briefly mentioned by little brother Owen Shaw, stalks Han in the streets of Tokyo. We find out that HE, not the Yakuza, killed Han as revenge for the brutal murder of his brother. You don’t know him yet, Shaw threatens over the phone, but you will. He hands up on Dom and Han’s car goes up in a ball of flame. It seems the saga isn’t quite over yet and there was more to Han’s death than we initially thought.

Fast & Furious 6 falls pretty deep in the franchise but the music this time around doubles down. This pop-centric soundtrack reflected trends finally starting to peak across American radios. The titular single “We Own It (Fast & Furious)” features infamous rappers 2 Chainz and Wiz Khalifa and scored a spot as number six on the UK singles chart. Swedish House Mafia member DJ Axwell produced a track “Here We Go” for the trailer and Russian DJ group Hard Rock Sofa had a song prominently underscoring several moments. This international conglomerate of musicians continues to display a global approach to making movies: one that incorporates music and actors from every corner of the globe.

The Fast and Furious train went full steam ahead as far as production goes. On a budget of 160 million dollars (six times the budget of the original) it earned 789 million dollars around the world. It beat out Fast Five’s gross of 630 million by tacking on another 35 million in budget to gain an extra 159 million in revenue; a risk that paid off.

The truth is audiences around the world LOVED Fast and the Furious at this point. Unlike the superheroes they existed in a familiar world. There was always someone in the crew to relate to for international audiences and the plot didn’t require any knowledge or backstory (even though there’s plenty of continuity to dig into.) Explosions are an international language and apparently so is EDM music.

The sixth outing doubles down on the things that make the series great. This even more hyperbolic perspective tests even avid fans’ disbelief. It criminally wastes it’s female actresses by typifying them as either tomboy or feminine (and dead.) It serves as a ramping up point for the continuous story being told here.

Fast & Furious 6 may not be perfect. It leans heavily on it’s “anything is possible” conventions stretching even the gravity-defiance thin. Still it delivers on what people want when they go to these movies now. While it’s not as fun as Fast Five the movie still entertains and ensnares audiences with it’s big stunts and maudlin family dynamics.

WATCH: Rare Behind-the-Scenes Footage from ‘Walker, Texas Ranger’

By
Jourdan Aldredge
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Check out Chuck Norris and crew on the set of ‘Walker‘ as they literally blow up a neighborhood.

In typical Chuck Norris fashion, even in the explosive aftermath of a high stakes action sequence that damn near blows up an entire suburban block, Cordell Walker is pretty much only upset about losing his hat. “It was my favorite hat,” we hear Norris speak into the camera just minutes after a highly-coordinated crew has blasted several homes to smithereens for the sake of Ultimate Action!

Sharing from a post from the Austin Film Society, this clip comes from the Texas Archive Of The Moving Image in Austin, Texas which is a treasure-trove of Texas film and television memorabilia. And one of the most famous shows in rich legacy of Texas cinema is Chuck Norris’ Walker, Texas Ranger which ran for eight seasons between 1993 and 2001.

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Chuck Norris at his Ultimate Best

Originally inspired by Chuck Norris’ magnum opus performance in Lone Wolf McQuade as the “lone wolf” Texas Ranger JJ McQuade, Walker, Texas Ranger was first produced as part of a failed Cannon Films television offshoot, but still went on to be the perfect 90s vehicle for bringing ultimate 80s action into the syndicated television programming of America – and abroad.

At its height, Walker, Texas Ranger was one of the highest rated and most watched programs on television. With a great cast alongside Chuck Norris’ Cordell Walker including Clarence Gilyard as Texas Ranger Sergeant James “Jimmy” Trivette, Sheree J. Wilson as Tarrant County Assistant D.A. Alexandra “Alex” Cahill and Noble Willingham as retired Texas Ranger Captain C.D. Parker as the main cast – the latter of the two are seen in this BTS clip.

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Walker, Texas Ranger BTS

Walker Texas Ranger Reboot

This footage, specifically, comes from the Jim Ruddy collection and was actually taped for an episode of Entertainment Tonight on location in Dallas, Texas in 1995 as it was one of the biggest stunts of the season.

Here’s some more info on the video from the Texas Archive:“In this raw footage, taped for Entertainment Tonight, the cast and crew of Walker, Texas Ranger tape a large action sequence that includes several exploding homes. The footage begins with the crew setting up for the explosions, then watching from bunkers as they are detonated and the actors run from the exploding homes. Footage of Chuck Norris, Sheree J. Wilson, and Noble Willingham shooting a scene where their characters recover from the near miss with the explosion is also included. Filmed in Irving, six neighborhood homes were used for the elaborate sequence. This footage offers a behind-the-scenes glimpse of the actors, stunt crew, directors, fire department, police department, and FAA helicopter involved in shooting such a large action sequence.”

Watch the Clip Here!

The Raid 2: An Ultimate Capstone to One of the Crowning Achievements in Modern Action

By
Ryan Rosenblum
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The Ultimate Action of Iko Uwais and Gareth Evans in ‘The Raid 2‘ (2014).

As taste and sensibility has evolved, so has the art we consume and create. Action filmmaking, arguably the most visceral of cinematic pleasures from the dawn of the medium of itself, is not immune to this evolution – in fact, it is deeply reflective of it. The past thirty years alone have borne witness to a marked change in the thrills and brutality of the action film, and no franchise better reflects our contemporary thirst for broken bones and blood than the deeply influential duology of Gareth Evans‘ The Raid series.

Shifting away from the high-flying, weightlessly intricate wire choreography that defined the action blockbusters of the late 1990s and early 2000s, The Raid films (featuring a now-iconic leading performance from Iko Uwais, the Pencak Silat master originally discovered by Evans’ and cast in his first prominent feature film, 2009’s Merantau) ground the viewer in the durability and destruction of the human form. No longer emphasizing the graceful movement and dance-like prowess of seemingly supernaturally skilled masters of combat, action cinema refocused itself for a new generation.

‘Merantau’ and the Introduction of Silat Action Star Iko Uwais

On-Screen Violence with a Fresh Purpose

With The Raid, on-screen violence took on a fresh purpose – depiction of survival at all costs. The unrelenting pain and viscerally of destroying the bodies of those opposed to our heroes (and villains), and the mental chess game of how to disable those who stand in your way as brutally, but more importantly, as efficiently as possible while minimizing the lasting damage taken to oneself. For the 2010s, action moved away from ballet, and far closer to UFC.

After the deep impact felt by 2011’s The Raid: Redemption, it would be an understatement to say that a sequel would be up against heavyweights. However, from the opening moments of The Raid 2, it is evident that Evans’ had no intention of fighting with the same strategy he had already so successfully established with his first round knockout.

By executing one of our protagonists from The Raid, Andi (portrayed brilliantly by Donny Alamsyah), the brother of our main character, Uwais’ moralistic Rama, Evans’ makes clear the thesis statement for his epic sequel – violence will always beget violence. Through the two-and-a-half hours of The Raid 2, this theme is explored not only textually, through the intricately woven story of a familial criminal empire eating its own tail like an ouroboros, but also through the technical filmmaking on display.

Triple Threat: An Ultimate Martial Arts Movie for the Ages

How the Raid 2 Masterfully Wears its Violence

The relentless nature of the violence depicted in The Raid 2 serves not just to thrill, but also to disturb – Evans’ horror bonafides (through his work directing a blood curdling segment of iconic found-footage horror film V/H/S/2, Safe Haven, and later with his deeply chilling Apostle) are nestled deep within the DNA of what makes The Raid franchise tick. The Raid 2 may be the most profound example of a filmmaker intentionally using the intensity and quality of his onscreen violence to deeply wear down the audience.

Within the film itself, Evans’ is constantly elevating from one action set piece to the next, and by the time the story has brought us into the third act, there is no sign of the brutality slowing down. When we finally reach a climax, the violence has culminated in such a way that instills the feeling that all of the lives taken, and all of the blood spilled, is simply another step in a vicious cycle that will always continue. The most horrific part of it all, was that despite the extreme actions taken by our altruistic hero, he didn’t even come close to making a dent.

In the final moments, when Rama, getting roped into more violence and pain by his superior officer, finally breaks the cycle, we do not feel relief. We feel the trauma of his experiences resonate through his bones.

The Top 50 Action Gems of the Decade – 10-1

The Raid 2 Changed the Ultimate Action Movie Game

With The Raid 2 bringing the story of Uwais’ Rama to a blood-soaked and morally grey conclusion, Evans’ put a masterful capstone at the end of what has, in the years since, proven to be some of the most influential action cinema of all time. Without the raw carnage of The Raid franchise, equally thrilling western action masterworks like John Wick may never have been allowed to hit so hard, as the moviegoing audience’s thirst for such brutality may not have ever surfaced.

But, like sharks hungrily seeking a droplet of blood in a vast ocean, action fans know what they crave: as a result, we’re now lucky to be living in a time that will be considered a platinum age of action filmmaking. And, with the upcoming Gangs of London, Evans’ impact on the action sensibilities of our contemporary cinematic language will hopefully only continue to grow.

What Are The Most Famous 1980s and 1990s Action Films That Have Been Kept Alive by Popular Sequels?

By
Ultimate Action Movies
-

Few would deny that the 1980s and the 1990s had some of the best action films of all time. After the turn of the millennium, though, the genre took a slight downturn and has never fully lived up to that golden age. Studios have found that the best way to reignite the excitement that was first stoked in the earlier films is to release numerous sequels to keep the franchise alive. This has led to some hugely popular sequels already, and there are likely to be a few more in the years ahead.

James Bond

The James Bond franchise from Eon Productions started way before the 1980s, with the first installment, Dr. No, hitting screens in 1962. However, some would argue that the most thrilling and action-packed 007 outings occurred 20 years after his silver screen debut. The main franchise featured Roger Moore and Timothy Dalton over that decade, with a couple of the highlights being For Your Eyes Only in 1981, and The Living Daylights in 1987. Sean Connery also returned to the role for Never Say Never Again in 1983, but this was separate from the Eon films.

The Bond franchise was huge back then, but it is arguably even bigger now. It has been kept alive all this time by various changes in personnel and reboots of the story. The last installment, Spectre in 2015, brought in $880 million worldwide and was the second-highest earning movie in the series. No Time to Die is scheduled for release later this year, and it is expected to boost the already successful franchise further. As it stands, the Eon Productions series is ranked as the seventh-most successful franchise of all time.

Jurassic Park

One franchise that has existed since the 1990s and has managed to beat Bond by a few places in the film franchise showdown is Jurassic Park. It sits in fifth place in the rankings that are determined by a combination of ROI and critic score. The ROI takes into account how well the films performed at the box office in relation to their production budget. Overall, the Jurassic Park and Jurassic World movies have made more than $5 billion against a budget of $616 million.

It all started in 1993 with Steven Spielberg’s Jurassic Park. The original picture did incredibly well, earning more than $1 billion over its lifetime. It led to a couple of sequels in the 1990s, which were fairly successful at the box office as well. However, the critical response was not as strong for the second and third offerings. This led Universal Pictures to decide to reboot the franchise with Jurassic World in 2015. This is one of the highest-performing sequels ever created, and it made over $1.6 billion worldwide. It sparked another trilogy that has generated more than the first set of movies already.

Film studios should take note of how a well-timed reboot or sequel of a classic from decades gone by can be a huge hit. There are surely going to be more amazing sequels in the years ahead. The question is, which iconic action film should be brought back next?

It’s Gary Daniels Versus the World in ‘Hawk’s Vengeance’ (1996)

By
Andrew Babcock
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Gary Daniels is Eric Hawk… and he’s out for vengeance!

What a fun ride it has been going through the catalog of the one and only Gary Daniels. From kickboxing champion to becoming a legend in the DTV (direct to video) world in the 90s. There is certainly no shortage of kick-ass content to indulge in. While I wouldn’t say I’d put it above my favorite Daniels titles like Riot or Cold Harvest, Hawk’s Vengeance is in my top 5 easily, for the sheer brutal and merciless attitude Daniels has against his foes.

Gary Daniels’ DTV Christmas Action Classic ‘Riot’ (1996)

UAMC Reviews Hawk’s Vengeance

In Hawk’s Vengeance, Daniels is Eric Hawk. A British marine who is set off on a path of destruction or should I say ‘vengeance’ when his cop step-brother is killed. He soon discovers that his step-bro was investigating the murders and disappearances of a local Asian street gang.

Joining Hawk is his cop partner Lizzie/Jayne Heitmeyer (NightMan/Snake Eyes) and a guy that was crashing on his brother’s couch, Lipo/ George Chiang (The Tracker). Together, they take on everyone from Nazi white supremacists, to a couple of bumbling hitmen-for-hire, to the ultimate crime boss Garr, played by JKD and weapons expert, Cass Magna, who also served as the fight choreographer on the film.

Gary Daniels Takes Down Bryan Genesse in ‘Cold Harvest’ (1999)

Some Excellent Gary Daniels Dust-ups!

There are loads of fights. Gary gets to do what he does best. Without a doubt one of the best kickers to ever grace the screen. His bone-crunching style is always so fun to watch. Not for the bad guys, but for the viewers, yes, it’s very fun. When he first meets Lipo (Chiang), he has to dodge his attacks via a fry pan and says good thing you didn’t use kung fu on me. Chiang accuses him of being racist for assuming he knows kung fu.

Later on, Chiang comes to his aid and it’s revealed that he does in fact happen to know a little kung fu. There are some funny moments between the two. Daniels also develops feelings for Heitmeyer, who is beautiful, but plays this tough character and handles herself very well. She gives Gary a good slap when he needs it and in a fight with this female nurse in the finale, she finishes the job with a couple heart defibrillators.

Don “The Dragon” Wilson Goes 007 in ‘Operation Cobra’ (1997)

But How Ultimate is it?

Like I mentioned earlier, Daniels shows no mercy in this one. After interrogating a Nazi, he just leaves him there to be blown to pieces by a homemade napalm bomb. His confrontations with the two hitmen played by Vlasta Vrana (Hollow Point/The Peacekeeper) and Charles Biddle Jr. are comical, but brutal, as first fingers are lost, and then an ear later on. These guys should have learned the first time.

While the climatic rooftop fight between Daniels and Magna is not as awesome as the epic Genesee showdown from Cold Harvest (but what is?), it is still solid and ends with a very memorable decapitation, by way of a helicopter Van Damme style kick into a big fan.

I miss these days. When we all were anticipating the latest titles from these guys and gals on video store shelves. It was a much simpler time. Thankfully, we can always go back and relive them. Hawk’s Vengeance is essential viewing for Daniels fans!

The Way of the Gun: An Action Cult Classic with a Modern Appeal

By
Mike Culton
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“In order to form an immaculate member of a flock of sheep one must, above all, be a sheep.” – Albert Einstein

This quote appears on page two of Christopher McQuarrie’s screenplay for The Way of the Gun (2000). It provides the foundation for two aliased protagonists who aimlessly coast along the margins of society; getting by on petty crime and selling their bodily fluids. Everything changes when Mr.’s “Parker” and “Longbaugh” get the half-baked idea to kidnap a pregnant lady for ransom. Their one big score. It gets wholly more complicated from there in terms of the story’s twists and turns, jaw-dropping action sequences, and the legacy of McQuarrie’s directorial debut.

In retrospect, it’s difficult to imagine that the celebrated writer of The Usual Suspects (1995) and the successful director of the last two Mission: Impossible movies (with two more on the way) would hit a wall soon after hitting his stride in Hollywood. From all accounts available, McQuarrie had quickly soured on Tinseltown’s insistence on conformity and aversion to risk-taking…and this was back in the late 90s! His buck-the-system attitude matched his creative vision, which led to the conception of The Way of the Gun. He faced considerable labor pains with critics, the box office, and skittish audiences lamenting its violence and byzantine plot.

As a latecomer watching it for the first time, trust me, it was all worth it. Today, we can appreciate a well-adjusted film that endured a rough upbringing and blossomed into a fascinating film that takes risks and respects an action-oriented audience willing to take a chance on something different. Ok, enough of the child-rearing metaphors that intertwine with the plot, let’s get down to the scuzzy characters and explosive action.

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The Way of Benicio del Toro and Ryan Phillippe

Consistently intriguing Benicio del Toro and reformed teen-screamer Ryan Phillippe join an ensemble cast of bad-asses as the quasi-leads, Parker and Longbaugh. I say quasi-leads because once Juliette Lewis and James Caan get some screen time, it gets fuzzy. The characters in The Way of the Gun are so rich, the traditionally supporting cast match or exceed the compelling characterization of the two mains. I find myself much more invested in Caan’s tough-as-nails “Adjudicator” character, Juliette Lewis’ conflicted mother-to-be role, and even loveably hapless Geoffrey Lewis’ washed-up goon vs. del Toro’s and Phillippe’s more one-dimensional, bullet-dodging opportunists.

This is both frustrating and endearing. The movie’s quirks and unconventional plot draw you into a morally ambiguous world of shifty characters with conflicting individual agendas who, more often than not, solve their problems with firearms. The characters have more angles than the D&D dice that your nerdy friend had in high school. The main characters trade places scene by scene and the audience gets a chance to empathize with mostly all of them despite their inherent flaws. The lack of defined good and bad characters, lead and supporting roles, are, and definitely were, off-putting to some.

You can see where cracks emerged in McQuarrie’s early filmmaking, which likely developed from the star power of the cast and the choices made to elevate the action scenes.

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The Acting and the Action

Del Toro made substantive changes to his character, opting for a more minimalist interpretation. His performance works but we don’t know much at all about his character in the end and he never evolves. James Caan gives a commanding performance, which is almost too engrossing comparatively speaking. Juliette Lewis, the victim in all of this, is the most sympathetic and her character goes through emotional and physical hell throughout. Phillippe’s character is better developed and conflicted than del Toro’s but he tends to be eclipsed by the “supporting” cast by the movie’s halfway point.

It also pains me to say, but the incredibly realistic and thrilling gun-fighting scenes are the most baffling from a story perspective. Parker and Longbaugh are supposed to be wandering losers that resort to clocking Sarah Silverman to get out of an outmatched, drunken fistfight. Then I see them employing proper cover and move maneuvers, trigger discipline, impeccable rapid reloads, tactical communications, and proper room-clearing techniques? Where the hell did you all learn that? Oh yeah, Doug McQuarrie, Chris’ brother the Navy SEAL.

Doug McQuarrie is a certified badass, the intense gun fights and tactical expertise on display are outstanding, but do they make sense in terms of the story and characters involved? No.

Sicario (2015): Denis Villeneuve’s Neo-Action Masterpiece

But How Ultimate is it?

Eh, I can almost forgive it. It makes me yearn for a never-going-to-happen prequel where we learn how these guys learned to do all of that stuff. I would totally watch a movie where they get picked up and are inexplicably trained by the Mexican Marines to act as scouts/cannon fodder to hunt down cartel members along the Sinaloa drug smuggling routes coursing through Northwest Mexico, only to steal illicit narco-funds from a target to fund an epic, multi-week bender in Vegas. But I digress.

The best parts of the movie, outside of the crazy plot filled with interesting A-listers, are the action set pieces. The impressive shoot out sequences are brought to life with a surprisingly accurate sound design where each weapon is given a distinct audible signature. Shotguns are louder and deeper in tone than handguns, for example. Again, the Doug McQuarrie influence plays a major factor in adding a 2000s-era level of authenticity to a 90’s-era style of movie. The locations of the action add to the raw grunginess of the overall production. From dirty back alleys to dusty Mexican brothels, The Way of the Gun looks, feels, and sounds like a neo-western.

A lot of ideas, along with a whole lot more attitude, went into making The Way of the Gun. McQuarrie’s cynical view of the studio system is reflected in his characters’ nihilistic view of their world. Contemporary audiences can certainly relate to these themes as quarantine and Disney-Marvel fatigue firmly set in. The depicted violence symbolically lashed out at the constricting, conformist culture. Current and future action-driven filmmakers can draw lessons from The Way of the Gun and return to making socially relevant stories that aren’t afraid to challenge the status quo in an age when they are sorely needed.

Fast Five: A New Ultimate Heist Franchise Emerges

By
Daniel Pappas
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The Long and Winding Road: Chapter Five – Meet the Family

The Fast Saga finally reached its boiling point. After countless iterations, different directors and actor combos we finally get the version of this franchise that works best. It brought together the affinity for practical stunts and eschewed the street racing narrative entirely to focus on one big elaborate heist. It utilizes its entire catalogue of characters. It brings back Justin Lin to direct and Chris Morgan to write. It’s hokey and fun and insane and action-driven and filled with all the best elements of it’s previous movies. Fast Five ascended box office gains with the culmination of an entire decade’s worth of movies to draw on.

Picking up right where Fast & Furious left off: Brian O’Conner abandons his life as a law enforcement agent to rescue his friend Dominic Toretto from prison. Together with his love, Mia Toretto, the three hide in Rio de Janeiro hoping to evade the law. After a daring heist where the three tangle with Reyes, Rio’s premiere kingpin, they call upon a litany of friends to pull off one last heist. Meanwhile a big and bulky storm rolls into town. Luke Hobbs (or Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson) serves as an extranational law enforcement officer tasked with hunting down Toretto and his crew. Hobbs will hunt Toretto alongside Elsa Pataky’s Elena (the least corrupt cop in Rio) through the streets while Dom and crew pull off this incredible heist.

Fast Five opened the summer movie season early with a rare April release date. Previously Fast movies opened in early June to late July, the prime spot for summer blockbusters. An April release meant students were not out of school but avoided competition from other movies in the growing summer blockbuster season. This prevented it from running against other franchise movies like Transformers 4, Captain America, Thor, Pirates of the Caribbean 4, X-Men: First Class, Harry Potter & the Deathly Hallows Pt. 2. Such stiff competition (especially with Harry Potter’s conclusion) could detract from the box office thus the early release. Despite the trepidation Fast Five raked in six hundred and thirty million in global box office, almost double the previous entries three hundred and sixty million gross.

The Long and Winding Road of ‘The Fast and the Furious’ Franchise

A New Age for The Fast and The Furious

Fast Five’s international success owes a large debt to its multinational cast. This film brought together every character from it’s previous films to make one large crew (or family) for its central heist. Between sleek and deadly Gal Gadot’s Gisele to Sung Kang’s infinitely cool Han to the buddy comedy of Ludacris and Tyrese Gibson or Tego Calderon and Don Omar’s witty banter the cast originates from over six different countries. This diversity of cast provides a marketing angle for many different regions. This multi-ethnic cast also symbols the internationalization of blockbusters at large. In fact, the international setting of the movie and cast became a recurring theme with this ragtag mix of brigands bouncing all over the globe.

Fast Five benefits from a myriad of personalities bouncing off one another, but it never loses sight of it’s anchor: Dominic Toretto. Vin Diesel’s performance in this movie adds a few notes of humor to his previous dour tone. This time around he’s allowed to have fun. His one-liners always take the air out of the room with a commanding attention. Very few can square off against this leading man.

The Rock soaks up the screen every second he’s in. His training in the WWE perfects his one-liner delivery as well as brings an entire new audience to the franchise. He delivers all the great one-liners while strapping a giant pistol to his thigh and literally plowing through traffic in a Gurkha LAPV. His large frame makes even Vin Diesel look tiny and his no-bullshit old testament righteousness injects NoS into the movie’s veins. This relationship between Toretto and Hobbs featured prominently in the next three movies even gaining Hobbs his own spinoff (more on that later.) Unfortunately the rising star of Dwayne Johnson would eventually clash with series original Vin Diesel.

2 Fast 2 Furious: Exploring the Sequel That Launched an Ultimate Franchise

The End of a Street Racing Franchise

Fast Five only features one very short racing scene. Using the shorthand it’s developed (girls in short skirts dancing on car hoods) we arrive at the underground street racing scene of Rio. Through Toretto’s smile we see: no matter where in the world he is a good ol’ fashioned street race means home. It’s a blip in terms of actual movie content, much like in Fast and Furious. Still these blips rely on the conventions established in the first and second movie (racing for pink slips.) This incredibly short scene, that doesn’t even feature actual street racing, works because of its reliance on conventions established by previous movies. It doesn’t waste its time on the street racing. It focuses on its heist!

This movie prominently features it’s female characters as love interests or damsels in distress. Despite Gal Gadot’s character constantly cleaning and loading guns, her future partner Han winds up rescuing her time and time again. Mia Toretto, played by Jordana Brewster, finally delivers on some driving action of her own in the opening scene but ever after she’s relegated to O’Conner’s significant other or computer tech. Both women boast lethal potential but the movie never really delivers on it. The movie goes to great lengths to develop their relationships (and it’s a true joy to watch calm Gisele and cool Han flirt) so much to the point where Gal Gadot’s ass gets grabbed by antagonist Reyes – just so that they can steal his handprint to crack open a lock, and it’s a winking joke to the audience.

This movie works because of its rebounding tone. While it seems laughable to go from Dominic Toretto mourning the loss of his girlfriend in front of a cop to Tyrese Gibson and Ludacris making ass jokes that’s part of what makes this movie so great. The ensemble cast offers that ability for characters to rebound off each other in enough ways to satiate audiences craving a little bit of everything.

This is the movie that marks the end of real street racing for the Fast Saga. Ever after we’re only really glimpsing at the street race scene. Dom and his crew become something of a gentlemen thieves type or James Bond-esque adventurers. Fast Five features the takedown of yet another gang leader. It even incorporates a “training” or “preparation” sequence a la Ocean’s Eleven. This sequence provides the lion’s share of fun that constitutes the movie. It’s a sequence that allows every cast member to shine: Roman does his crazy talk, Han smirks a whole bunch while eating potato chips, Gisele gets groped in the name of justice, Tej types on a computer acting all tech-nerdy, Leo and Santos bicker while blowing stuff up, Brian muses on being a father, Mia reassures her distressed husband, Dom builds a fast car while also looking strong. It’s all the elements of a heist: the tech guy, the explosives team, the chameleon, the dangerous weapons expert, the dubious second-in-command, the team leader. There’s even a hellbent lawman trying to take in the criminals. For the most part the Fast Family is just a few martinis short of an Ocean’s Eleven.

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But How Ultimate is it?

The final action sequence tops the charts of Ultimate Action. After blowing their cover Dom and crew decide to execute the heist anyways. They literally rip a bank vault out of a police headquarters in Rio in broad daylight. As if that’s not enough Dom and Brian drive the vault (in Dodge chargers) through the streets evading police and gangsters alike. They drift around turns throwing the vault directly into cars, trees, telephone poles. At one point Brian O’Conner drives his car backwards, still towing the vault, to fend off motorcycle cops. That’s only halfway through the final chase. Eventually Dom faces the horde of gangsters chasing him on a bridge by whipping the vault across a lone bridge taking out (by my estimate) fifteen cars and one mounted machine gun van by himself. It’s ludicrous and insanity all wrapped up into one heart-pounding sequence as we watch it. We know Dom’s going to survive we just want to watch the carnage grow incredulously with every passing second.

The soundtrack to this movie more prominently features several recurring tracks to the franchise. Since the movie stars not one but THREE of its premiere musicians it features songs from all three of them. Much of the hip-hop of previous films takes a backseat to more international flavors. Don Omar’s “Danza Kuduro” featuring Lucenzo swept South American countries and European discos as a prominently featured track. Ludacris’ “Furiously Dangerous” (featuring Slaughterhouse and Claret Jai) lean into DJ dance jamz or the early electronic tracks that underscored much more of the later films while Ludacris and Slaughterhouse rap. It’s a blood-pounding beat that makes the heart pump faster just listening to it.

Such genre blends preempt the wave of electronic-inspired pop music that grew in popularity barely a year after the release of the film. Gone are the heyday hip hop tracks replaced with music yet to grace the pop scene: reggaeton and electronic. Seen in this light Fast Five’s soundtrack feels almost prophetic. These two genres feature prominently in the movies ever after partially due to the fact that both genres boast broader popularity abroad than any other music genre. Hip hop revolves around the English language and while it tonally suited the LA vibes of the first through Fourth films they are no longer purely for American audiences. If audiences from South Korea to Peru are watching this movie in theaters a simple dance beat will amplify the mood of the movie without adding any translation-necessary subtitling.

Fast & Furious: From Underground Street Racing to Mainstream Action

Fast and Furious Forward!

As a neat coda the film gives us a mid-credits sequence to tie it all back together. For anyone keeping score Eva Mendes returns as Monica Fuentes (the FBI agent from 2 Fast 2 Furious) and throws a file on Luke Hobbs’ desk. Hobbs doesn’t care unless it’s Dominic Toretto. Look again, she says. Hobbs opens it revealing that Letty is not only alive but up to no good! Cue the sequel music.

The running continuity of these films goes into full effect in Fast Five even teasing a sequel for a character to come back to life. Diesel being the story architect that he is clearly has plans to reunite as much of the original family as possible. This tease promised just one more film, but in hindsight guaranteed many more films to come. There’s just way too much money in these movies.

Fast Five boasts one of the highest Metacritic scores of the entire franchise: 66. Fast Seven has a score of 67 beating out Fast Five for top spot by one point (and arguably because of Paul Walker’s untimely demise.) It ranks among the most thoroughly enjoyed of all the movies. It rests in that sweet spot  of utterly ludicrous action pieces and family drama. It balances all of it’s unique characters sufficiently enough to deliver on comedy, drama, intensity, and even romance. It also near-perfectly resembles international blockbuster films at their zenith. It’s international cast, international soundtrack, and stunt-focused action make it perfectly understandable in any language which, in turn, translates directly into financial success.

The Influence of Video Game Culture on The Fast & Furious Franchise

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