Fast Five: A New Ultimate Heist Franchise Emerges

By
Daniel Pappas
-

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.

An Ultimate Look Back at ‘The Fast and the Furious: Tokyo Drift’

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

Watch: ‘Bloodsport’ But As A Mentos Commercial

By
Jourdan Aldredge
-

Van Damme is truly the Freshmaker!

While we here at the Ultimate Action Movie Club absolutely treasure the Jean-Claude Van Damme Magnus Opus classic Bloodsport on a great number of levels, there is one certain montage that has always stood out for its odd enjoyability. Also for the fact that it certainly feels like it could be a commercial for something called “the freshmaker”.

Well, someone has finally done it! As we’ve stumbled upon a recut version of the Bloodsport chase scene that’s been updated to fit perfectly as a commercial for Mentos.

The 10 Best Jean-Claude Van Damme Action Movies Of All Time

Bloodsport Mentos Commercial

So, let’s talk about this a bit. This chase montage scene has always been, in my opinion, a bit corny perhaps, but I’ve always enjoyed the heck out of it. If anything, it single-handedly changes the entire tone of the movie from what could have been a much darker – and deadlier – film about an underground fighting ring where people fight to the DEATH!

But instead, with scenes like this wacky chase montage with Van Damme easily lapping a clearly out of shape Forest Whitaker, it’s just fun. There’s a childlike glee to Van Damme that simply puts a smile on your face. Plus it’s a cool way to really connect Van Damme’s Frank Dux with the city, I can only imagine how fun it was to location scout and film.

The Top 10 Reasons Why Bloodsport is Van Damme’s Magnum Opus

Cannon Films’ Bloodsport Dilemma

It’s also been discussed in interviews with the filmmakers that Bloodsport was a film that had been heavily re-edited between its initial version and what we eventually got. Apparently the original cut was deemed to be not quite up to par for Cannon Films and it had to be extensively re-worked. It makes you wonder where this chase montage fell in these discussions. Was it something added later? Or was it something fought for to keep?

UAMC News: ‘John Wick’ Directors Looking to Helm ‘Bloodsport’ Reboot

Other Classic Mentos Films

Also, apparently after digging a bit, these “Mentos: the Freshmaker” commercials are a whole thing online with fans creating funny and off-kilter montages for many other action classics – and other genre flicks and even television shows – like Rumble in the Bronx, The Shining and Breaking Bad have received the treatment. However, from a view count on Youtube, it would seem that this Bloodsport version reigns supreme!

Best MMA Movies to Watch During the Covid-19

By
Ultimate Action Movies
-

With social distancing being the new norm, thanks to the current Covid-19 pandemic, most of us find it very hard to do what we love. And with all the martial art schools, BJJ gyms, boxing, gyms, and Muay Thai gyms closed, a huge percentage of martial artists and MMA lovers are forced to stay indoors and work out in their homes. And with no one to spar with, most of us have turned to movies and TV shows.

But after being on lockdown for the better part of 2020, I am sure you have burned through your list of movies and are yearning to get back to the gym. And with the vaccine already here, it looks like things might start changing for the better soon. Therefore, this is the best time to learn some new techniques from MMA movies that prioritize fights over the storyline. So here are some of the best MMA films to enjoy during the current pandemic.

The Best MMA Movies to Watch During the Current COVID-19 Pandemic

1) Warrior (2011)

Warrior is a mixed MMA movie revolving around the life of two brothers and their alcoholic dad. The two brothers Brendan and Tommy Conlon grew up under their dad’s pressure to dominate amateur wrestling. And after their parents separated, Tommy went with his mum while Brendan stayed with his father, Paddy.

However, financial issues forced Brendan to enter a multi-million-dollar winner-take-all MMA tournament without knowing that his brother, who he hasn’t seen in years, has also entered. Warrior is an emotional roller-coaster of how two siblings with sympathetic backstories work on their years of frustrations before facing each other in the cage. MMA-today recommends the Warrior because the fights are quite authentic in their portrayal of MMA. In fact, several MMA fighters appear in this movie, including Rashad Evans, Stephan Bonnar, Nate Marquardt, and Yves Edwards, among others.  

2) Kung Fu Hustle (2004)

Kung Fu Hustle is an impeccable combination of a tribute and a parody to the classic Kung Fu movies of the 1960s and ’70s. Featuring Stephen Chow as the director and actor, this movie is filled with staunch humor and special effects that will keep you glued to your screen.

Kung Fu Hustle is a great movie about a thief known as Sing who aspires to be the leader of the Axe Gang. But before he achieves his ambition, he is forced to plunder a building referred to as the Pig Sty Alley. And in the process, Sing finds himself in a serious block battle with the locals who have some unique self-defense and Kung Fu skills.

3) Never Back Down (2008)

Produced when MMA was starting to rise in popularity, the movie Never Back Down is the story of Jake Tyler, who is dealing with the loss of his dad. Jake’s family moves to Orlando, where he finds it extremely hard to fit in. in an attempt to fit in, Jake attends a party where he is forced to fight a bully who beats and humiliates him. The experience forces him to start training martial arts to redeem his name. Jake learns BJJ with the hopes of facing Ryan, the local champ, in the coming event.

4) IP Man (2008)

IP Man is an exquisite MMA movie loosely based on IP Man’s life (a Wing Chun grandmaster) and all his experiences in the late 1930s when the Japanese military occupied Foshan. The invasion forces the IP Man into numerous sparring matches for entertainment purposes and hard labor. His unique skills are noticed by a Japanese general who forces him to train the Japanese soldiers. The IP Man refuses to teach them, and a serious conflict starts to build up between the two from there.  

5) Flash Point (2007)

Flash point is an interesting thriller surrounding the kidnapping of undercover police and his girlfriend by a dangerous Vietnamese gang. Flash Point is an interesting story of an impulsive inspector risking the lives of his partner and his girlfriend to take down a powerful gang is quite interesting. And the only reason it features in this list is because Donnie Yen used this movie to introduce MMA to Hong Kong movie lovers.

Donny Yen uses martial arts skills perfectly, and it is one of the best representations of MMA that you will ever see.

6) Undisputed 2 (2006)

Undisputed 2 is the movie that helped skyrocket the careers of Scott Adkins and Michael Jai White. The movie is about a boxer known as Chambers Michael) who is imprisoned and forced to defeat the prison’s champion Boyka (Adkins) for his freedom? This movie showcases the traditional training style of Jai White as he expands his arsenal to include MMA to defeat Boyka. Undisputed 2 is an excellent movie that makes a huge statement about martial arts.

Final Thoughts

The fact that the world is on lockdown with everyone maintaining social distancing because of Covid-19 shouldn’t force you to forget your training. So instead of lazing around the house and complaining about the current situation, you can learn some new MMA techniques by watching the above MMA movies. These are some of the best MMA movies that portray some of the best fighting skills that you can teach yourself and enjoy as we wait for everything to get back to normal.

Casper Van Dien Buddies Up and Beats Down in ‘The Tracker’ (2001)

By
Andrew Babcock
-

The Tracker: Casper Van Dien and Russell Wong in an ultimate DTV classic!

Casper Van Dien was once thought of as Hollywood’s next big thing. While maybe he never reached that level, to say he became a b-movie champion would be very fitting. From defending earth in a war against alien bugs in the cult classic Starship Troopers, to swinging in the jungles as the title character in Tarzan and the Lost City, I have good memories of him growing up. Hell, he was even Van Helsing in Dracula 3000.

Looking through his filmography, he has delivered quite the variety of b-movie goods. Of course one that jumped out at me to check out is The Tracker. A buddy actioner that co-stars martial artist Russell Wong (Vanishing Son/Romeo Must Die). Yep, that has my name all over it and it didn’t disappoint.

Starship Troopers: A Hilarious (Yet Low-Key Chilling) Action Satire

Casper Van Dien and Russell Wong

Released in 2001, The Tracker follows a very familiar formula, but is nonetheless entertaining and elevated by it’s leading duo. Van Dien is Connor Spears, a disgraced former New York cop, now using his talents in Los Angeles as a private investigator. When his ex-girlfriend (Lexa Doig/Jason X, Andromeda) is kidnapped in a violent assault, the girlfriend’s brother Rick (Russell Wong) shows up to ask Van Dien for help in finding her. They used to be the best of friends, and now… they are not. You find out more about their backstory growing up and studying martial arts together as the movie goes.

A taxi driver, Francoise Robertson (The Minion), and Van Dien’s former cop partner Jason Blicker (No Contest/Hollow Point/Jungleround) join in on the fun and help the buddy duo against the criminal underworld along the way.

Stacie Randall Carves Her Own Legacy in ‘Excessive Force 2’ (1995)

A Most Ultimate Action Combo

Van Dien plays this tough, but charming womanizer, while Wong is obviously here for his martial arts skills and he has plenty of opportunities to display them. It makes me wish Wong got more movies of his own, although he has still kept busy over the years. Van Dien holds his own in that department as well, while not as flashy as Wong, he is believable delivering the beatings and even throws some nice kicks of his own.

The handful of fight scenes are highly entertaining and well executed as we see Van Dien and Wong taking on rooms full of guys side by side. We even see them taking each other on at one point.

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

But How Ultimate is it?

The finale is solid and keeps with the fun pace of the rest of the film. Wong flipping off walls throwing kicks, with some nice gunplay in the mix as well. There is this cool climatic shot where Van Dien flies through a doorway while shooting down the main bad guy.

The cherry on top is the twist at the very end involving the kidnapee (Lexa Doig). It’s a pretty surprising twist for this kind of film and is pretty well acted scene from Van Dien. The Tracker is without a doubt a hidden gem in the DTV world, I recommend it for anyone that enjoys buddy style, beat-em up actioners!

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

By
Daniel Pappas
-

The Long and Winding Road: Interlude – Video Games

Much has been made of the confluence of video games and movies. While movies occupy a historically older place in the history of media, video games utilize many of the same conceits and operate by many of the same rules as movies, albeit interactively. Both media forms influence and change each other now more than ever.

Plenty of movies have been noted as essentially video games (most recently, 1917 the World War One epic by Sam Mendes.) While video games easily cross over into movies (Doom, the Resident Evil franchise, Mortal Kombat, Need for Speed, Tomb Raider, Sonic the Hedgehog, etc.) the influence of video games on movies doesn’t commonly result in a direct one-to-one translation but a cross-breeding of aesthetic. The Fast & the Furious movies all bear the aesthetics of car-race video games with the additional layers of plot development and without the player interaction.

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

The Origins of Arcade-Era Racing Games

The first aesthetic influences on the Fast Franchise harken back to arcade-era racing games. Those simply constructed games with a plastic seat, aluminum gas pedal, tiny gear-shift knob, and a smattering of buttons often run devoid of plot or meaning. In those games’ world there is only the competition. Some allow you to pick drivers and all allow you to choose your cars and tracks. They are the few customizable elements within the game and they’re often brightly colored or color-coded to ease player memory or assist in selection.

Color-coding non-essential characters provides shorthand to the audience. This is most commonly used in the second film 2 Fast 2 Furious. This convention helps draw our attention where it should be and remember characters from before. The cars themselves occupy over half of the screen time this shorthand is important as it attaches character significance to the cars themselves allowing us to assign emotional value to cars related to characters.

The Fast and the Furious utilizes digital sequences to encourage overt affiliation with video games. In the first five films GPS units accompany every car and computers are built into each vehicle. These systems mimic the heads up displays commonly use in video games to display information like speed, gas, the player map, and other conventions. In addition the digital screens become a window acting as a new camera to track sequences from a purely digital perspective.

The computer’s presence in the Fast & Furious movies grows over time to mirror the evolution of computer technology in real life. It starts as a simple GPS unit and heads-up-display before rapidly climbing into it’s more commonly used internet and hacking device. In Fast 7 it became an entire narrative device (a mcguffin) with a limitlessly powered hacking tool called The God’s Eye.

By Fate of the Furious the Fast Family would utilize two “hackers” as characters and also face off against an anarchist hacker (Charlize Theron) capable of utilizing any device with a computer chip in it. These conventions slowly grew into prominence over the course of the series (mirroring its eventual departure from conventional street racing plots) until becoming a soft entry into the science fiction genre. In the FF spinoff Hobbs & Shaw the pair fight a cybernetically enhanced super soldier named Brixton played by Idris Elba. Almost going full-tilt on the Sci-Fi genre angle.

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

The Inherit Action of Video Game Racing

Most racing games revolve around closed-loop race dynamics. Games like Cruis’n USA or Need for Speed do not permit much open world exploration or significant level changes in-game. Instead the difficulty ramps up by complicating the tracks and adding faster and faster cars. Even free-world racing games prominently feature closed-loop races. These races occur on major streets in prominent cities around the world. While most races revolve around simply outmaneuvering the opponent plenty of drivers opt to batter their peers cars or push them out of the way. The tactics used in racing games are the same in the Fast movies.

Gravity doesn’t function in racing games or the Fast and the Furious movies. Instead the movies launch cars, tow heavy boulders, drift around corners, and fishtail perfectly while driving backwards. Racing games reward players for defying gravity with extra points (Cruis’n USA) or faster routes. While the Fast movies have no such interactive component one of it’s biggest draws is it’s central stunt.

Every movie has one central stunt or action set piece. In Fast Five it’s the massive towing of the bank vault on the streets of Rio. In Fast and Furious it’s the opening tanker heist. Every movie has a core set piece that, while outlandish, always goes down in memory.

This piece sets a new height for awe in terms of practicality. More often than not the stunts are practical or practical enhanced with CG. The Fast and the Furious movies continue in the vein of racing games by placing a prominent, gravity-defying stunt in it’s core to engage moviegoer attention.

It’s well worth noting that racing games feel coded almost universally heterosexually male. While the sexuality of some protagonist’s never breaches the surface; console racing games often feature heterosexual male protagonist’s as the lead avatar for players to use. Similarly the racing scenes in these games prominently feature sexualized female characters as either fellow competitors or non-player characters.

An Ultimate Look Back at ‘The Fast and the Furious: Tokyo Drift’

The Digital Evolution of The Fast Saga

In arcade games (games with arguably less play time for an individual) there are male and female genders represented but only as avatars to select and often in unequal numbers. Opening race sequences always feature denuded women waving flags as they shout: “Ready, Set, Go!” You can see it clearly in your mind with just that one sentence. That hallmark alone identifies a very overt influence of videogames.

Ripped near-completely out of a video game Tokyo Drift utilizes the exact same sequence in its first underground race scene. Cute girls in short skirts yell “Ready! Set! Go!” In subsequent Fast & Furious the flag-girl sequence remains as another shorthand to denote a racing scene. In Fast Five all it takes is several women in tiny dressed standing around a handful of exotic cars to tell the audience: this is the underground street racing scene in Rio and Iggy Azalea cameoed as a flag girl in Fast 7.

The video game influences in the Fast and Furious Saga are important to track because they denote the evolution of the series. Each entry into the series contemporised it’s usage of computers. It draws heavily on racing game mechanics (closed-loop races.) The notion of gravity remains absent from both media. It’s perspective gears heavily towards the largest consumers of video games and Fast & Furious movies: heterosexual young men with scantily clad women and male avatars. Even the intro sequences to race scenes perfectly mimic racing video games.

The Fast and the Furious Saga only has one racing game in it’s oeuvre. The Fast and the Furious (the game) came out in 2006. It failed to make any noise whatsoever and disappeared into the void forever. What Universal may have realized was that the movies, themselves, were video games to audiences. They offered gravity-defying stunts with typically coded male-heterosexual gendered characters, and thinly sketched plots contrived to set up races. They borrow heavily from racing games to use shorthand for informing the audience. These aesthetics waxed and waned by individual convention as the series moved past simple street racing and directly into action-heavy heist films or James Bond movies.

Fast & Furious: From Underground Street Racing to Mainstream Action

Extraction Review: An Action-Packed, Pearl-Clutching Powerhouse 

By
Mike Culton
-

Chris Hemsworth delivers the goods in this old-school, action-driven, racially-mixed gun fighting actioner!

Well, the mainstream critics on Rotten Tomatoes and the politically correct cinema fashionistas of Screen Rant find Netflix’s Extraction (2020) “problematic,” “regressive,” and packed with “aimless violence.” Instead of celebrating the diverse, international cast tearing through one of the most gripping action movies made in the past 10 years, these reductionists see a white guy shooting a bunch of brown people. I suppose they missed Randeep Hooda’s stellar performance and his character’s equally impressive body count. Not to mention, he kicked Chris Hemsworth’s ass in a glorious chase/fight sequence involving guns, explosions, hand-to-hand combat, and a junkyard’s worth of crashed vehicles.

No, Chris Hemsworth, first-time director Sam Hargrave who was the stunt coordinator for the Avengers movies, and writer Joe Russo (one half of the Russo brothers) are all fulfilling a subconscious “white savior” fantasy. Imagine going through life and watching thoroughly entertaining movies with that unwittingly narrow frame of mind. Pity them, sure, but you don’t have to take them seriously.

Anyway, back to the mind-blowing, ultimate action masterpiece! Ignore the critics looking to find offense in everything from the shapes of clouds to Chris Hemsworth’s aftershave, Extraction has everything an action movie fan craves.

10 Best Action Movies Streaming on Netflix

Ultimate Action-Driven Storytelling

Real action. I’m not talking about CGI battles with space bugs and blue sky beams here. I mean the type of raw action that’s driven by practical effects and bone-crushing stunts like we used to get in classics like First Blood (1982). One can only imagine the preparation, planning, and coordination it took to pull off that flawless 12-minute fight sequence or when Hemsworth efficiently took out about a dozen goons in a small apartment. From slit-tacular knife fights to cop car-flipping chases through a maze of cluttered back streets and alleyways, the action is intense and peppered throughout the efficient 116 minute runtime.

But it doesn’t have a story, they collectively whine after praising Mad Max: Fury Road (2015). Fundamentally, however, it follows a similar plot structure. We have a plan to get from point A to point B, point B is FUBAR, so we have to improvise our way to point C – well, back to point A in Fury Road’s case. Granted, there are some minor and somewhat predictable twists and turns along the way but just like George Miller’s opus, the no-frills script does what it needs to do to drive the action and develop the characters. 

Bloodshot: Vin Diesel as the Ultimate Action Movie Superhero

Chris Hemsworth as Tyler Rake

Chris Hemsworth’s Tyler is a standard issue, highly-trained mercenary with a death wish. Despite his boozing and pill-popping, Tyler is recruited to rescue the kidnapped son of an imprisoned crime boss from his rival who owns the police and pretty much everything else from Calcutta to Dhaka. The rival crime boss dispatches a motley crew of street gangs and Bangladeshi armed forces to stop Tyler and take back the kid. Things get complicated when the lieutenant of daddy crime boss gets involved as he attempts an extraction retraction.

Hemsworth delivers another outstanding performance as the troubled hero but the success of the movie, outside of the action scenes of course, rides on its primarily Indian cast. Daddy crime boss’ lieutenant, Saju, is played by Randeep Hooda who has built a notable Bollywood career in the crime and thriller genres. Saju has a fascinating character arc and he can throw down in close-quarters combat. From the big bad rival boss to the teen recruit he almost has thrown off a rooftop, the acting is rock solid and you actually care about what happens to them. Each international actor gets his or her moment to shine, which makes the outlandish cries of racism all the more bewildering.

The Ghost Who Walks: A Hidden Ultimate Indie-Action Gem

But How Ultimate is it?

This image released by Netflix shows Chris Hemsworth, left, in a scene from “Extraction,” premiering this week on Netflix. (Jasin Boland/Netflix via AP)

So unless you’re easily offended by old-school, action-driven storytelling and racially-mixed gun fighting, consider Extraction a must watch. Yes, some of the characters and story tropes are a bit shopworn but the filmmaking and editing style immerse you into the action.

Perhaps, they can finally retire the quick-cut editing crutch that too many filmmakers in our beloved genre have leaned on over the past 20 years. Long takes and continuous shots are making a comeback and they pay off quite well in Extraction. Strong recommend from this simple action aficionado who appreciates well developed characters and expertly coordinated knife fights.  

Jesse V. Johnson is Looking for YOUR Action Movie Screenplays!

By
Jourdan Aldredge
-

The director of Pit Fighter, Accident Man, Triple Threat and Avengement is looking for “minimal” scripts to possibly begin production on immediately.

EDITOR’S NOTE: thanks for everyone who responded! Jesse V. Johnson has confirmed that they are good on scripts for now! Shoutout to everyone who was able to get a submission in and stay tuned for any news of new productions or contests!

Are you a fan of Ultimate Action movies? We are! (We’re the Ultimate Action Movie Club!) And while the heyday for Ultimate Action was 80s and 90s classics like Commando, Bloodsport, Die Hard and No Retreat, No Surrender, there is absolutely one name that we have enshrined as one of the keepers of Ultimate Action’s legacy – and that’s stunt expert turned action director Jesse V. Johnson.

Notable for his frequent collaborators with UAMC-favorite star Scott Adkins (of which many of their collaborations are some of our top picks), Johnson and Adkins are keeping the Ultimate Action genre going with great actioners like Pit Fighter, Savage Dog, The Debt Collector, Triple Threat, Avengement and apparently many more on the way.

One of which could possibly come from a screenplay from you! 

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

Help Jesse V. Johnson Find a Script!

Looking for a feature screenplay in the "action and/or thriller" genre. Minimal locations, minimal cast.DM me if you…

Posted by Jesse V Johnson on Friday, April 24, 2020

Posted to his Facebook page yesterday, Johnson has put out an open request for “Looking for a feature screenplay in the “action and/or thriller” genre.” The key caveats being that the project must involve “minimal locations and minimal cast.” He’s also clarified that he is indeed looking for “only finished unentangled feature-length screenplays,” not “ideas, log-lines, synopsis or novels.”

UAMC reached out to Johnson for more information to which he went on to elaborate that this project would be with a small company looking to develop as soon as possible! But only for the right script and with the right conditions!

Savage Dog: An Awesome Revival of Cannon Style Badassness

Ultimate Action with Minimal Locations and Cast

Furthermore from Johnson, “this is a small company that wants a post-Covid friendly script to develop as soon as possible – hence the minimal cast minimal location format.” Which is why filming a concept that takes place in one location (and to help with difficulties with insurance) would be a huge help.

A noted classic action cinefile himself, Johnson also shared a poster from Sorcerer, a 1977 neo-noir action thriller directed by William Friedkin and starring Roy Scheider as inspiration. (Although Johnson was quick to note that Sorcerer is not the best example of a “single location” concept.) 

From the top of my mind, action scripts that might be a good fit would be the single location emotional powder keg thrillers like Quentin Tarantino’s Reservoir Dogs, the 2018 indie The Standoff at Sparrow Creek, or even perhaps a reworked version Johnson’s own Avengement (if you only saw the scenes in the pub).

10 Ultimate Reasons to Watch Scott Adkins’ ‘Avengement’

Share Your Ultimate Action Movie Scripts!

So, Ultimate Action Movie Club fans, if you’re been working on your dream action movie script this might be your chance to shoot your shot! You can reach out to Johnson on his Facebook page here.

And for all those who might not have a full script but do have a fun concept in mind, feel free to leave those here in the comments for the rest of our enjoyment and discussion. Stay safe out there – and keep the Ultimate Action movie dream alive!

Ranking the Best ‘Indiana Jones’ Franchise Movies

By
Ultimate Action Movies
-

Exploring the ultimate action-adventure legacy of the Indiana Jones franchise.

Harrison Ford has played a slew of memorable characters throughout his long and storied career. From playing Han Solo in the beloved Star Wars franchise to Rick Deckard in the cult classic Blade Runner, it goes without saying that Ford has truly cemented his place in the annals of modern cinema. That said, you can’t talk about Harrison Ford without talking about Indiana Jones.

The Indiana Jones franchise started in 1981 and currently spans four films, with a fifth one on the way. It was initially based on George Lucas’ The Adventure of Indiana Smith in an attempt to modernize the movie serials of the 1930s and the 1940s. And while we’re sure most of you have your own personal rankings as to which film is the best, today we’ll be sharing our own ranking of the four movies in the Indiana Jones franchise from worst to best!

4. Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull (2008)

The latest addition to the franchise finds itself at the bottom of our ranking. Now don’t get us wrong, we think this film was quite enjoyable and had some great moments. One of which saw Ford climb into a refrigerator to protect himself from a nuclear blast. This was such a great scene that it found its way into the popular post-apocalyptic video game Fallout: New Vegas. Shia LaBeouf’s portrayal of Indy’s son, Mutt Williams was also good, as he really brought some much-needed novelty to a franchise that was starting to get a little stale. However, those are pretty much the only interesting things in the film, as the rest of the characters were bland, and the plot, convoluted.

3. Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom (1984)

The second film in the Indiana Jones franchise is considered the darkest of the bunch (monkey brains and human hearts anyone?), and is actually a prequel to Raiders of the Lost Ark. While not as light as the other entries, there is no denying that the film has some of the best action scenes in the whole series. From the Bond-inspired opening scene to the mine cart chase, and the rope bridge finale, Temple of Doom is a non-stop action film. The film is slightly let down by the supporting cast, with Kate Capshaw poorly cast as the female lead. Although considering the director Steven Spielberg ended up marrying her, we are sure he would disagree.

2. Raiders of the Lost Ark (1981)

Raiders set the tone for the entire franchise. It changed the game when it comes to the action-adventure genre in films, and has inspired countless other films. Steven Spielberg was at the top of his game when he made the film in 1981, kicking off a franchise that would span generations. Indeed, Raiders of the Lost Ark is THE Indiana Jones film for fans all over the globe and its influence can be seen everywhere. The most obvious being in the gaming industry where everything from Tomb Raider to Temple Run have used the franchise’s key cornerstones: lone adventurer, exotic locations, and lots of danger.

Even non-traditional gaming platforms have made sure that they embrace the public’s love for an Indiana Jones type adventure to draw in new audiences. The adventure based titles on Foxy Games, such as Temple of Treasure Megaways and Book of Ra Temple of Gold, all take cues from the Indiana Jones franchise, whether it be the locations or the character design. There is no denying the cultural impact of the film, and even better it still stands up today as one of the best action/adventure films ever made.

1. Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade (1989)

What else could make an Indiana Jones film better than it already is? The addition of legendary actor Sean Connery. The Last Crusade is the end of the original trilogy that started with Raiders of the Lost Ark. It’s also the film we’ve chosen as the best of the franchise. While it isn’t as flashy as the other films, it really fleshes Indy’s character out, as he’s forced to interact with his father, Dr. Henry Jones Sr. (Sean Connery). These interactions are what give the film its heart, and its excellent reception. The film is so beloved that people kept looking for more ways to experience it, which is what led to the creation of the ‘Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade: The Graphic Adventure’ video game.

The 10 Top Steven Seagal Ultimate Action Movies

By
Ultimate Action Movies
-

The Ultimate Action Movie Club Ranks the very best of the great Steven Seagal’s filmography.

What’s your pick for the best Steven Seagal Ultimate Action Movie?

If there’s one thing about Steven Seagal, it’s this – don’t mess with him. Don’t punch him, don’t shoot at him, don’t even look at him the wrong way. And especially don’t murder a loved one of his then leave him for dead… because he will come back to life and hunt you down. He’s the Ultimate Action Movie Tough Guy™ and his action movie career is just as deadly.

While Seagal is perhaps best known for his heyday in the late 80s and early 90s (just like our website), the man has had quite a prolific career that continues to this day. If you can, watch every Seagal movie that’s out there! However, if you’re looking for picks – or just to start a fight in the comments – here are our Top 10 Most Ultimate Steven Seagal Action Movies of all time.

And if you’re looking for more Top 10 Lists to read up on (or argue about with your friends later), here are some more official Ultimate Action Movie Club rankings to check out:

7 Times Seagal Proves He’s The Ultimate Action Tough Guy

10) Fire Down Below (1997)

Steven Seagal in Fire Down Below.

Sure, sure we’ll get to the more gritty, hard crime actioners of Seagal’s career later, but we have to include Seagal in perhaps his second form. He’s not the super skinny martial artist he once was, but he was still a cinematic force to be reckoned with in the late-90s. Fire Down Below is a unique film that includes a huge cast of country music stars around a plot that features Seagal as an EPA agent investigating a mine in Kentucky. Plus, Seagal plays guitar, because of course he does!

9) Belly of the Beast (2003)

To his credit, Seagal has always been a major international movie star. Don’t ask me to explain it besides that his tough guy character just translates super well overseas and abroad. So much so that Seagal was quick to dive into Hong Kong Action Cinema with Belly of the Beast featuring acclaimed action choreographer and filmmaker Ching Siu-tung as a great example of Seagal’s universal appeal.

Belly of the Beast: Seagal’s Ultimate Hong Kong Actioner

8) Exit Wounds (2001)

Steven Seagal and DMX in Exit Wounds.

It was an odd stretch for action films around the early 2000s as the genre found some major hits by combining martial arts and hip hop cultures. From Romeo Must Die to Cradle 2 The Grave to Seagal in Exit Wounds, which saw him pair up with DMX, Anthony Anderson, Michael Jai White (hell yeah!) and… Tom Arnold? But the end results are actually one of the best films – with some truly great action – of Seagal’s mid-career.

7) On Deadly Ground (1994)

If you’re talking about Seagal’s vast action filmography, you have to talk about On Deadly Ground, which would certainly have been the project most near and dear to the man’s heart. Not only did Seagal hand-pick the project and role for himself as a firefighting blowout specialist and champion of Native Americans’ rights, but it’s also Seagal’s only directorial effort to date. It also includes the most ultimate “hand slap game” in action movie history.

Steven Seagal and Michael Caine Share Contrasting Memories of ‘On Deadly Ground’

6) Marked for Death (1990)

Steven Seagal in Marked for Death.

1990 was clearly a watershed moment for a rising Segal, and along with another film further down on this list it’s really these films that have spurred on his success for decades to come. Marked for Death simply Seagal at his best and really cements his tough guy cop/EPA/FBI (in this iteration he’s Chicago DEA agent John Hatcher) with street smarts, sure shots and crazy powerful kicks.

5) Under Siege 2 (1995)

Steven Seagal in Under Siege 2: Dark Territory.

Here’s another UAMC achievement medal for Seagal, he’s one of a very few action stars to helm a sequel that is actually comparably awesome (or to some, perhaps even better?) to its original. Under Siege 2: Dark Territory seems Seagal returns as Casey “I’m just the cook” Ryback changing his “Die Hard but on a boat” into a surprisingly entertaining “Die Hard but on a train”.

Giving it up for Steven Seagal in ‘Under Siege 2’ (1995)

4) Hard to Kill (1990)

Steven Seagal in Hard to Kill.

One of the rare cases in which you’ll see Seagal’s tough guy protagonist ever take a hit, Hard to Kill does the unthinkable to peak-era Seagal, and not only does he get shot, he goes down… But wait! Of course you can’t kill Seagal, and even if it takes several years and defeating amnesia, he will find you and he will get his revenge in another pure action 90s actioner that actually returned quite well at the box office.

Is ‘Hard to Kill’ Steven Seagal’s Most Action-Packed Movie?

3) Under Siege (1992)

Believe it or not, it was kind of a tough call on putting Under Siege above its sequel because they both deliver the goods. But based both on precedent and star power, Under Siege is the overall better film and without one you certainly wouldn’t have had the other. Seagal gives a great hard hitting action – and at times quite comedic – performance as Casey Ryback and is the glue that holds together the crazy (and/or) talented cast that features Tommy Lee Jones and Gary Busey at their bests as well.

A Case for Under Siege Being Seagal’s Greatest Action Movie

2) Out for Justice (1991)

Steven Seagal in Out for Justice.

To appreciate Seagal in Out for Justice you really only have to see one scene. That’s the one where Seagal (in his finest moment) does his tough guy cop routine of rousing up information from a bar full of no-goods by beating the crap out of everyone with the ol’ cue ball in a tube sock trick. And that scene doesn’t even include the second greatest thing about Out for Justice which is William Forsythe as Madano chewing the scenery as one of the nastiest bad guys of all time Richie!

Steven Seagal Needs to be Remembered for ‘Out for Justice’

1) Above the Law (1988)

Steven Seagal in Above the Law.

Finally, our pick for the ultimate best of Steven Seagal’s action movie career has to be where it all started with Above the Law. You could argue that this film – and Seagal’s introduction as tough guy Nico Toscani – has undeniably shaped his character and career for its entirety, and when it came out it simply hit – and it hit hard. We get a now-twig sized Seagal on the vice squad detective warpath showing off his martial arts, katana (and baseball bat) skills and setting up what ends up being now forty plus years of ultimate action movie greatness!

Above the Law: The Ultimate Action Introduction to Steven Seagal

More Steven Seagal Action Classics

Steven Seagal in The Foreigner.

There are a great many other Ultimate Action Movie crackers from Seagal’s career that we weren’t able to include on the list, but you should absolutely check out the following if (after our top 10 of course) if you haven’t yet.

Ready to share your picks for the ultimate best of Steven Seagal’s action movie career? Let us know in the comments below!

Fast & Furious: From Underground Street Racing to Mainstream Action

By
Daniel Pappas
-

The Long and Winding Road: Chapter 4 – Previously On…

Tokyo Drift earned the least amount of money compared to its two older brothers. Producers at Universal Studios wanted future sequels to go straight to video. One person changed that: Vin Diesel. Diesel’s singular cameo in Tokyo Drift electrified audiences. Studio execs rationed that if Diesel’s cameo in Tokyo Drift could draw crowds then perhaps the franchise would work best under his guidance. Neal H. Moritz certainly wanted to keep the train rolling. With the success of the franchise at stake the story reins were loosely handed over to Diesel to help chart the future of The Fast Saga.

Vin Diesel’s rapport brought back the core cast members: Paul Walker, Michelle Rodriguez, and Jordana Brewster. Every cast member recalls the joy they felt working for Diesel. He went up to bat for all of them. This time they would play in a direct sequel to the first movie. No more spin-offs or Fast-adjacent films. The story would pick back up and conflicts would resolve. Diesel, arming himself with a legion of social media followers, helped adjudicate the first real entry into Fast canon and he started it by getting back to the film’s roots.

Justin Lin and Chris Morgan both returned to direct and write Fast and Furious, adding the high-octane energy they’d brought to Tokyo Drift before that. With Morgan returning and Diesel producing a simple kind of continuity existed. Lin would ply his skill with practical stunts but also pair them with more digital sequences for some of the more contrived aspects. These two elements guaranteed the film’s financial success.

This fourth entry into the saga narrowed its focus on its criminal and cop melodrama. It returned to LA. It veered away from street racing in particular and focused more on heists (a recurring theme from here on out). It engages the topic of machismo and only briefly lingers for a token street race replete with lurid camera gazing. While the movie utilizes all the things that make the Fast Saga what it is it also delivers a forgettable plot emphasizing action sequences and its returning cast. While it is the first entry into Fast ‘Canon’ it is also the least entertaining.

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

The Fast and Furious Gang is Back

Dominic Toretto is back. After pulling off a heist in the first ten minutes of the film with his crew of renegades (including Han!) Toretto goes into hiding from the police. Only a phone call from his sister, Mia, can rouse Toretto. It turns out his long-time partner-in-crime and girlfriend Letty died driving for Mexican drug lord Arturo Braga.

Dom returns to Los Angeles to reconnect with his sister and avenge his lover. Meanwhile Brian O’Conner’s working with the FBI to apprehend Braga. Both men wind up at an informant’s house begging to get in with Braga’s cartel. They join the street race to be Braga’s couriers. There they meet Gisele Yashar (Gal Gadot) who works as Braga’s right hand woman. Following a short, but obvious, betrayal and fight Toretto and O’Conner must work together as cop and criminal to bring down Braga. This adventure will lead O’Conner beyond the boundaries of the law and finish what they started five years ago: the formation of a family.

Vin Diesel was back as it’s gruff star. This time not only does he bluff and pout he also contemplates and ponders his life of crime after Letty’s death. Paul Walker’s rendition of his character seems even more aged than in 2 Fast 2 Furious. He trades those surfer locks for a close-cropped haircut and a shorter fuse. His loyalty to the justice system reaches its limits as barrier after barrier backs him against a corner.

John Ortiz deploys every weapon in his acting arsenal as a menacing crime boss. His character goes beyond the stereotypes of the previous entries (Carter Verone was a few machine guns away from Scarface.) He arguably gets the most to play with and makes good use of it. Gal Gadot makes one of her earliest on-screen appearances in this movie. Unfortunately her character’s limited to flirting with Dominic Toretto and telling people where to go. She wouldn’t earn her action movie chops until later. Still her silky smooth vocals and dangerous presence makes her a welcome addition in Rodriguez’s absence.

Often times these movies feel like they’re swapping out actors to fill roles. Tyrese Gibson filling in some of Diesel’s shoes in 2 while Lucas Black gave a shot at being the new Paul Walker in Tokyo Drift. Here we are again watching Gadot tag in for Rodriguez as the dangerous badass sexy girl.

In some ways it works but this rejiggering of the formula makes the film feel new instead of continuing where previous actors left off. In that sense Gadot is a welcome addition as a counterweight to Jordana Brewster’s homebody or Rodriguez’s rough-and-tumble brawler. She’s sleek and dangerous. Too bad she never gets to brawl in this movie.

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

Fast Cars and Big Explosions Abound

This movie spends its first ten minutes in a gloriously contrived car heist. In a nod to the first movie Toretto and his crew are now robbing gas convoys mid-freeway in the Dominican Republic. In a harrowing sequence Toretto, Letty, and Han (among a few other additions) escape near death when the tanker takes a spin, rolling towards them. This sequence is done as practically as possible but the centerpiece shot winds up being digitally crafted. Toretto drives his car under a bouncing fireball of a gasoline truck, escaping by mere inches. It’s exciting and a wonderful way to set the tone: this movie is going to be outlandish and crazy but in a tense and exciting way. Unfortunately that is the biggest set piece of the movie. They set the bar too high too early on.

Much of the driving takes place along the US-Mexico border. In a nighttime raid the drivers must all surpass the American border guard by racing headfirst into a tunnel. The action climaxes with a daytime race through these tunnels, which feel more CGI than practical work. Given that it would be difficult to film a twenty minute car chase in claustrophobic tunnels on a set, Lin opts for more digitally enhanced versions.

The darkness in these sequences detract from the movie’s success and the extra CGI removes some of the intensity of it’s chases. Even the fight scenes feel lackluster. Perhaps after the slow build up of the past three movies audiences expected more. Either way this movies stunts rank lowest compared to its siblings because of it’s more transparent CG work.

Admittedly the soundtrack for the movie matches its popularity within the franchise insomuch as it’s utterly forgettable. The soundtrack features several songs from Pitbull.  These tracks feature artists like Lil Jon, Pharrell Williams, Robin Thicke, or Tego Calderon. They are all musical titans in their own right but not one track stands out from the movie nor can any be recalled from memory. It turns out, after watching this movie, I subsequently forgot the music within it. That forgettable quality makes it substandard to previous movies. In other Fast films you could always pick a song or two to top the charts. In this one nothing scrapes the surface.

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

But How Ultimate is it?

This movie deviates away from the street racing plots to focus on criminal enterprises. It borrows heavily from 2 Fast 2 Furious in its drug-kingpin-courier plot. This deviation limits the groupie interaction in this movie. We still get those sweeping shots of a party early on in the movie’s setup but we never return to it or rely on it. In fact the street racing and its most uncomfortably male gaze bits remain in the background of this movie. It still indulges but compared to its ancestors this movie feels downright chaste.

It’s a standard-feeling action flick, but a solidly made one. It’s the movie that gave us the infamous “ride or die” line popularized throughout every corner of society. It eschews many of the cheesy one-liners and takes itself more seriously with its dour leading men. There’s no color-coded racecars or gratuitous male chest puffing. This movie focuses directly on its storyline. It answers the questions left by the first film: Why did O’Conner let Dom go? What happened between Brian and Mia? Where do they go from here?

Fast and Furious drops its pretense of a “fun” action film aiming for a more neutral tone. It utilizes characters from the previous movies (Han and Letty) as well as new characters (Gisele) to build the international cast that carries this film so well in other circles. Lin’s bona fides as an action director help the film maintain its sense of spectacle, albeit a more digital spectacle than before. Morgan and Diesel steer this movie into a longer form story by forcing O’Conner to accept his darker side and by challenging Dom to grow up a little bit. Rush along the romance plots and the pillars of the Fast Family come together nicely. In watching this movie we can see the success on the horizon.

Fast and Furious earned $363 million dollars making it the highest grossing movie of the series thus far. On a budget of eighty five million (that’s only nine million more than Tokyo Drift) this movie more than made it’s money back when it premiered. Audiences around the world enjoyed the movie upon its release even if critics found it devoid of meaning or heart. It eschews it’s street racing roots in favor of more action-heavy heists. It brings new characters back to life. It opens with a significant twist to hook the audience in. It finishes on the promise of more movies to come. Finally, the Fast Saga started and it would bring success after success after success for an entire decade to come.

1...414243...101Page 42 of 101

Follow us on Instagram @ultimateactionmovies

Arnold Schwarzenegger UAMC

POPULAR POSTS

POPULAR CATEGORY

© Ultimate Action Movie Club LLC