“If this were any other franchise, it would have died after 3: the random death rattle that was more stretched spin off than sequel. But that didn’t happen. Instead, not only was new life breathed into this vehicle, but we got what was arguably the best installment thus far.
I’d already written off the Fast movies. The idea of them putting another one together seemed a lil desperate. Since the original had come out, Diesel had two non-starters that were expected to be big series. Walker’s career, well, what career? The whole thing screamed paycheck. And maybe that was some of the motivation, but the entire team certainly give it their all and the payoff was fantastic. This is the one that made me a fan.
I’d complained with some of the earlier ones that I’d expected these to be action movies. Fast & Furious finally realized that potential. Sure, the plot’s thin as ever, but the action permeates the whole thing. And it’s action based almost exclusively on the vehicles, making it unique to the genre. Trust me, I know. No more quick races down the closed off street. Oh no. Racing thru the busy populated city or thru tunnels at the border. And what about that opening sequence? The first trailer highlighted that, and even after several views, when I’d catch the trailer I’d forget that it was a Fast movie.
Oh and because we’ve already bought up the subject of silly sequel names, is it really that much different to just drop the The’s from the title? Everyone’s gonna refer to it as 4 anyways. Then again, this was the year of the simple naming conventions. Final Destination did the same thing with The Final Destination (or I guess they technically did the opposite). And all of the reboots went simple too: Star Trek, Sherlock Holmes, Friday the 13th.”