Fast & Furious (2009 film)

Fast & Furious
Theatrical movie poster
Directed by	Justin Lin
Written by	Screenplay: Chris Morgan Characters: Gary Scott Thompson
Produced by	Neal H. Moritz Vin Diesel Ricardo Del Río
Starring	Vin Diesel Paul Walker Jordana Brewster Michelle Rodriguez John Ortiz Laz Alonso Gal Gadot
Cinematography	Amir Mokri
Edited by	Christian Wagner
Music by	Brian Tyler
Production companies	Relativity Media Original Film One Race Films
Distributed by	Universal Pictures
Release date	April 3, 2009
Running time	107 min.
Country	United States
Language	English
Budget	US$ 85 million
Box office	$111,456,569

Fast & Furious (also known as Fast & Furious 4 in other countries) is the fourth film in The Fast and the Furious film series. It is set between the second and third films, five years after the events of the first film. The film was released in the United States on April 3, 2009. The plot connects with the original film of the series from which Vin Diesel, Paul Walker, Michelle Rodriguez, and Jordana Brewster reprise their roles.

Plot

After a successful run at hijacking fuel tanks on the lowways of Bani/Punta Cana Dominican Republic, Dominic Toretto (Vin Diesel) has become an international criminal. Dominic's partner Han (Sung Kang) departs for Tokyo. With an increasing pressure from the police, Dom leaves Letty (Michelle Rodriguez) not wanting her to be caught with him. Years later, Letty is found murdered in her wrecked car, bullet in the brain. At the scene of her murder, Dom finds traces of nitromethane residue that can only be purchased at one tuner shop in L.A.. At the body shop, he finds one of his old racing counterparts that, after being coerced, leads him to a man named David Park. Dominic finds Park and hangs him out of a window threatening to drop him and vowing to kill anyone that stands in his way of avenging Letty. He receives the information that only through a street race, arranged by Ramon Campos, can he gain access to the man responsible for Letty's death.

Meanwhile, Brian O'Conner (Paul Walker)—now an FBI agent, is assigned to track down a notorious drug lord named Arturo Braga. Brian, after chasing down a criminal on foot, receives information also leading to David Park. Both Dominic and Brian, having received the same information are led to the underground entrance race that guarantees them a spot on the team that traffics heroin across the United States-Mexico border. During the race, Dominic and Brian outlast all of their competitors until the two of them remain and head towards the finish line neck and neck. Their GPS's say 1/4 mile until destination and Dominic pushes his NOS button. Brian returns Dominic's dialogue from the fist episode, "too early" and then presses his button propelling him in front of Dominic, the opposite of what happened in the first film. Dominic sideswipes Brian's car causing him to swerve out of control, ensuring that he comes in first, securing his spot on the team so that he can seek justice on Letty's behalf. Having lost the race, Brian uses his influence at the FBI to ensure that one of the other members on Braga's team, Dwight Mueller, gets arrested for "distribution of methamphetamine," in order to usurp his spot of the team. At a party, Ramon Campos, Braga's right hand man, welcomes them to the team and gives them a GPS that will alert them to where they will begin their race. Dominic ends up in a confrontation with a racer identified as Fenix, the driver of the car that collided with Letty before firing the shot that killed her.

Dominic and Brian both receive the coordinates to meet with Campos and are transported, along with their cars by semi-trailer to the Mexican border to receive the heroin that they are to transport, from there they are to follow Fenix's lead to the other side through an underground tunnel so they aren't seen by the satellite images and forward looking infrared used to monitor the borders. After the transport, Dominic realizes that the drivers are thought of as disposable and that after successful trafficking of the product they are shot and killed in order to avoid paying them. Letty, having been in the same situation was the only driver to get away when they attempted to shoot her, it was the pursuit that led to the car crash and subsequent shooting causing her death. Dom anticipated the double-dealing because of the warning given by Gisele, Braga's liason, in the form of the Spanish phrase "vaya con Dios", set his car to explode by discharging nitrous oxide with the spark from the cigarette lighter in his car after he learns from Fenix that he was responsible for killing Letty with no remorse. Brian hijacks one of the Hummers carrying the heroin, escaping the gunfire, and head back to the U.S., where Dominic learns that Brian was contacted by Letty who agreed to infiltrate and collect information leading to Braga in exchange for clemency for Dominic. Brian speaks to his superiors about a plan that he has devised to trade the heroin for Braga if they will pardon Dominic.

An exchange is arranged with Campos, 6 million dollars for the heroin, provided that Braga be the one to deliver the money personally. The FBI is poised to arrest Braga at the exchange site, however, Dominic and Brian both realize that Campos is in fact Braga before the FBI does and the raid is botched. Braga evades capture and flees over the Mexican border out of the FBI's jurisdiction. Brian and Dominic head after Braga on their own and find him in a cathedral praying for salvation. They kidnap Braga with intent to take him back to the United States where he can be tried and imprisoned for drug trafficking, but after having taken him captive they are chased by Braga's henchmen. The chase leads to the same underground tunnels that they went through in order to transport the drugs into the United States. Once on the United States side of the border, Dominic kills Fenix by crushing him with his car and Braga is finally apprehended by the FBI, as is Dominic.

Dominic is tried for his crimes and, though Brian appealed to the courts on his behalf, is sentenced to "25 years to life without the possibility of early parole." The movie concludes with Dom being transported in a prison bus on a desert highway to the Lompoc Penitentiary, with Brian, Mia, Tego and Rico suddenly appearing in three stealthy black cars for an interception.

Main cast

• Vin Diesel as Dominic "Dom" Toretto: An elite street racer from the United States, wanted for committing numerous semi-truck hijackings. At the start of the film, he is living in the Dominican Republic and continues to hijack fuel trucks to earn money.
• Paul Walker as Brian O'Conner: A former police officer and talented street racer, Brian is now an FBI agent hot on the trail of the Mexican drug lord Arturo Braga.
• Jordana Brewster as Mia Toretto: Dominic's sister and love interest of Brian. She reunites with both men when their paths cross over the Braga case.
• Michelle Rodriguez as Leticia "Letty" Ortiz: Dominic's girlfriend who lives with him in the Dominican Republic at the start of the film. Her murder at the hands of Braga's organization is what spurns on Dominic to seek revenge.
• John Ortiz as Ramon Campos/Arturo Braga: Initially portrayed as a liaison for Braga's organization, he eventually reveals himself to be Braga himself. A powerful drug cartel leader who recruits street racers to move heroin across the US-Mexican border.
• Laz Alonso as Fenix Rise: An enforcer for Braga who is responsible for Letty's death.
• Gal Gadot as Gisele Harabo: An liaison for Braga who eventually sides with Dominic after he saves her life and helps him locate the drug lord.
• Jack Conley as Penning
• Sung Kang as Han: One of Dominic's crew in the Dominican Republic. Talks about moving to Tokyo when the heat comes down, speaking of "crazy shit" that's going on.
• Don Omar as Rico
• Tego Calderón as Tego

Prologue

The beginning of the movie consists of a 20-minute prologue directed by Vin Diesel and filmed in the Dominican Republic during the summer of 2008. It takes place where the second film left off and focuses on Dom & Letty, establishing what happened to these characters after the first film, The Fast and the Furious. It also introduces the character Han (Kang) from the third film, Tokyo Drift.

Music

The score to Fast & Furious was composed by Brian Tyler, who recorded his score with the Hollywood Studio Symphony at the Newman Scoring Stage at 20th Century Fox.

The trailers for the film features the track "We Are Rockstars" by Does It Offend You, Yeah? and a Travis Barker-remixed version of "Crank That" by Soulja Boy Tell 'Em.

The official soundtrack was released on March 31, 2009 on Star Trak. The first single from the soundtrack was titled "Blanco" and is by Pitbull featuring Pharrell Williams and is produced by The Neptunes. The first promo single (firstly thought of as the second single, but switched) from the soundtrack was titled "Crank Dat (Travis Barker Rock Remix)" and is by Soulja Boy and features Travis Barker. The second single from the album is "Krazy" by Pitbull featuring Lil Jon. The track is also featured on Pitbull's upcoming album. The third and final single from the album is "Bad Girls" by Robin Thicke. The soundtrack will also feature the song "G-Stroll" by Busta Rhymes featuring Pharrell Williams and also produced by The Neptunes. The track is a leftover track from Busta Rhymes' album Back on My B.S. Amazon gave the album an average score of 3.5/5, calling it a Spanish-themed rap soundtrack with mostly average tracks.

Reception

Fast & Furious has received mixed reviews. As of April 10, 2009, the movie was rated 26% on the Tomatometer on the Rotten Tomatoes website and 45% on Metacritic. Entertainment Weekly, The Hollywood Reporter, and the Los Angeles Times all praise the film. However Roger Ebert, who gave positive reviews to the previous films, gave unfavorable comments to the film: "I admire the craft involved, but the movie leaves me profoundly indifferent. After three earlier movies in the series, which have been transmuted into video games, why do we need a fourth one? Oh. I just answered my own question."

On its first day of release the movie grossed $30.5 million, and peaked at the top spot of the weekend box office with $70,950,500, which is more than Tokyo Drift earned in its entire domestic run. The film was the best opening to date of 2009, and was double what most industry observers expected. Other records include best April opening and the best opening for Universal Pictures since The Lost World: Jurassic Park in 1997. The movie also has the highest opening weekend gross of any car-themed film; (The prior record, Cars , grossed $60.1 million.) So far, the film has been a massive commercial success.

Sequel

Fast and Furious 5 is in development. Paul Walker said, “I’ve spoken with executives at Universal at this point and they’re pretty serious about it. They’re developing it. They know where they want it to take place. They want to do it in Europe.” Vin Diesel has stated that he always planned to make two more films. "I try to think out the story even before we go to shoot the film that's at hand," he said. "So, yes I had been thinking about it. I actually thought of shooting both of the movies back-to-back with Universal with the president of Universal and he was like, 'What? We're just getting our feet back together.'"

External links

• Fast & Furious Official Website
• Fast & Furious at IMDb
• Fast & Furious at Rotten Tomatoes
• Fast & Furious at MySpace