F9: The Fast Saga

Posted on December 4, 2022 by Tennyson

Vampire Owl: How fast are the things around here?

Vampire Bat: Well, you know the case with this particular franchise.

Vampire Owl: They are surely not faster than us.

Vampire Bat: Well, humans have enough scientific inventions to go faster.

Vampire Owl: You feel that they can match the inventions of Dr Frankenstein?

Vampire Bat: Mr Frankenstein is not a real scientist, and he is not one of us.

Vampire Owl: You keep repeating the same, but he has blended in.

Vampire Bat: He even has some really bad teeth and breath.

Vampire Owl: He tests his own elixirs by drinking them, which causes this.

Vampire Bat: Well, those are the drinks which taste like Sprite or Sprint all the time.

[Gets a green apple cake and three cups of white tea].

What is the movie about? :: Dominic Toretto (Vin Diesel), who has stopped all his dangerous and adventurous activities is not settled down with his wife, Letty Ortiz (Michelle Rodriguez) and child. Good old friends Roman Pearce (Tyrese Gibson), Parker (Chris Bridges) and Ramsey (Nathalie Emmanuel) arrive at their location in the middle of nowhere with news about a plane crash. They ask Dominic and Letty to help them in recovering something important from the plane, as it involves Cipher (Charlize Theron), one of their biggest enemies, whom they defeated with much difficulty. Dominic feels that he is done with all of these activities as they now live for the child, and nothing else. He is reminded that Cipher, the murderer of Dominic’s son’s mother might be free now, and all set to enjoy her life, while committing more crimes against people and nations. He still disagrees, but as Letty tells him that this is not what they are, he decides to join her who had already started. It is also because he realizes that his lost brother Jakob Toretto (John Cena) is also involved in all of these.

So, what happens with the events here as we just keep looking? :: After searching the crashed plane, the find a device called Project Aries, which has the ability to hack into any computer-controlled system. The team is then attacked by a group of mercenaries led by Jakob who manages to steal the device, while the team of Dominic just manages to escape in time. The device seems to be something which can end the world. Mia Torretto (Jordana Brewster) also joins them against the advice of Dominic. Letty and Mia goes to Tokyo to investigate and discovers that their old friend Han Lue (Sung Kang) is alive, while Dominic who finds Jakob is arrested by his financier Otto (Thue Ersted Rasmussen) who has his connections and is also holding Cipher hostage. But he manages to break out, while Roman and Tej finds help. They will soon have to meet up in Edinburgh, where Jakob is using an electromagnet to steal the other half of the Project Aries device. But the question remains if the team is up to the challenge. Well, this is also about family for Dominic, but in another way.

The defence of F9: The Fast Saga :: Well, we know what the Fast and Furious series of movies have been coming up with – they are fast and they are indeed furious. There is a lot of mind-blowing action happening around here, not just with the cars racing and fighting, but also with a good amount of melee combat and gunshots which are also around. The final battle seems to be huge, as one would expect from this franchise. The cast is also once again at the best, and the new addition only make things better – they are all the superstars of the blockbuster level like never before. Well, what was seen in the trailer was quite less – there is a lot more of flying and destruction to follow. It is the kind of action for which the screen might seem to be rather small. The movie also adds a strange, but still effective emotional side to the same. The fans of the franchise are not going to complain, as there is no shortage of what they have always wanted. Being fast and furious will only continue to be what the name suggests for years to come, as the scope for sequel is also provided around here.

The claws of flaw :: The movie does have the problems in letting its characters die – it should actually do that and let others just take over. Now, it seems that some people won’t even die of old age if there was the chance. Then, we keep missing Dwayne Johnson – there is nothing as furious as The Rock; maybe I even wanted Jason Statham after Hobbs and Shaw. You can always have the Transporter and Mechanic around here while adding three heads without hair on one mission with a lot of muscles to go with the same. For action, they could have actually gone a more classic way rather than bringing so much of destruction without trying to make more sense out here. People might also get tired of being tired of having too many brothers and sisters coming out of nowhere, as much as the dead people coming alive. If someone had to be brought back to life, the best choice for that was Gal Gadot, but they seem to find it easier to get all other back here, maybe because of some cost concerns. The repetitions are surely there, and it makes things difficult to rise above a certain level.

The performers of the soul :: Vin Diesel is here doing what he would have done with Dwayne Johnson on his side, and this time he has to manage with less muscle power on his side, as he is also missing Jason Statham. He does what he has been doing for a long time yet again, as he has to do a lot of racing as well as the fighting with him being the big guy once again in the absence of competition on his side. John Cena who becomes the new addition to the lost family also comes up as a fine antagonist, a strong one without doubt. Among the lady leads, Nathalie Emmanuel does come up with the smartest work, while Jordana Brewster and Michelle Rodriguez have their moments of big action too. But the one true antagonist is played by Charlize Theron, who will always be among the best of them all, an actress who suits all roles very well. In comparison to that character which seems to be on the way to becoming the big eternal nemesis, Thue Ersted Rasmussen plays the rich antagonist who is supposed to fall in short of plans. Among all of these, Anna Sawai also leaves us with some moments to remember – she could have more of Hollywood for sure.

How it finishes :: F9: The Fast Saga is that movie which is not that different from the previous movies. Fast and Furious itself is nothing less than a genre all by itself. There are not many people who haven’t wanted to watch any one of the sequels in this particular franchise, and most of them have done the same on the big screen at the time of its release. Well, the franchise surely isn’t done yet, as there seems to be two more sequels coming up to finally end the series. The series hasn’t managed to increase its level, as most of the interesting and believable things have been done already, and highest point seems to have been already reached earlier. Yet, people seem to be still in need of more action – they keep hoping for more all the time. If it is so, there is none other to serve with so much of entertainment, even though at times feeling like going for an overdose. The best thing about this series though, is that they have managed to make it look so good, and with this suitable, they surely know how to get the audience in support too.

Release date: 25th June 2021
Running time: 150 minutes
Directed by: Justin Lin
Starring: Vin Diesel, Nathalie Emmanuel, Michelle Rodriguez, Tyrese Gibson, Chris Bridges, John Cena, Jordana Brewster, Charlize Theron, Sung Kang, Michael Rooker, Helen Mirren, Kurt Russell

<<< Click here to go to the previous review.

@ Cemetery Watch
✠ The Vampire Bat.

Fast and Furious 7

Posted on April 10, 2015 by Tennyson

Vampire Owl :: Its been quite a long time after the release. What took you this many days to watch this one?

Vampire Bat :: I just couldn’t get the tickets, even at the more local theatres where audience usually avoid the English movies.

Vampire Owl :: I thought so. After all, this was a much expected movie of the year, not as much as Jupiter Ascending for you, but still you seemed to avoid this one.

Vampire Bat :: I waited for the queue almost everyday for the first show, but couldn’t manage to get a ticket, only now I managed it now because they changed this movie to the bigger movie hall switching places with the other one.

Vampire Owl :: Well, there were other ways, but I know that the Vampire Bat never do a ticket reservation. He just stands in the queue everyday.

Vampire Bat :: Yes, all this for the privilege of watching this movie with such an audience who turns into chaotic people when the lights are switched off.

Vampire Owl :: The darkness of the theatre is scary, I mean it is not even the real darkness but created by man.

Vampire Bat :: It is a dangerous place indeed; strange beasts roam around, some of them howl, others whistle and few others talk in a language which comes out as abuse.

Vampire Owl :: So, it has worsened. This is why we should watch movies more at home rather than anywhere else.

Vampire Bat :: Yes, but I have already watched this one and is ready with the review.

[Leaves for the tea shop].

What is it about? :: With Owen Shaw (Luke Evans) and his team defeated, Dominic Toretto (Vin Diesel) and his crew might have thought that life was going to get simple and without problems, but they were wrong. It comes to light that the old villain had an older brother, Deckard Shaw (Jason Statham) who hopes and strives for revenge on the crew who put his brother in a terrible position, and for him, vengeance is beyond that word – he is like a man custom made for things like these. After Han-Seoul-Oh (Sung Kang) is killed, a bomb explodes which puts Brian O’Conner (Paul Walker) and Mia Toretto (Jordana Brewster) as well as their child in a precarious situation, and the protagonist decides to take things into his own hands. After the funeral of Han, the team will return for their final mission, but that won’t start with the attempt on taking the big Shaw down; there will be more to it.

The defence of Fast and Furious 7 :: The action is fast and furious, thus posing no scope to bring any challenge to the name of this movie. The movie is more action than any other element, and wastes no time in getting to it; the vengeance element stays strong and so does the tendency for turning into a heist movie in parts. The comic side also work, just at times. The cast stays strong, and the power of the action sequences can never be questioned. There are also some free lessons for Bollywood if they are making any disgusting sequels to Krrish or Dhoom – they should learn something and not copy – don’t go down to the abyss while making the next movie in one of these two ridiculous sequels.

The claws of flaw :: We can’t have this one at the top if we consider the other movies of this genre or those of the same franchise. The transformation into a full action movie with revenge as central theme might bother some fans, and this one is also free of any possible racing elements which some people might have wanted. The action sequences do ask for a lot of willing suspension of disbelief, even more than you used to do, with this franchise. May be there was the need to set a limit, but being fast and furious should go beyond the limits, if we go into deeper thoughts about it. Another problem might be about the story going predictable, but that also just comes with this one.

Performers of the soul :: The movie is a fine tribute to Paul Walker, and it was good to watch him doing what he always did the best. We will surely miss him if a sequel or a reboot for this series will ever come to us. Vin Diesel is fine as usual and continues his good run in the series even though I have always liked him more in Riddick as the titular character. Still the best moments of the movie goes to Dwayne Johnson who has more awesome seconds in the beginning and end, making so strong an impact. You will know that he is the one true cavalry. Jason Statham wasn’t that much of an interesting villain here as expected, even though he does deliver a punch or rather a number of them. I would say that a different “type” was needed here with the character. Nathalie Emmanuel looked amazingly good in the movie, and was a very nice addition to this one.

Soul exploration :: This certainly works as that wonderful tribute to Paul Walker as his final movie. There are some very nice stunts featuring him, and the final few scenes which provides a beautiful farewell to him. This was never going to be an easy job after his demise, but they have surely managed well. Once again, the movie itself is all about family and brotherhood – something that continues with the same power. Fast and Furious 7 has its heart and soul right there. The emotional moments are all about supporting the same, and there is very fine success there. There is something clearly for the soul there, and it feels so good.

How it finishes :: Fast and Furious 7 is that movie which had a wonderful reception here, far beyond the expectations. I waited so long to get a ticket not in the malls, but at those local theatres, and finally got lucky on a Thursday just because the movie was changed to a bigger movie hall. This is actually expected to do more here, as it is the final movie Paul Walker, and the cast includes people like Dwyane Johnson the Rock, Vin Diesel and Jason Statham. Yes, add them to the cars and we have a lot for the audience here. The next week also has some holidays in the form of Ambedkar Jayanthi and Vishu, and after the big Easter weekend success, this will only earn a lot more, and may be go on to become the biggest grossing Hollywood movie at this part of the world.

Release date: 2nd April 2015 (India); 3rd April 2015 (US)
Running time: 137 minutes
Directed by: James Wan
Starring: Vin Diesel, Dwayne Johnson, Paul Walker, Michelle Rodriguez, Jordana Brewster, Tyrese Gibson, Chris Bridges, Kurt Russell, Jason Statham, Tony Jaa, Djimon Hounsou, Ronda Rousey, Nathalie Emmanuel, Elsa Pataky, John Brotherton, Ali Fazal, Noel Gugliemi

@ Cemetery Watch
✠ The Vampire Bat.

Fast and Furious VI

Posted on May 23, 2013 by Tennyson

Fast & Furious 6 is many things, and when we take two of its major components alone, the good old Destruction Derby has met Need for Speed once again, and whatever was left undone in Fast & Furious 5 a.k.a Fast Five is accomplished here, and that too in a magnificent fashion. If you are looking for logic, this isn’t the movie for you, but still it is as close to reality as possible considering its genre. Well, your reasoning and the strict principles of validity are rarely correct in a world of complete chaos. The elders of evil are the perpetrators of this chaos which is hidden enough from those who lacks the eyes to see, and sadly that includes a lot of people. When someone looks for truth through something as incomplete as science, there is this chaos which will finally devour the world into a black hole of inhumanity and cruelty to nature which started a long time ago. There is this lack of faith which might make watching this movie further difficult. Well, there is not always a perfect definition for everything and not every theory is qualified enough to called by that name. This perfection of logic itself is a lie, as it can never be attained. In that case, this movie is pure imperfect logic which makes a powerful impact.

How did it feel to wake up at another part of the universe in Star Trek, a few weeks ago? Well, this is not another universe, but it is still a new world of absolute mayhem. This world will have no aliens, but it can still give enough alienation to the common man, which should be another reason for its success. For series which I had least interest in, has developed into something which I can’t resist, thanks to Fast Five. I had thought that I was done with it by the fourth of the series, but as we all know, good things do come to those who wait. No, I do not belong to the group of the new age procrastinators group. I do whatever I have to as early as possible, but as long as the things which are not under our control are concerned, I shall wait without losing faith. When one understands that most of the things are not of your control and the world you know needs waiting, as John Milton had said in On His Blindness, “They also serve who only stand and wait”. So, there are times when you have to take that leap of faith, and believe – those are the moments when logic goes to its grave and you get the much deserved reward for waiting with undisputed, incomparable faith which is a quality of you. Still, never leap into the wrong place, for it is a sin even from a movie watcher’s perspective.

Here, we come back to the two major components again, as Destruction Derby was one of the first of the computer games I ever played, and Destruction Derby 2 followed. That vehicular combat game based on the sport of demolition derby, the collisions, destruction, damage, and all the mayhem that followed. The defensive style and taking calculated risks were two things we had learnt from this game. Still, we never ended up finishing this game which was second only to Road Rash in popularity among us. It was a welcome change from those never-ending driving simulations, a hybrid. The same is the case of our movie, which successfully accomplishes its role as a combination of more than one thing; the first thing being vehicular combat and mayhem. The second one is Need For Speed, which has very little to contribute to this game, except for one race which didn’t even go and get completed in the right manner. But still, it is the base of everything, the reason why I ever cared about the first few movies of the series in the first place. It was never the most influencing game of my gaming life, but the Brooke Burke inspired Need for Speed: Underground 2 and Need for Speed: Most Wanted changed many things including my superior love for action and strategy games. The time spent by me for the latter was so much that I had to retire myself just one step before finishing the game, as the second best, in order to continue my search for more games.

The story progresses somewhat like this: Following their successful Brazilian heist in Fast Five, Dominic Toretto and his crew of expert criminals have retired and living in different parts of the world. Brian O’Conner and Mia Torreto has a kid, and Dominic Toretto has retired to a life with Elena Neves. Meanwhile, Luke Hobbs and his new partner Riley are involved in the investigation of an unexpected attack on a Russian military convoy. They find a new group of professional criminals led by a man called Owen Shaw responsible for the attack. Hobbs requests the help of Dominic with a new photo of his former girlfriend Letty Ortiz, who was supposed to be dead. Dominic gathers his crew together and they accept Hobbs’ mission in exchange for a pardon for all of their past crimes so that they can finally go back home again. During their first encounter with the gang, Letty arrives to help Shaw, and shoots Dominic thus helping Shaw in escaping. Later, she is revealed to be suffering from severe memory loss. Later, Dominic battles Letty in a street racing competition and later explains her past to her, but there is nothing remembered and she leaves. The complicated situation demands the capture of Shaw and the return of Letty to the extended family where she belongs. The two things will demand more than just a car race or a fist fight, and even shooting has its limitations – only extreme destruction can solve it.

Vin Diesel is back as Dominic Toretto a.k.a Dom, and there might be so many occasions that he is back again. Other than being Riddick, he has been Xander Cage and Hugo Cornelius Toorop, both having inferior status, and Riddick being a little lesser compared to the popularity that Dom has brought him. Well, the good old Dom remains the same, and whatever told of him will bring no surprise nor new information in a fast and furious world which continues to conquer the world. Elsa Pataky plays his love interest for a short period of tension free time, after which Michelle Rodriguez’s Letty Ortiz takes charge. It is from then, that Gina Carano as Riley takes charge. They have such a fight which might have been made to parallel the Vin Diesel – Dwayne Johnson fight of the fifth movie, but this one is a little behind. Still, it is one of the highlights of the hand-to-hand combat side of the movie, a side which is of lesser significance. There is a lot of power involved in the battles involving the two women, and there is no doubt that there has been a lot of effort put behind it. Brian O’Conner, the former FBI agent continues to be cool with Paul Walker at the helm. Gal Gadot as Gisele Yashar has a sad end, but not without a cause nor without showing her dose of heroics. Jordana Brewster as Mia Toretto has a lesser involvement with this mission, as she is left behind on the Spanish island with the kid.

Luke Evans as Owen Shaw scores as the villain, but compared to what Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson had achieved with his hunt for the protagonist, this is a little far behind. The Rock was undoubtedly the main attraction of that movie, and in this one, he has a slightly lesser, but a more positive role to play. Still, there is no shortage of action scenes for him, and he has only got better. We can still know what he is cooking, and it is pure action whoever he is against. He is rightly considered one of the greatest professional wrestlers of all time, and he gets closer to more glory in movies each and every time he is there. Tyrese Gibson and Chris Bridges are there for the fun part as usual, and so is Sung Kang. Well, still not everyone gets out of the movie, a clue which is already given in this review, and it surely can’t be the crowd favourites Dom or Hobbes. If such a thing had happened, this would have been a fairy tale action adventure mayhem, one of the first of its kind with such a plot and cast. For a movie which can work very well even as a stand-alone version, as it is powered by everything an action movie can dream about; the more appropriate question would be what it should have had, and there is nothing much, as long as its genre is concerned.

The one-liners work and so does the escapist fantasy world which has been provided. The action sequences are breath-taking, which includes the group of cars take down a battle tank as well as a huge airplane trying to take off. There are enough twists, not of high quality, but still deserving a few claps. The movie’s two hour plus is more of a positive, but still, there were more expectations from the trailers. The most significant scenes of the movie are those shown in the trailers, and thankfully they are quite long. But there could have been a few more scenes to support them. There is no shortage of the memories of Ocean’s Eleven and its sequels. Still, it defies death, and for those extremists and fundamentalists, defies logic. Laws of Physics? What is a law but what you feel? There is nothing like that to create unnecessary logic in this movie. Well, Physics was pure evil and I knew it during my school days. The only thing worse was Mathematics. The fact is that this series will continue to rule the theatres. It has released here a day before the world-wide release and who wishes to let go of such a wonderful opportunity? The stylish and powerful action which keeps one wishing for more and the answer comes in the form of Jason Statham who seems to assure a sequel as the villain who brings a new game to the scene. It makes sure that the vehicular combat shall live on! This is not to be missed by the fans of the franchise at any cost, as the impact on the big screen is that intense.

Release date: 23rd May 2013
Running time: 130 minutes
Directed by: Justin Lin
Starring: Vin Diesel, Dwayne Johnson, Michelle Rodriguez, Paul Walker, Jordana Brewster, Gal Gadot, Gina Carano, Luke Evans, Elsa Pataky, John Ortiz, Tyrese Gibson, Chris Bridges, Sung Kang, Rita Ora, Jason Statham (cameo)