|
|
 |
Fast & Furious: 2-Disc Special Edition
[Blu-ray]
Blu-ray ALL - America - Universal Pictures Review written by and copyright: Noor Razzak (8th August 2009). |
|
The Film
 Back in 2000, Vin Diesel was poised to become the next big action star. His films were gaining immense popularity, but a few missteps along the way grounded his upward trajectory. He abandoned two franchises, "The Fast and the Furious" series (2001-2009) and the "xXx" films (2002 & 2005). The latter was fairly justified as the second, "xXx: State of the Union" was a mess... more so than the first one so I don't blame him from jumping that ship. One of his biggest missteps however was last summer's highly disappointing "Babylon A.D." (2008), this critical slamming and box office bomb caused the actor to revisit a franchise that helped elevate him to an "A-list" status. "Fast & Furious" is the fourth installment of the suped-up illegal car chase films and was a successful return, it helped bring back Diesel form the depths of the "whatever happened to..." barrel. It was so successful that he plans to return to another franchise he abandoned with a third installment to "xXx" entitled "xXx: The Return of Xander Cage" (supposedly set for release in 2011). So, here we are again... another loud and frustratingly ill plotted orgy of car action. It's not hard to believe, at face value from the trailers that's exactly what's being marketed. Having never really "connected" with any of the films in this series (frankly I'm not the demographic the filmmaker's are aiming for) I'm not an eighteen year-old boy anymore, I don't get off on custom cars, illegal street racing or limp dialogue spat from the mouths of over-sexed and cocky hot heads. These are just the usual trademarks of the series, plus each film seemed to stretch the limits of my patience and good taste. But these films "are what they are" and certainly reach their desired demographic, after all they made four, and supposedly more are in the works. So my hesitation to see "Fast & Furious" was somewhat justified. I never thought I'd actually enjoy it... but I did (although there are many flaws). It's easily the best in the series, but in saying that it's still a long way from being a classic. The best way to describe it is that it's probably the least stupid and inane film among the four produced. When a terrible crime brings them back to Los Angeles, fugitive ex-con Dom Toretto (Vin Diesel) reunites and reignites his feud with agent Brian O'Connor (Paul Walker) and must bring down a new enemy. The two compete to enter the inner crime world for their own reasons and get caught up in an International drug running operation between the U.S. and Mexican border. The plot is fairly thin, but the action tends to speak louder than words here, and we're all better off for that. I especially dislike both the female leads of this film. Jordana Brewster proves yet again that she can't deliver a line or actually "act", she teeters between under-acting and over-acting and never being able to hit a convincing middle ground (basically she hasn't improved since I last reviewed her in 2006's "Annapolis"). But she's pretty and director Justin Lin seems to have a thing for her (this being their second film together). I was equally unimpressed with Michelle Rodriguez, I always found her character, Letty, to be a weak point of the first film and that opinion hasn't really changed here. She delivered her usual attitude filled performance and then quickly (spoiler warning) died in the process. She won't be missed. Vin Diesel and Paul Walker are back at it again, occasionally butting heads and offering fans a chance to see these two back on screen together. They show up and do their business and that's about all we can expect really, however, Diesel is capable of much better but I doubt this franchise will ever get a director with enough chops to bring it out of him. This of course doesn't really matter in the long run as the fans have spoken and this film was a massive success at the box office despite the luke warm reviews. The usual staples of this series are in full effect here, the film opens with a rather over-the-top petrol heist, as the crew of racers try and unhook some tankers in transit. This of course leads to an incredible action sequence that climaxes with a massive explosion and defies physics whenever possible. If anything the filmmaker's threw everything AND the kitchen sink with the opening scene and this sets the tone of the film early on. So you pretty much know what to expect from the first frame. Sadly the action is interrupted with exposition and dialogue scenes between the cast, who frankly are better suited for simply being eye candy. The dialogue scenes are almost secondary and it shows. The action is mostly the focus here and we see some excellent examples of car-based mayhem (although I actually preferred the mayhem in "Death Race" (2008)). If anything Lin manages to keep the pace moving and delivered some fun sequences that are all of a high calibre, you can't fault this film for being boring. "Fast & Furious" was actually fun to watch for the most part, if rolling my eyes the least amount of time in this film than throughout the entire series is any indication. Vin Diesel is most certainly back and we can probably expect more action mayhem from him in the future. Unless you're a die hard fan and already bought this from day one of release, it's at least worth a rental if you've got some time to kill.
Video
Presented in a ratio of 2.40:1 this transfer is delivered onto Blu-ray in 1080p 24/fps high-definition and has been mastered using VC-1 compression codec. The resulting image is splendid, the sharpness is infinite as is detail and depth. The film's slick action-packed photography is done justice by this pleasing image. These action films are the perfect genre for Blu-ray, the colors are bold and vibrant, blacks are deep and bold and grain is minimal across the board. The image is crisp and clean of dirt and specks. I was impressed with the textures and detail, from the skin tones through to the intricate custom detailing on the cars. The image is pure candy and could be considered reference quality.
Audio
Equally impressive is the audio track on this film, presented here in English DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 surround mixed at 48kHz/24-bit, tracks are also included in both French and Spanish DTS 5.1 surround. The audio is rich, dynamic and aggressive. Dialogue is clear and distortion free, the film's subtle more ambient sounds are well presented and the track handles it's transition well. The loud aggressive action scenes truly shine here with a complex and immersive mix that places viewers right in the center of the action. It's a perfectly balanced and all together engrossing track that;ll blow your speakers away. Optional subtitles are included in English for the hearing impaired, French and Spanish.
Extras
Universal has packed this 2-disc set with a collection of extras that feature an audio commentary, a gag reel, a short film, a series of eight featurettes, a music video and a collection of theatrical trailers, some interactive features and a digital copy of the film. Below is a closer look at these supplements. DISC ONE: First up we've got a feature-length audio commentary by director Justin Lin. If you've watched any of the featurettes on this disc first, then you can pretty much skip this track as there's nothing new here. Plenty of repeated information is presented and Lin doesn't exactly make for an engaging commentator, he's pretty soft spoken and uninteresting. The "U-Control" track that features him and actor Paul Walker (reviewed below) is far better than this standard commentary that covers the film's production process. A typical gag reel runs for 5 minutes 1 second and features the usual line flubs and missed cues plus a collection of cast breaking out into spontaneous laughter. "Los Bandoleros" is a short film that's directed by actor and star Vin Diesel which runs for 20 minutes 23 seconds. This is probably the best of the features on this disc, at least it was the one that grabbed most of my attention and serves as a prequel to this film and adds some minor back story, nothing major but entertaining nonetheless. The first of the featurettes is entitled "Under the Hood: Muscle Cars" and runs for 6 minutes 55 seconds, this clip features some cast and crew interviews and takes a look at the muscle cars and bringing Vin Diesel back to the cast as well as his Dodge Charger as we get a closer look at his character's car including the modifications that were made. Other muscle cars covered include the Gran Torino, which was in many ways Diesel's opposition in the film among other things. Next up is the second featurette, "Under the Hood: Imports" which runs for 4 minutes 59 seconds, this takes a look at the modified Japanese cars used in the film, specifically Paul Walker's cars used for his character as well as a closer look at the other imports used in the film. This clip is similar to the previous clip only focusing on the Japanese imports as opposed to the American muscle cars. "Getting the Gang Back Together" is the third featurette in the series and runs for 9 minutes 50 seconds, and features more talking heads as the cast talk about why they came back to the series. On working with each other as the director talks about how important it was to get the original cast back, on how rewarding it is working on these films and with the cast, etc. There's plenty of behind-the-scenes footage which is worth checking out, otherwise this clip is fairly bland clip that features the usual fluff as the key cast and crew take us through the process. Following that is the fourth featurette entitled "Driving School with Vin Diesel" which runs for 3 minutes 50 seconds, the driving stunt coordinator takes us through how the cast were put through an intense driving school as Vin Diesel goes behind the wheel to prepare for the film and the various car stunts and racing scenes. "Shooting the Big Rig Heist" is the fifth featurette which runs for 9 minutes 47 seconds, this clip takes a closer in-depth look at the shooting of the opening sequence of the film, from the development of the concept, the preparation required, the coordination of the stunts and how they shot it. This was my favorite of the featurettes on the entire disc as it takes us through the process of shooting an action packed scene with plenty of behind-the-scenes footage. "Races and Chases" is featurette number six and runs for 11 minutes 1 second, another fairly decent clip is presented here as we get a look at the creating new and interesting chases for this fourth installment. The key was to create fresh sequences that aren't just the same as viewers had seen before, creating character driven action scenes and having them stem organically from the story as we look at some key race scenes. "High Octane Action: The Stunts" is the seventh featurette which runs for 11 minutes 22 seconds and as the title suggests we get a look at the incredible stunt team that helped create the action scenes from the film. This looks at assembling the right team, creating a realistic action scene and maintaining safety as we look at some key stunt sequences with the 2nd unit crew. The eighth and final featurette is "South of the Border: Filming in Mexico" which runs for a brief 2 minutes 55 seconds, and takes a look at shooting on location in Mexico as the crew needed to find an authentic bordertown rather than build a Hollywood version of a bordertown that looks made-up rather than a real live location which looks much more convincing as well as the reaction of the town's people to their presence. "Blanco" is a music video by Pitbull which runs for 4 minutes 11 seconds, this is basically the opening theme from the film, presented here as a fairly average video. The disc also features the film's original theatrical trailer which runs for 2 minutes 13 seconds. There are bonus trailers for: - "The Fast and the Furious" which runs for 1 minute 49 seconds. - "2 Fast 2 Furious" which runs for 1 minute 33 seconds. - "The Fast and the Furious: Tokyo Drift" which runs for 2 minutes 18 seconds. There are some Blu-ray exclusive extras that include some "U-Control" interactive features that include: - "Virtual Garage & Tech Specs" interactive feature for profile 1.1 players or greater and features information about the cars that appear on screen as you watch the film. You can gain access to the garage outside of the in-movie experience and view 360 degree views of the custom cars. - "Take Control" interactive commentary feature for profile 1.1 players or greater, features the director Justin Lin and actor Paul Walker as they take viewers through an interactive experience as they take us through various aspects of the production. - "'Fast & Furious' Video Mash-Up" interactive feature for profile 2.0 players only, this feature that allows you to make your own music video. I actually found the load-up times to lag so I gave up on making my own video. You can also access BD-Live features for those with profile 2.0 players only through the Universal online portal, there's an instructional series included on the disc that takes you through how to use each of these unique online features. The features include: - "My Scenes" bookmark your favorite scenes. - "Registration" register your disc online to authenticate your disc. - "My Chat" chat with other viewers online about the film. - "My Movie Commentary" create your own personalized commentary with both audio and video and share with the online community. Finally this film is D-Box motion code enabled for those that have the gear. DISC TWO: This disc is a digital copy of the film.
Packaging
Packaged in a 2-disc Blu-ray case housed in a cardboard slip-case.
Overall
|
|||||
|