Fast & Furious (2009 film)

For the sting operation and political scandal, see Operation Fast and Furious. For others, see The Fast and the Furious (disambiguation).

Fast & Furious
Theatrical release poster
Directed by	Justin Lin
Written by	Chris Morgan
Produced by	Neal H. Moritz Vin Diesel Michael Fottrell
Starring	Paul Walker Vin Diesel Michelle Rodriguez Jordana Brewster Sung Kang Gal Gadot Don Omar Tego Calderón Mirtha Michelle
Cinematography	Amir Mokri
Edited by	Fred Raskin Christian Wagner
Music by	Brian Tyler
Production companies	Relativity Media Original Film One Race Films Neal H. Moritz Productions
Distributed by	Universal Pictures
Release date	April 3, 2009 (2009-04-03)
Running time	107 minutes
Country	Template:FilmUS
Language	English
Budget	$85 million
Box office	$363,164,265

Fast & Furious is a 2009 American street racing action film directed by Justin Lin. It is the fourth film in The Fast and the Furious film series and the third installment in terms of chronology. The plot connects with the original film of the series from which Vin Diesel, Paul Walker, Michelle Rodriguez, and Jordana Brewster reprise their roles. The film was directed by Justin Lin, who also directed the third and fifth installments of the series, The Fast and the Furious: Tokyo Drift and Fast Five. It is also the first film in the series to give more emphasis to American built muscle cars than imported cars.

Plot

Five years after the Los Angeles events, Dominic Toretto (Vin Diesel) and his new crew: Leticia "Letty" Ortiz (Michelle Rodriguez), Leo Tego (Tego Calderón), Omar Santos (Don Omar), Cara Mirtha (Mirtha Michelle) and Han Seoul-Oh (Sung Kang), are hijacking fuel tankers of the road train in the Dominican Republic due to his old crew with Leon disappearing, Jesse (killed by Johnny Tran), Vince (got wounded and escaped in South America, now in Rio) and Letty, who he found recently, already disbanded from the first movie. After the successful heist, Dominic begins to suspect the trail is too hot for him, and leaves Letty in the middle of the night and he leaves to avoid being caught. Some time later, In Panama City, Dominic is fixing his 1970 Chevrolet Chevelle and he gets a call from his sister, Mia Toretto (Jordana Brewster), who tells him that Letty has been murdered after getting into a near fatal car accident. Dominic heads back to Los Angeles to examine Letty's crash and finds traces of nitromethane. He then goes to the only car mechanic that uses nitromethane and coerces him into giving him the name David Park (Ron Yuan), the man who ordered the fuel.

Meanwhile, F.B.I. agent Brian O'Conner (Paul Walker) is trying to track down a drug dealer named Arturo Braga. He chases one of his contacts through city streets, capturing him, and forcing him to tell the name. Ironically, it's David Park. Due to his street racing rep and knowledge, he seizes the search on the cars of all of David Parks, and he finds the person with a illegally modified Nissan Silvia S15. Knowing that this is the right one, he drives to the block of apartments to find him, but Dominic arrives at Park's apartment first and hangs him out of the window by his ankles to force him to tell the name before letting go. Brian saves Park, but Dominic escapes. Park becomes the FBI's new informant in exchange for the immunity. Park gets Brian into a street race through Los Angeles organized by Ramon Campos (John Ortiz) Braga's right hand. The winner will become the last driver on a team that traffics heroin between the United States-Mexico border. Brian selects a Nissan Skyline GT-R R34 modified for better drifts due to RWD using from the Impound Lot. Dominic also shows up to race in his modified 1970 Chevrolet Chevelle. Dominic wins by bumping Brian's car, making him lose control. Brian uses his position as an FBI agent to arrest another driver, Dwight Mueller (Greg Cipes), and takes his place on the team.

The following day, the team meets with Gisele Yashar (Gal Gadot) one of Braga's men. They drive across the border using underground tunnels to avoid detection, where they meet Fenix Calderon (Laz Alonzo), one of Braga's henchmen. Brian had prior knowledge from the last sent agents that after the heroin was delivered, Braga ordered the drivers to be killed. However it was revealed to Dominic from Fenix that he killed Letty and after a tense stand-off, Dominic detonates his car with nitrous to distract Braga's men, and Brian grabs an assault rifle and shoots few of Braga's henchmen, while Fenix and Campos manage to escape. Dom attacks several henchmen, and Brian hijacks a Hummer H1. Both Dominic and Brian drive back to Los Angeles, and stop just outside of freeway. Brian notices that Dom has a gunshot wound from the distract. Dom opens the back of the Hummer and discover that the truck is full of with US$60 million worth of heroin. Brian and Dom take and hide the heroin in a police impound lot where Brian picks up a modified Subaru Impreza WRX STI. They leave the compound and arrive at Dom's hideout just outside the city. Brian calls Mia to the compound due to Dom's gunshot wound.

Later on, Dominic searches Letty's belongins in the box and discovers her phone. He recalls the last number, revealed to be Brian's number. He realises Brian was the last person to contact her and that he placed her for Braga's driver. This angers Dominic, and attacks him until he learns Brian put Letty undercover for tracking down Braga so she could clear Dominic's name, so he could return back to Los Angeles, and so they could settle up. Brian tells his superiors that in exchange for Dominic's pardon, he will lure Braga into a trap, forcing him to personally show up to exchange money for the heroin. At the drop site, however, is revealed that the man who claims to be Braga (Robert Miano) is a decoy and Campos is the real Braga, who escapes and flees to Mexico. Dominic saves Gisele from a car hit and escapes with Brian's car. Later on,Dominic fixes his 1970 Dodge Charger and Brian upgrades his Subaru. Brian visits Dom and tells him he is going with him, but Dom warns him that if Brian leaves with him, he cannot return to his life as a cop anymore. He replies "I know.". He spots Mia returning from the store, and follows her. They rekindle their relationship. That night, Dom and Brian leave to Mexico to catch Braga.

Gisele meets with Dom and gives him information about Braga in exchange for saving her life. While Braga's henchmen are outside waiting for him, Brian and Dom surround his with guns drawn at a church. Braga mocks Dom that he will shoot him in a church and says that the two of them are alike, implying that their status as law-breakers makes them bound by a criminal honor code. Dom rejects this then decides that instead of killing him he will take him back to US so he can be arrested. Fenix ges nervous, goes into the church to see his boss, sees Dom and Brian then starts chasing them. As Braga's henchmen come down to rescue their leader, Brian and Dominic drive through the underground tunnels back to the United States. When some of Braga's men are killed, Brian crashes his car and is injured after being T-boned by Fenix at the end of the tunnel. Before Fenix can kill Brian, Dominic, who survived the explosion and exchanged his car with a 1973 Chevrolet Camaro, drives into. Fenix tries to run, but Brian holds him at his leg and Dominic crashes him on the car, killing him. As police and helicopters start streaming to the crash site on the U.S. side, Brian tells Dominic that he must leave, but Dominic refuses, saying he's tired of running. Despite Brian's request for clemency, the judge sentences Dominic to 25 years to life in the Lompoc penitentiary.

Dom is shown on the prison bus, which then cuts to a shot of Brian, Mia, Leo and Santos driving in a formation to intercept the bus, thus providing the possibility of the sequel realized by the film Fast Five.

Cast

Main article: List of The Fast and the Furious characters

• Paul Walker as Brian O'Conner, a former police officer, auto mechanic and elite street racer. Brian is now an FBI agent on the trail of the Mexican drug lord Arturo Braga. He drives a Subaru Impreza WRX STI.
• Vin Diesel as Dominic Toretto, an auto mechanic, ex-convict, and elite street racer from the United States. Dominic is wanted for committing numerous semi-truck hijackings. At the beginning of the film, he is living in the Dominican Republic and drives a black Buick Grand National to hijack fuel trucks.
• Michelle Rodriguez as Leticia Ortiz, Dominic's girlfriend who lives with him in the Dominican Republic.
• Jordana Brewster as Mia Toretto, Dominic's younger sister and Brian's former girlfriend.
• Sung Kang as Han Seoul-Oh, a street racer and member of Dominic's crew, who also appeared in Tokyo Drift.
• John Ortiz as Arturo Braga, a power drug lord who wants drivers to smuggle heroin across the USA/Mexico Border.
• Laz Alonso as Fenix Calderon, Arturo Braga's henchman, drives a 1972 Ford Gran Torino.
• Gal Gadot as Gisele Yashar, a liaison for Braga.
• Robert Miano as Ramon Campos, Braga's double.
• Neil Brown Jr. as Malik Herzon.
• Jack Conley as Penning, head of FBI.
• Don Omar as Omar Santos, a member of Dominic's crew.
• Tego Calderón as Leo Tego, a member of Dominic's crew.
• Mirtha Michelle as Cara Mirtha, a member of Dominic's crew and Han's girlfriend.
• Ron Yuan as David Park.
• Greg Cipes as Dwight Mueller, Braga's Camaro driver.
• Brandon T. Jackson as Braga's BMW driver.
• Mousa Kraish as Braga's Silvia driver.
• Shea Whigham as Ben Stasiak, FBI agent.
• Liza Lapira as Sophie Trinh, FBI agent.

Production

The movie cars were built in Southern California's San Fernando Valley. Around 240 cars were built for the film. However, the replica vehicles do not match the specifications they were supposed to represent. For example, the replica version of F-Bomb, a 1973 Chevrolet Camaro built by David Freiburger of Hot Rod Magazine, included a 300 hp crate V8 engine with a 3-speed automatic transmission, whereas the actual car included a twin-turbo 1,500 hp engine and a 5-speed transmission.

The original Dodge Charger 426 Hemi R/T that was used in the original movie was a 1970, but the car in this movie was a 1969 Dodge Charger R/T 426 Hemi with a slightly modified front grill to appear as a 1970 car; the original 1970 Dodge Charger was in pieces, being totally dissembled for restoration.

The most radical vehicles built for the film were the Chevy trucks constructed for the fuel heist. Powered by 502ci GM big block motors, The 67' had a giant ladder-bar suspension with airbags using a massive 10-ton semi rear axle with the biggest and widest truck tires they could find. The 88' Chevy Crew Cab was built with twin full-floating GM 1-ton axles equipped with Detroit Lockers and a transfer case directing power to both axles and capable of a four-wheel burnouts.

The Nissan Skyline GTR R34 was actually a 1000 horsepower car modified by an uncredited owner. It runs originally at 240 miles an hour. It was a hard car to build by the production so along with the original, they bought Nissan Skyline 25GT's that were made into looking like the original Skyline GT-R.

Music

Main article: Fast & Furious (soundtrack)

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 score album was released on CD by Varèse Sarabande Records with over 78 minutes worth of music.

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 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-Stro" 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 out of 5, calling it a Spanish-themed rap soundtrack with mostly average tracks. Interscope and Star Trak Records released the soundtrack for the film with "Crank That" not included.

Another song that was omitted from the album was song "Rising Sun" by Korean group DBSK.

The Japanese version of the movie features the song "Before I Decay" by Japanese rock group The GazettE.

Also featured in the background under a club scene which was omitted from the album, was song "Ride" written by Kervins Joseph and Travis Baker, published by InDigi Avenue Music Publishing (ASCAP), courtesy InDigi Music, and Virtual Diva Performed By Don Omar.

Release

The film was released in the United States on April 3, 2009. It is originally set to release on June 12, 2009, but moved it up to April 3, 2009 instead. It was the first motion-enhanced theatrical film to feature D-BOX motion feedback technology in selected theaters.

Reception

Critical response

Fast & Furious has received mixed to negative reviews from professional critics. The film is rated at 27% (the lowest in the film franchise) based on 171 reviews collected on the Rotten Tomatoes website and 45 on Metacritic based on 27 reviews.

Lisa Schwarzbaum of Entertainment Weekly gives the film a B+, saying, "Fast & Furious is still no Point Break. But it's perfectly aware of its limited dramatic mission...and...it offers an attractive getaway route from self-importance, snark, and chatty comedies about male bonding." Kirk Honeycutt of The Hollywood Reporter thought this movie was the first real sequel to the first and also gave it a positive review, writing, "Fast & Furious is the first true sequel of the bunch. By reuniting the two male stars from the original and...continuing the story from the first film, this new film should re-ignite the franchise." Betsy Sharkey of the Los Angeles Times gave it a positive review, providing viewers were car fans, writing, "If you're a lover of stomach-clenching speed that turns the world into a neon blur...then Fast & Furious, the fourth edition of that metal-twisting series, should leave you exhausted and satiated for a very long time."

Roger Ebert, who gave positive reviews to the previous films, gave an unfavorable review of the film, writing, "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."

Box office

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 had the sixth biggest opening weekend of 2009 and was double what most industry observers expected. It also held the record for the highest-grossing opening weekend in April and of any car-oriented film, the record having been previously held by Cars, which grossed $60.1 million. Both of these records were broken two years later by Fast Five, which grossed $86.2 million. Fast & Furious also held the record for the highest opening weekend for a Spring release, until it was broken by Tim Burton's Alice in Wonderland. It's worldwide gross in its opening weekend stands at $102.6 million with $7.2 million coming from the U.K., $8.6 million from Russia, $6 million in France and $3 million from Germany. As of July 27, 2011 the film has grossed a total of $155,064,265 in the United States and $363,164,265 worldwide (making it the second most successful film in the franchise behind Fast Five) and is the third highest-grossing film in the car genre, behind Fast Five and Cars.

Home video

Fast & Furious was released on DVD and Blu-ray on July 28, 2009. The DVD is a two-disc set that includes:

• Digital copy of the film
• Under the Hood: Muscle Cars & Imports
• High Octane Action: The Stunts
• Shooting the Big Rig Heist
• Driving School with Vin Diesel
• Original short film Los Bandoleros, the never-before-seen short film that reveals the events leading up to the explosive beginning of Fast & Furious. It is written and directed by Vin Diesel and was produced in the Dominican Republic. This has been released on the iTunes store as a free download.

As of July 29, 2011 the DVD has sold 3,324,117 copies generating $53,879,547 in sales revenue for a combined total of 417,043,812 including worldwide movie ticket sales.

It was re-released in Australia on Blu-ray that includes a digital copy and was re-titled "Fast & Furious 4" on 30 March 2011.

Sequel

Main article: Fast Five

Vin Diesel and Paul Walker reunited for a Fast and Furious sequel, entitled Fast Five. Justin Lin directed, while Chris Morgan wrote the screenplay. It was released in April 2011.

External links

• Official website
• Fast & Furious at IMDb
• Fast & Furious at Rotten Tomatoes
• Fast & Furious at Metacritic
• Fast & Furious at Box Office Mojo