Fast & Furious

Fast & Furious
Theatrical movie poster
Directed by	Justin Lin
Produced by	Neal H. Moritz Vin Diesel Michael Fottrell Co-Producer: Ricardo Del Río Executive Producer: Samantha Vincent
Written by	Screenplay: Chris Morgan Characters: Gary Scott Thompson
Starring	Vin Diesel Paul Walker Michelle Rodriguez Jordana Brewster John Ortiz Laz Alonso Gal Gadot
Music by	Brian Tyler
Cinematography	Amir Mokri
Editing by	Fred Raskin Christian Wagner
Studio	Relativity Media Original Film One Race Films Universal Pictures Neal H. Moritz Productions
Distributed by	Universal Pictures
Release date(s)	April 3, 2009
Running time	107 minutes
Country	United States
Language	English
Budget	$85 million [1]
Gross revenue	$407,085,500[2]
Preceded by	The Fast and the Furious: Tokyo Drift (2006)

Fast & Furious, also known as The Fast and the Furious 4, is the fourth film in The Fast and the Furious film series. 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.^[3][4] The film was directed by Justin Lin, who also directed the third installment of the series, The Fast and the Furious: Tokyo Drift.

Plot

The movie opens up with Dominic Toretto and his new crew hijacking fuel tankers in the Dominican Republic. The crew consists of Letty, Rico, Tego and Han Lue. After a heist, Dominic believes that the trail is too hot and tells Han that is time for him "to do his own thing". Dom subsequently leaves Letty to go elsewhere for her own good when the heat comes down. While he is in Panama City, Toretto gets a call from his sister Mia, who tells him that Letty has been murdered. Dom heads back to Los Angeles and examines the car crash that Letty was in and finds traces of nitromethane. Dom then goes to the only car mechanic that uses nitromethane and coerces him into giving him the name David Park, the man who ordered the fuel.

Meanwhile, FBI agent Brian O'Conner is trying to track down a drug dealer named Arturo Braga. His search leads him to David Park. Dom arrives at Park's apartment first and hangs him out of the window by his ankles before letting go. Brian, who was also on his way to Park's place, saves Park and Park becomes the FBI's new informant. Park gets Brian into a street race through Los Angeles; the winner will become the last driver on a team that traffics heroin between the United States-Mexico border for Braga. Brian selects a Nissan Skyline GT-R (actually being a modified GT-T R34) from the police impound lot to race. Dom also shows up to race. At the end, Dom and Brian are neck-and-neck, and Dom wins when he hits Brian's rear fender and causes him to spin out. Brian then uses his power as an FBI agent to arrest another driver, Dwight Mueller, and takes his place on the team.

The day after, the team meets Fenix, one of Braga's men. It was revealed to Dom that Fenix was the person who murdered Letty. They drive across the border, using underground tunnels to avoid detection. Brian had prior knowledge that, after delivering the heroin, Braga ordered the drivers to be killed (he was able to plant Letty undercover to capture Braga in exchange for Dom's freedom when she was murdered). Upon all the drivers getting out of their cars, Dom, who senses that something is wrong, rigs his Chevelle to explode by unscrewing a tube that connects to his car's nitrous oxide tank and priming the car's cigarette lighter. After a tense stand-off, Dom's car detonates, distracting Braga's men long enough for Brian to hijack a Hummer with USD $60 million worth of heroin. Both men drive back to Los Angeles and hide the heroin in a police impound lot. The next day, Brian tells his superiors that he can lure Braga into a trap, forcing him to personally show up to exchange money for the heroin, so that the police can arrest him. He says he will do this if they will pardon Dom. At the drop site, however, the man who claims to be Braga is a decoy and Campos, the real Braga, escapes and flees to Mexico.

Brian and Dom head out to Mexico on their own to catch Braga. They find him at a church and apprehend him. As Braga's henchmen come down to rescue their leader, Brian and Dom drive through the underground tunnels back to the United States. During the final moments of the chase, Brian crashes his car and is injured after being T-boned by Fenix at the end of the tunnel. Before Fenix can kill Brian, Dom drives out of the tunnel runs and into Fenix, killing him instantly. As police and helicopters start streaming to the crash site on the U.S. side, Brian tells Dom to get out of there. Dom says he is tired of running. Despite Brian's request for clemency, the judge sentences Dom to 25 years to life. In the last scene of the movie, Dom boards a prison bus that will take him to Lompoc penitentiary. As the bus drives down the road, Brian, Mia, and Rico and Tego are seen following the bus in a attempt to free Dom.

Cast

• Vin Diesel as Dominic Toretto: An automechanic and elite street racer from the United States. Dom is wanted for committing numerous semi-truck hijackings. At the beginning of the film, he is living in the Dominican Republic and drives a Buick Grand National to hijack fuel trucks.^[5] Dom eventually returns to Los Angeles to avenge his former girlfriend Letty's death, at the hands of Braga's crew.

• Paul Walker as Brian O'Conner: A former police officer, auto mechanic and talented street racer. Brian is now an FBI agent hot on the trail of the Mexican drug lord Arturo Braga.

• 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 spurs Dominic on to seek revenge.

• Jordana Brewster as Mia Toretto: Dominic's younger sister and love interest of Brian. She reunites with both men when their paths cross over the Braga case.

• John Ortiz as Ramon Campos/Arturo Braga: Initially portrayed as a liaison for Braga's organization, an FBI report reveals him 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 Calderon: An enforcer for Braga who is responsible for Letty's death.
• Gal Gadot as Gisele Harabo: A liaison for Braga who eventually sides with Dominic after he saves her life and helps him and Brian locate the drug lord.

• Jack Conley as Penning
• Sung Kang as Han Lue: One of Dominic's crew in the Dominican Republic who appeared in this film's timeline sequel, Tokyo Drift. Han talks about moving to Tokyo when the heat comes down.

• Don Omar as Rico member of Toretto's crew who appears in the beginning and the end
• Tego Calderón as Tego also a member of Toretto's crew who appears in the beginning and the end with Rico
• Brandon T. Jackson as Alex

Product Placement

Puma sponsors the footwear that the actors wear throughout the film, Paul Walker wears Puma shoes throughout the film and wears the new Puma x Redbull Urban Racers in the scene where he races against Dominic Toretto and 2 other drivers.

Production

The movie cars were built in Southern California's San Fernando Valley. Around 240 cars were built for the film.^[6] 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. Also, 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.^[7]

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.^[8] 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.^[8] The first promo single (firstly thought of as the second single, but switched) from the soundtrack was titled "Crank That (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-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 TVXQ.

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 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.

Release

The film was released in the United States on April 3, 2009. It was the first motion-enhanced theatrical film to feature D-BOX motion feedback technology in select theaters.^[9]

Critical Reception

Fast & Furious has received mixed reviews from professional critics. As of April 18, 2009, the movie was rated 28% on the Tomatometer on the Rotten Tomatoes website^[10] and 45% on Metacritic.^[11] Entertainment Weekly,^[12] The Hollywood Reporter,^[13] and the Los Angeles Times^[14] 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."^[15]

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.^[16] The film had the biggest opening weekend of any film in 2009 when it came out (since beaten by Star Trek, X-Men Origins: Wolverine, Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince, Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen, Avatar and The Twilight Saga: New Moon) and was double what most industry observers expected.^[17] It also holds the title for the highest-grossing opening weekend in April^[18] and of any car-oriented film, the record having been previously held by Cars, which grossed $60.1 million. As of July 19, 2009 the film has grossed a total of $155,064,265 domestically and $359,264,265 worldwide (making it the most successful film in the franchise) and is the second highest-grossing film in the car genre, behind Cars.^[19]

Home video

Fast & Furious was released on DVD and Blu-ray on July 28, 2009.^[20] 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. This has been released on the iTunes store as a free download.

As of November 1, 2009 the DVD has sold 2,900,861 copies generating $47.82 million in sales revenue for a combined total of $407,085,500 including worldwide movie ticket sales.^[5]

Sequel

A sequel is in development. Paul Walker said, "I’ve spoken with executives at Universal at this point and they’re pretty serious about it." and suggested it might be set in Australia, Europe or Brazil.^[21] Vin Diesel stated that he wanted to shoot the fifth and the sixth movies together.^[22][23]

See also

• The Fast and the Furious (film series)

References

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External links

• Official website
• Fast & Furious at the Internet Movie Database
• Fast & Furious at Rotten Tomatoes
• Fast & Furious at Box Office Mojo