Fast & Furious

I watched this today for probably the fourth time. I still enjoy it. I think it's easily better than FF2 or FF3. For the most part it's unfair because in FF4 the original gang is back, which 2 and 3 didn't have. But what I think really makes this movie better is that it has a significant plot besides "Brian is trying to take down Person X through street racing."

One of my favorite parts of the - scratch that. My favorite part of the first movie is when Dom gets into the Charger and fires it up to go after Johnny Tran. Man! That is one of the most beautiful sounds in the world! So, I was glad to see the Charger return (tho slightly different and much less pronounced in the audio of the movie).

Beyond that, I didn't pay much mind to the cars in the movies. I mean, I enjoyed seeing them, but I don't know enough about cars, especially imports, to really know and respect the cars they chose to put in the film. But a bonus feature on the BD filled me in. It surely must have been fun to have "tryouts" for cars.

The cars are great, I'm sure a lot of guys enjoy the women (as with Fast Five, the leading cast has never done much for me, so I don't notice the girls much), the movies are full-throttle most of the time, but there's one thing about this film that I really think is the best part. It has many throwbacks to the first film and even follows some of the same structure. As you're watching, you're not only enjoying this film, they also have somehow managed to have this film make you re-enjoy the first film.

Faster

I wasn't sure if I would like this movie after I read the synopsis, but Dwayne Johnson is one of the few actors because of whom I'll usually watch regardless. When it came up in my Netflix queue, all I remembered is that it was about a guy revenge-killing a bunch of people. And honestly, that's most of the movie on the surface.

The movie does prompt the active watcher (I'm usually not) to question the morality of the main character, Driver. The character himself seems to wonder, for short moments, a few times during the film. If I had to guess, I think people would be pretty well split on whether or not his actions were "right." It's definitely a sad thing to say the least that he lost his brother in such a way. But the truth is, he went out and killed people who were brothers too, and also fathers, mothers, sisters, aunts, mentors, etc. As they say, 'An eye for an eye leaves everyone blind.'

Another character, a gun-for-hire, struggles with a similar conflict. He seems to have lost the enjoyment he once had in his job and hasn't been able to find it in any other activity (mountain climbing, yoga, martial arts). He ends up finding happiness in leaving his work behind, settling down with his girl, and starting a family.

There was one thing that bothered me. They didn't catch him in the end, not really. Maybe it was a cheap ploy to leave the ending open for a sequel (please, no, we have enough sequels), but I'm not sure. It just seemed off that the 'good guys' didn't catch the 'bad guy.'

One way I enjoy measuring movies is by the cars. There's some nice eye-candy in this one.

Transformers 3

Went and saw this with a buddy of mine while I was visiting him in Arkansas. Between summertime and being the day after July 4th, a blockbuster, popcorn movie like this felt right. It was enjoyable once through on that level, but for me the whole Transformers thing just felt tired. (I suppose I should admit I wasn't the biggest fan of Transformers 2, though mainly because of how that girl turned into...that.) There are worse ways to kill a couple hours, but for some reason when I walked out of this movie I was much more aware of the fact that that is exactly what I had just done. However, it beats trying to be one of those people who only watches what critics like or whatever. You know, I think maybe I'm just 'over' movies. Very little seems to be that good anymore. I'm really hoping it's because Hollywood is desperately grasping for dollars because of the economy and when things are really going again they'll start to relax.

If you've really enjoyed the other Transformers movies, especially 2, then you're probably not going to want to miss this. If you're among those who hated 2, missed it, or didn't bother, you should probably pass on this. At least wait until you can see it for free or for $1 at Redbox.