MR_Y
Well-known member
I watched the latest F&F 9 trailer recently and I thought to myself how far removed from the original 2001 movie this franchise has become.
Below, is the original 2001 trailer. Remember the main plot point here was about a small car gang stealing DVD players (yes, not high tech futuristic weapons, just plain old DVD players!) by hijacking trucks. This movie was released back when Limp Bizkit were at their peak and it shows in this movie's soundtrack:
The below is the latest 2021 movie trailer. This looks like a superhero action movie:
I was not a big fan of the first movie. I felt it was an okay, middle-of-the-road action movie with some nice stunts, on a smallish budget.
The 2nd movie ("2 fast 2 furious") was more of the same, but with a lot more CGI fakery in the night time racing.
The 3rd movie ("Tokyo Drift"), even though it ditched the original cast, was a bit more enjoyable given the variation in street racing (or rather drifting). The stunts also felt more realistic (again, apart from the CGI used for some night time sequences).
The 4th movie is my 2nd best movie in this franchise. Granted, it ditched the street racing entirely and became more of an action, drug-crime-thriller movie. Apart from the silly tanker truck barrel roll scene (too much CGI) in the beginning, the other stunts were quite good and realistic-feeling.
The 5th movie to me is the best in the franchise. It has an Oceans 11 type vibe as they plan a big heist, with cops on their trail. The soundtrack was also the best, in my opinion, and the stunts and fight work were within the realm of reasonability. Sure, some scenes defied the laws of physics a bit (like the cars pulling the safe), but the movie still felt plausible, to a degree.
From the 6th movie onwards, it is clear that the film producers were being influenced by recent superhero movies. To get a slice of that audience (males under 25), the laws of physics were thrown out of the window and all the cast members were given superhero strength and abilities. The 9th movie (from what I can see in the trailer) is where the franchise seems to be reaching peak comic book action. Just like Hobbs and Shaw (the spin-off of the FF franchise), logic goes out the window.
In the year after the 6th movie was released, the Need for Speed movie (which was closer in spirit to the first movie, but with more racing) was released. I thought it was a very good street racing movie, but the story could have been better. The fact that the NFS movie did not get a sequel, clearly tells you that the mass market audience do not want racing movies. They want comic book action movies - which is where the FF franchise has been heading since the 6th movie (2013 onwards).
Below, is the original 2001 trailer. Remember the main plot point here was about a small car gang stealing DVD players (yes, not high tech futuristic weapons, just plain old DVD players!) by hijacking trucks. This movie was released back when Limp Bizkit were at their peak and it shows in this movie's soundtrack:
The below is the latest 2021 movie trailer. This looks like a superhero action movie:
I was not a big fan of the first movie. I felt it was an okay, middle-of-the-road action movie with some nice stunts, on a smallish budget.
The 2nd movie ("2 fast 2 furious") was more of the same, but with a lot more CGI fakery in the night time racing.
The 3rd movie ("Tokyo Drift"), even though it ditched the original cast, was a bit more enjoyable given the variation in street racing (or rather drifting). The stunts also felt more realistic (again, apart from the CGI used for some night time sequences).
The 4th movie is my 2nd best movie in this franchise. Granted, it ditched the street racing entirely and became more of an action, drug-crime-thriller movie. Apart from the silly tanker truck barrel roll scene (too much CGI) in the beginning, the other stunts were quite good and realistic-feeling.
The 5th movie to me is the best in the franchise. It has an Oceans 11 type vibe as they plan a big heist, with cops on their trail. The soundtrack was also the best, in my opinion, and the stunts and fight work were within the realm of reasonability. Sure, some scenes defied the laws of physics a bit (like the cars pulling the safe), but the movie still felt plausible, to a degree.
From the 6th movie onwards, it is clear that the film producers were being influenced by recent superhero movies. To get a slice of that audience (males under 25), the laws of physics were thrown out of the window and all the cast members were given superhero strength and abilities. The 9th movie (from what I can see in the trailer) is where the franchise seems to be reaching peak comic book action. Just like Hobbs and Shaw (the spin-off of the FF franchise), logic goes out the window.
In the year after the 6th movie was released, the Need for Speed movie (which was closer in spirit to the first movie, but with more racing) was released. I thought it was a very good street racing movie, but the story could have been better. The fact that the NFS movie did not get a sequel, clearly tells you that the mass market audience do not want racing movies. They want comic book action movies - which is where the FF franchise has been heading since the 6th movie (2013 onwards).
The franchise has come a long way, its a guaranteed box office money maker, but don’t let this distract you from the fact that Hector is going to be running three Honda civics with spoon engines, and on top of that, he just went into Harry’s and bought three t66 turbos with nos, and a motec exhaust system.
