Blu-Ray Review: FAST & FURIOUS 2-DISC SPECIAL EDITION (Universal)

FAST & FURIOUS REVIEW CONTINUED...

VIDEO QUALITY:

As usual, the outdoor sequences on this 1080p 2.40:1 encode fare much better as the darker ones, where once the sequences drop to indoor shots, the image gets a bit murky and loses some detail and "HD pop." There is virtually no film grain to speak of (if your display is calibrated correctly ) and aside from a vicious gold/yellow push in certain scenes (especially in shots of Diesel's face) this was a commendable transfer from Universal.

AUDIO QUALITY:

I apologize, folks, but unfortunately I am still unable to take full advantage of the Master Audio tracks on many of today's BD releases -- still "stuck" with my first generation Panasonic player, I ran Fast & Furious' MA mix as a core DTS stream, but, as usual, this was not too shabby. While every bit as aggressive as you would imagine during the film's top setpieces, curiously, I found the sound mix to be a bit on the shallow side. The initial opening fuel truck sequence didn't resonate with that much crunching low bass energy, even when the trucks broke up into exploding balls of fire around the soundstage; even more mysterious was the lack of some surround activity during this sequence. The spatial movement and ambient cues of the cars racing from front to back and left to right were there, but the effects weren't laid on aggressively -- I'm a sucker for loud, bombarding surround channel usage (have you heard the DTS track on the Superbit version of Air Force One or the ridiculously loud rear channel delivery on the Master Audio DTS track of The Mummy: Tomb of the Dragon Emperor Blu-ray?) -- and it didn't seem to be here.

Dialogue volume also bothered me. All too many times, dialogue was much too low in the mix compared to when the action heated up -- an anomaly usually associated with Dolby Digital-encoded standard DVDs. The sequences involving the smokin' hot ladies kissing each other in the racing scenes while thumping club music pounded in the background didn't really sound all that "thumping" either; I simply expected more. This could, theoretically, be blamed on my system's "dumbing down" of the Master Audio track to standard DTS, but I really doubt it. The track did begin to heat up and exhibit signs of aggressive expansion into the rear soundfield when the race takes place in the city streets and then at the end as Walker and Diesel burn through the Mexico/U.S. border tunnel, dodging the kingpin's henchmen. Here, the wild panning of the cars and the gunshots fired during the chase rang out in all five channels, and kind of redeemed what came before it.

A solid mix, no doubt about it. But there are some DTS MA tracks out there which, amazingly, just do it better.

LoMANACO'S SUMMARY:

You know, rewatching this for the first time since the theatrical launch, it seemed to play...I don't know...a bit "cheesier" for lack of a better term; sure -- Justin Lin did a great job reassembling the essential elements of what made the first film so magical while attempting to erase the memory of the horrendous first two sequels. And sure, the reconnecting of Walker and Diesel simply brought the energy back to this franchise (the joke which was John Singleton's attempt at a sequel to the first film is a cinematic tragedy; Ludacris acting as a race guru in Miami? Cole Hauser as the bad guy who's banging Eva Mendes? The horrendously painful dialogue we had to sit through?) yet there is something that's not quite right about Fast & Furious. When viewed with a keen eye, the plot is as thin as melba toast on Nina Hartley's fat ****, and it doesn't hold up to scrutiny whatsoever...I mean, what was the bad guy's goal? What were they trying to get from him? I understand Diesel’s Dom character was after Bragga (the bad guy) for revenge over the death of Letty, but was Diesel really after Bragga, or the guy who really killed Letty, Phoenix? Walker's O’Connor character goes from grown up FBI agent to moments of childish decay when he gets around Dom again; Brewster seems to be nothing more than window dressing for 25 year old racer boys to beat off to when they're watching the film alone at night, as her "Mia" character does nothing, really, except to look bored as she drives a Japanese-market Honda NSX (that's Acura NSX for those of you unaware that there are foreign market vehicles for sale outside the U.S.) to attempt to break her brother out of a prison bus he's on in the film's closing sequence. And there's still that ridiculously cheesy, macho **** that hangs like stale brie over each and every character like in every other title in the franchise -- that testosterone driven, male ego boosting theme which perpetuates the behavior of these muscle-bound grotesques with their tank tops, chains and over abundance of body art. First Diesel is threatening the Phoenix character, then the Phoenix character is daring Diesel to "make a move" as they're nose to nose...then Diesel almost drops a car engine on some jag-off who won't give him information about Mia's killers...it goes on and on. While some scenes are cool -- such as the one I just mentioned when Diesel almost drops the engine on the dude -- this macho **** just gets tiring after an hour and 45 minutes of it. Then, there's a painfully laughable part involving some punk who talks **** to other racers while he holds the waists of the hottest girls in the film and wears a cowboy hat; I don't know how he did it, but this **** bag who mouths off to Walker about his Nissan Skyline and how import "ricers" won't ever be able to hold the jockstrap of a domestic muscle car manages to get a houseful of smokin' women to make out with one another -- three of which do it right in front of him on the couch. That's just before his house is raided by law enforcement. **** bag. :rolleyes:

But aside from all this, Fast & Furious does manage to bring the "franchise" back on track -- if that's what Universal was going for. I don't know how much more interest this subject matter will have beyond the four films already made, but the import car tuner market is certainly not getting any smaller or shutting down, and this film definitely makes 2Fast2Furious and Tokyo Drift seem forgettable in comparison. I suppose we have been seeing much of this in Hollywood of late -- Stallone attempted to "re-energize" the Rocky franchise with Rocky Balboa (although that was more of an attempt at closing the series on a different tone) as well as with Rambo while we also saw a new Indiana Jones and a new Mummy -- and it was more than a decent attempt by Justin Lin to bring back some of the feel Rob Cohen so expertly exhibited in the first film.

LoMANACO'S RECOMMENDATIONS:

If you were a fan of circa 2001's The Fast and the Furious, by all means rent this as soon as possible. If you saw it in theaters and enjoyed it better than the first two awful sequels, as I did, by all means pick up the Blu-ray. It is a nearly two hours of mindless action, and will make a nice companion piece to other actioneers on your BD shelf which have come out in recent time, including titles like The Incredible Hulk, Quantum of Solace, The Dark Knight, Iron Man and The Mummy: Tomb of the Dragon Emperor.

As always, thank you for reading, friends, and please fire away with any commentary!!

Ricardo wrote: »

http://www.polkaudio.com/forums/showthread.php?t=86249&highlight=furious

Moderators (Patrick & Others):

I have spoken to you multiple times in private already about Ricardo's behavior regarding my threads and posts, and here again is another example: He provided a link to Keiko's review of the title -- which had absolutely NOTHING to do with my separate take on it -- merely to begin yet another argument with me on the board; as if to say read THAT review, not this one, as it's been covered already. This shouldn't be allowed on this forum -- hijacking a thread to redirect a reader somewhere else due to personal feelings about a member. I don't do it in anyone else's threads, and this shouldn't be going on in mine. My review of Fast & Furious has NOTHING whatsoever to do with Keiko's, and it wasn't meant to stomp on ANY of his feelings or work in his own thread. I am going to report Ricardo's post now privately to you.

Thank you.

danz1906 wrote: »

Good Movie-Good Sound!

Thanks for your thoughts, Danz.

shack wrote: »

Quit whining...you are posting on a public internet forum. There are no rules that say one can't post a reply criticizing what you do as to form or content. As long as the replies aren't abusive or vulgar...you have no say as to how one responds to your posts. If you don't like it...don't post.

Here we go again...another person telling someone to "quit whining" and that I should "stop posting" because someone has the RIGHT to attack another member on here -- for your information, I am NOT "whining" so know what you are talking about before snapping to a keyboard to criticize someone you DON'T EVEN KNOW. I put a great deal of time and effort into the reviews, and all I get is grief from members like you about it -- but you know what? That's not even the biggest issue here. The largest concern is that you don't even know what you're talking about -- I AM NOT SAYING THAT I HAVE A SAY AS TO HOW SOMEONE REPLIES TO A POST, but I AM saying that I KNOW of a personal problem between me and certain members and it's the reason they are providing certain replies and responses in here.

Do me a favor -- don't jump on the asinine, senseless bandwagon of "just don't post if you don't like it" as if you MEAN to create a harassing, combative environment on here to scare people away from sharing some passions and thoughts...it's simply unnecessary and ineffective.

lightman1 wrote: »

Panties up yer crack, Mike?

Absolutely NOT necessary, and, again, contributing NOTHING. I am just defending myself and answering questions people like '**** have been flinging at me. Please don't contribute to this cage match, Light.