After hitting rock bottom with Tokyo Drift, the only way one could possibly go is up. Although Fast & Furious, the 4th instalment doesn't save the day, its presence alone makes it count & silhouettes hope into the franchise.
There is one foremost reason why we keep going to these films, and why its keep getting made - the actions. Fast-paced & edgy vehicular actions. From the opening sequence itself, you can see how the makers have imported the flavour in from the first movie. The oil heist setup in the valleys of Dominican Republic is really zippy! Also prevalent in the feature are the racing segments; one at the backdrop of city skyline, and another in an enclosed tunnel. Crashes & jolted reactions by surrounding cars are well captured. Major props, given.
Writing wise, it's skinny. It is appreciable that the makers have returned to the roots, if you can call it so, which revolves around heists. But, Letty's (Michelle Rodríguez) passing is too abrupt, although it has a valid reason that's revealed at a later part of the story. Most of the plot matters aren't fully solved. The screenwriters brewed up a widespread police search for Dominic Toretto (Vin Diesel) in the beginning, only to fizzle it out few minutes later before bringing back the topic later on. One minute it's about finding David Park, then it has everything got to do with Braga while poking Fenix from time to time. Get your focus straight, writers. Why bring in points with no closures? This is common when there isn't enough meat on the content. And the runtime goes on and on and on when it could have ended miles earlier.
Clichéd flirtations & extreme predictability are unforgivable to start with. But, completely tossing basic narrative logic out of the window is another crime altogether. How is it possible for a serious law-breaker to be reinstated into F.B.I.? And F.B.I. gets themselves invited into underground car racing competitions? You can't just reason with cops to drop charges on a convict in exchange for another crime-doer. Mia (Jordana Brewster) is able to treat bullet wounds out of nowhere.
Even the stunts have issues with logic. You see, it's all about how you film an illogical action sequence in the best way possible. It's about walking on that thin, fine line of balance. When it's perfectly symmetrical on that line, it's beautiful to watch. But, the otherwise is hard, such as fast-forwarded escape twists beneath somersaulting cars, absence of other vehicles in a highway road, Dom blowing off his own ride just to escape seconds after and his hops from one moving car to another in a flash. The best one of all is when the lorry driver jumps off his truck upon realizing he can't make a curvy turn at the corner. What?! Although the ending attempt to free the protagonist out of penitentiary follows the same illogical route, it's nice.
Speaking of logic, the only element of these films that you could watch without it is Dominic Toretto. Adding on to his superpower arsenal, other than his endurance towards physical injuries are police instinct, ghost-like vanishing ability & survival against bullets with a leather jacket. Say what you may, the guy is charismatic in the role. Awesome Vin Diesel is awesome. The interactions & logger-headings between him & Brian O'Conner are again, enjoyable. To listen to the '10-second car' dialogue after a long time is delightful. The thing about these big-budgeted blockbusters is that, they always choose to go the safe route. At the beginning, it's interesting to see how Dominic and Brian are going to chase after the same guy. There's tension involved, as with the scene where the latter plugs off an attached tracker device. But in the end, a win-win situation is created, dissipating the little conflict that was built up. While over-the-top acting by some of the casts is easy to spot, Han Seoul-Oh's (Sung Kang) timeline connection is good. One wonders why was his appearance brief.
Coming back to the actions, most of the computer renditions are obvious. GPS tracking graphics is not bad, but what's the necessity to include video game like images at the conclusion of a race? The flashback for Letty's car crash is fantastically visualized though.