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Fast & Furious

EMAILPRINTUniversal Pictures

Fast & Furious reviews
45
6.8 User Score:

Mixed or average reviews

Based on 27 critic reviews
How did we calculate this?

Based on 66 votes
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Movie Info

Genre(s): Action

Written by: Chris Morgan

Directed by: Justin Lin

Release Date:
Theatrical: April 3, 2009
DVD: July 28, 2009

Running Time: 107 minutes, Color

Origin: USA

Summary

RATING: PG-13 for for intense sequences of violence and action, some sexual content, language and drug references

Starring Vin Diesel, Paul Walker, Michelle Rodriguez, Jordana Brewster, John Ortiz, Laz Alonso, Gal Gadot, and Shea Whigham

It’s been eight years since ex-con Dominic Toretto drove across the Mexican border, committing himself to a fugitive existence. Now, holed up in a beach shack in the Dominican Republic, and living on the run with the sole remnant of his past, Lett, he tries to piece together a new life. But he knows the authorities are always just steps behind him. And, when a tragic death of someone he loves brings Brian O’Conner back to L.A., Dom reignites his feud with the agent. As they are forced to confront a shared enemy, a sociopathic drug kingpin who is flooding the U.S. with lethal product, Dom and Brian must give it to an uncertain new trust if they hope to outmaneuver him and avenge the tragedy that he caused their small de facto family to endure. (Universal Pictures)

What The Critics Said

All critic scores are converted to a 100-point scale. If a critic does not indicate a score, we assign a score based on the general impression given by the text of the review. Learn more...

83

Entertainment Weekly Lisa Schwarzbaum

It offers an attractive getaway route from self-importance, snark, and chatty comedies about male bonding. Here, stick shifts do the talking.

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70

The Hollywood Reporter Kirk Honeycutt

Fast & Furious is the first film since the original to be smart about how far to stretch logic without sacrificing the desired macho swagger and revved-up emotions.

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70

Washington Post Desson Thomson

The reunion is fun and frantic, like the original on double nitro.

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70

Los Angeles Times Betsy Sharkey

Fast & Furious is, in a very bizarre way, a thing of gasp-inducing artistry to watch, even if you're not a member of the NASCAR, gear-head, street-racing crowd.

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63

TV Guide Jeremy Wheeler

No matter what, it's safe to say that this entirely acceptable retooling of the franchise makes for a satisfying experience for those who enjoy four-wheeled chases, hot bodies, hot cars, and a tall dose of tough-guy machismo.

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63

Baltimore Sun Michael Sragow

I hope the producers bring Lin back for the fifth film and strip it down even more. They can lose all the human characters except Brian and Mia and simply call it F&F.

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63

Premiere Patrick Parker

It sticks to what the series does best, mixing souped-up cars with corny jokes.

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63

Philadelphia Inquirer David Hiltbrand

Succeeds because the action is supercharged in a style that recalls Mel Gibson's apocalyptic classic, "The Road Warrior." The characters are more than cartoonish, and the plot grips the road. But it's Diesel who provides the nitro injection

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58

The Onion (A.V. Club) Keith Phipps

The action scenes don't always get the balance between flash and danger right, but the movie remains agreeably dopey--presenting street-racing culture as a hotbed of colorful stereotypes and lipstick lesbianism--until a climax that just isn't there.

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50

Boston Globe Wesley Morris

By 2009, the franchise has nothing new to offer. The culture, through video games and reality television, has caught up to the series and surpassed it.

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50

Rolling Stone Peter Travers

I can see why Fast and Furious might be a smash as audiences look for escape from a broken economy. All those wheelies and power slides are designed to obliterate thought, not provoke it. Talk about a movie for its time.

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50

Austin Chronicle Kimberley Jones

The stripped-down title gets at what we're really here for: the cars. Are they fast? Check. Are they furious? Yep.

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50

The Globe and Mail (Toronto) Stephen Cole

Brian and Dom could drive from L.A. to Mexico City and back blindfolded, but would require a GPS to find the zipper of a dress. The only time they smile here is when they are alone in a garage, tinkering with their dream cars.

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50

The New York Times Nathan Lee

Inoffensive if uninspired.

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50

ReelViews James Berardinelli

The end result, while it provides moments of kinetic entertainment, is too repetitive and uneven to be satisfying.

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50

Chicago Reader J.R. Jones

The drag-racing saga "The Fast and the Furious" (2001) made stars of Vin Diesel, who promptly ditched the series, and Paul Walker, who bailed after "2 Fast 2 Furious" (2003). Both actors return for this fourth installment.

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50

Portland Oregonian M. E. Russell

This will personally go down as the flick that really made me realize how much I hate CGI stunts.

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50

San Francisco Chronicle Mick LaSalle

The movie is ridiculous.

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40

New York Daily News Elizabeth Weitzman

Like a lemon that's been tricked out with a fancy paint job, Fast & Furious won't stand up to much scrutiny under the hood.

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38

Miami Herald Connie Ogle

A loud, dumb movie, but its male, car-obsessed audience will probably enjoy it anyway.

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38

USA Today Claudia Puig

Feels about as fresh and lively as a piece of burnt rubber.

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38

Chicago Sun-Times Roger Ebert

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.

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30

Salon.com Stephanie Zacharek

Spends a lot of time advertising how exciting it is, without actually being exciting.

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30

Film Threat Pete Vonder Haar

As it is, you'd get the same level of excitement watching "T.J. Hooker" reruns.

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30

Village Voice Nicolas Rapold

Fast & Furious reconfirms that car-chase movies--good, bad, or mediocre--all assume the future employment of the quaint old fast-forward button.

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25

New York Post Lou Lumenick

The stars look bored out of their minds when the fourth episode of the franchise stalls between racing sequences.

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20

Variety Todd McCarthy

A series that's provided a successful, moderately enjoyable ride up to now blows its tires, gasket and transmission on its way to flaming out in Fast & Furious.

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What Our Users Said

The average user rating for this movie is 6.8 (out of 10) based on 66 User Votes

Note: User votes are NOT included in the Metascore calculation.

Ryan S gave it a3:
Boring. Excruciatingly boring. You keep waiting for the action sequences, but when they happen they're almost as bad as the rest of the movie.

Jay H gave it a6:
Dizzying camerawork, some incredible action sequences but the plot is only about as complex as Jessica Simpson's brain. However, there is no denying it has some of the best car chase scenes ever filmed. The cast is fair, very well edited, irritating score

Manuel R. gave it a2:
It lacks of a well based plot, losses all waht F&F was all about which if i remind you, it was the races, in this one we have one and it was horribly filled with Japanese graphics.

Coco Bunny gave it a0:
One of the only movies I've ever walked out on. I see these for the cars, and they didn't even give us enough of those! Horrible acting, terrible special effects (the CGI tanker explosion looks like it was pulled from a cheaply-made video game--not a feature film), and did I mention the horrible acting? Shut up and race some cars already!

Brent P gave it a10:
A fun movie that is worth seeing if you want a break from life and like to feel an adrenaline rush.

Alex H. gave it a1:
Ahh, why does Hollywood keep coming with these poorly written, horribly casted, weekend grossing movies. Fast and Furious is a movie with no point, no acting and no sense.

James S. gave it a7:
As long as you go in to this film knowing what sort of thing the previous ones were, you'll get exactly what you expect. Good harmless entertainment.

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