Reviewed by Alicia Glass

Review Rating: 7.5

FBI Agent Brian O’Connor is hot on the trail of a heroin drug lord, teaming up with Dominic Toretto after a man inside the same drug cartel kills Dom’s woman.

You wouldn’t think the fourth movie in the Fast and Furious franchise would actually bother with that nasty little thing called plot. However, surprisingly, I would say this F&F is most likely the best one so far, as far as plot goes. Sure, there’s plenty of outrageously tricked cars and chase scenes and explosions and dangerous stunts. There’s also scenes where Dominic Toretto actually cries. We’re rather used to seeing Vin Diesel play those stoic and firm characters, and while it’s not hard to imagine him with a full range of emotions other than rage, it is a nice change to see. Michelle Rodrigeuz, of Resident Evil and S.W.A.T. movie fame, delivers a stellar performance as Dominic’s beloved girlfriend Letty. Jordana Brewster returns as Mia Toretto, Dom’s sister and the one who virtually holds it all together when O’Connor and Dom start turning on eachother.

Unfortunately, even with the perfectly good attempts at plot for a movie that frankly doesn’t need it, the plot itself is entirely predictable. What else could Dominic do after his woman was brutally run off the road and then shot to death but take revenge like a psychopath with a car? (Note that the style of cars Dom, the proverbial hand of vengeance outside the law, drives are all American and built like they take out a tank.) Even the bad guys and the tricks they try and pull are predictable, frankly I think the FBI should’ve seen it a lot sooner. And well, if you’re actually a fan of the small attempts at plot in the previous F&F movies, this latest installment’s ending is going to piss you off. It did for me at any rate. It seems an endorsement for working outside the law, since look what the law does to you even after you’ve caught the big bad bad-guy. And while Hollywood may want to try and stay true to some misguided sense of realism, they may not want to remind an already tired and angry public of how the government really runs.

Bringing together most of the original cast from the first Fast and Furious movie in this one guarantees a huge fan attraction.