"IMPORTANT: Fast & Furious (film) uses Creative Commons Licensed content from Wikipedia (view authors)." Information can be remixed or replaced at any time in future edits to better suit the MOS of the The Fast and the Furious Wiki.
- "New Model. Original Parts."
- ―Tagline
Fast & Furious (also known as Fast & Furious 4) is a 2009 American street racing action film directed by Justin Lin and written by Chris Morgan. It is the fourth installment of The Fast and the Furious franchise. The film stars Vin Diesel, Paul Walker, Michelle Rodriguez, Jordana Brewster and John Ortiz. The beginning of the Fast & Furious trilogy, Fast & Furious serves as a direct sequel to the first film and is set five years after the events of The Fast and the Furious, with the original cast reprising their roles.[3][4] Originally released on April 3, 2009, the film received negative reviews upon release, but was a box office success grossing $363 million worldwide.
Official Description
| “ | When Letty Ortiz is murdered by the member of a drug cartel led by Arturo Braga, Dominic Toretto and Brian O'Conner infiltrate Braga's cartel as his new drivers to investigate the circumstances leading to her death. | ” |
— Official Description
| ||
Plot
Five years after escaping Los Angeles, Dominic Toretto and his new crew, (Letty, Tego Leo, Rico Santos, Cara Mirtha, and Han Seoul-Oh), are hijacking fuel tankers in the Dominican Republic. Dominic begins to suspect that the police are hot on their trail. After Han informs him that one of his garages have been raided, he disbands the crew. Everyone except Letty go their separate ways. Dominic, realizing that he must move on, he packs his things in the middle of the night and leaves Letty behind in order to protect her from the police.
Three months later, Dominic now lives in Panama City. While there, he receives a call from his sister, Mia Toretto, who tells him that Letty has been murdered in a car crash. Heartbroken, Dominic returns to Los Angeles in his 1970 Chevrolet Chevelle SS and watches Letty's funeral from a distance. Later, he reunites with Mia who takes him to where Letty was killed. He examines the scene of Letty's crash and finds traces of nitromethane on the ground. Dominic heads to the only car mechanic that sells nitromethane and convinces him to give up information regarding David Park, the man who ordered the fuel. The mechanic tells Dominic that the only car that uses nitromethane is a green 1972 Ford Gran Torino Sport.
Meanwhile, FBI agent Brian O'Connor is trying to track down a drug lord named Arturo Braga. His search also leads him to David Park, and he tracks him down using an illegal modification record on his car. Dominic arrives at Park's apartment first and hangs him out of the window by his ankles before letting go. Brian, who was on his way to Park's place, saves Park and Park becomes the F.B.I.'s new informant.
Park gets Brian into a street race through Los Angeles. Brian selects a modified 2002 Nissan Skyline GT-R R34 from the Impound Lot. Dominic also shows up to race in his modified Chevelle. Gisele Yashar, the liaison for Braga, reveals that the winner will become the last driver on a team that traffics heroin between the Mexico–United States border. Dominic wins by bumping Brian's car while it is in nitro, making him lose control. Brian uses his power as an F.B.I. agent to frame and arrest another driver, Dwight Mueller, and takes his place on the team.
The following day, the team meets one of Braga's men, named Fenix Calderon, and Dominic notices that Fenix drives the same Torino the mechanic described. They drive across the border using underground tunnels to avoid detection. Brian has prior knowledge that, after the heroin was delivered, Braga ordered the drivers to be killed. However, it is revealed to Dominic from Fenix that he killed Letty personally, and after a tense stand-off, Dominic detonates his car with nitrous to distract Braga's men, and Brian hijacks a 1999 Hummer H1 with $60 million worth of heroin in it. Both Dominic and Brian drive back to Los Angeles and hide the heroin in a police impound lot, where Brian picks up a modified 2009 Subaru Impreza WRX STi GH, and they drive to Dominic's hideout.
Later, Dominic finds out Brian was the last person to contact Letty. Dominic attacks Brian until Brian explains that Letty was working undercover for the FBI, tracking down Braga in exchange for clearing Dominic's record. Brian tells his superiors that in exchange for Dominic's pardon, he will lure Braga into a trap, forcing him to personally show up to exchange money for the heroin. At the drop site, the man who claims to be "Braga", is revealed as a decoy, and "Campos", the real Braga, escapes and flees to Mexico.
Brian and Dominic travel to Mexico on their own to catch Braga. They find him at a church and apprehend him. As Braga's henchmen try to rescue him, Brian and Dominic drive through the underground tunnels back to the United States. Brian crashes his car after taking fire from Braga's men. He is then injured after being T-boned by Fenix at the end of the tunnel. Before Fenix can kill Brian, Dominic drives into and kills Fenix. As police and helicopters start approaching the crash site on the American side of the border, Brian tells Dominic to leave, but Dominic refuses, saying that he is tired of running. Despite Brian's request for clemency, the judge sentences Dominic to 25 years to life. Brian resigns from the FBI and Dominic boards a prison bus that will transport him to Lompoc penitentiary. As the bus drives down the road, Brian, Mia, Leo and Santos arrive in their cars to intercept it, and Dom smiles as he immediately recognizes the sound of his car's engine.
Cast
Principal Cast
- Vin Diesel as Dominic Toretto
- Paul Walker as Brian O'Conner
- Michelle Rodriguez as Leticia "Letty" Ortiz
- Jordana Brewster as Mia Toretto
- Gal Gadot as Gisele Yashar
- John Ortiz as Ramon Campos/Arturo Braga
Supporting Cast
|
Events
Featured Vehicles
Name Model Year Driver Status 1964 Chevrolet Impala 1769 1964 Unknown Damaged 1967 Chevrolet C-Series 1967 Letty Destroyed 1969 Chevrolet Camaro Z28 1969 Dwight Miller Impounded? 1969 Dodge Coronet 1969 Unknown Damaged 1970 Chevrolet Chevelle SS 1970 Dominic Toretto Active 1970 Dodge Charger R/T 1970 Dominic Toretto Damaged 1970 Plymouth Road Runner 1970 Unknown Destroyed 1971 Cadillac Sedan DeVille 1971 Unknown Damaged 1972 Ford Gran Torino Sport SportsRoof 63R 1972 Fenix Calderon Damaged 1973 Chevrolet Camaro RS-Z28 F-Bomb 1973 Dominic Toretto Damaged 1974 Lincoln Continental Town Car 53A 1974 Unknown Damaged 1978 GMC RTS 1978 Unknown Destroyed 1978 Pontiac Firebird Trans Am 1978 Leo/Santos Active 1980 Chevrolet Unknown 1980 Unknown Damaged 1981 Imperial 1981 Unknown Damaged 1983 Ford Mustang 1983 Unknown Damaged 1987 Buick Grand National 1987 Dominic Toretto Active 1995 Nissan 240SX (Silvia S14) 1995 Silvia Driver Damaged 2001 BMW 540i E39 2001 Alex Destroyed 2002 Nissan Skyline GT-R R34 2002 Brian O'Conner Destroyed 2003 Infiniti G35 [V35] 2003 Tash Barilla Destroyed 2008 Ford Mustang GT 550R Tjaarda [S197] 2008 Malik Herzon Destroyed
Featured Locations
Production
Fast & Furious was announced in July 2007. Vin Diesel, Paul Walker and the rest of the cast of the original film all reprised their roles. Filming began in 2008. The movie cars were built in Southern California's San Fernando Valley. Around 240 cars were built for the film.[5] However, the replica vehicles do not match the specifications they were supposed to represent. For example, the replica version of F-Bomb, a 1973 Chevrolet Camaro built by Tom Nelson of NRE and David Freiburger of Hot Rod magazine, included a 300 hp crate V8 engine with a 3-speed automatic transmission, whereas the actual car included a twin-turbo 1,500 hp engine and a 5-speed transmission.[6]
The original Dodge Charger 426 Hemi R/T that was used in the original movie was a 1970, but the car in this movie was a 1969 Dodge Charger R/T 426 Hemi with a slightly modified front grill to appear as a 1970 car; the original 1970 Dodge Charger was in pieces, being totally disassembled for restoration. The most radical vehicles built for the film were the Chevy trucks constructed for the fuel heist. Powered by 502ci GM big block motors, the '67 had a giant ladder-bar suspension with airbags using a massive 10-ton semi rear axle with the biggest and widest truck tires they could find. The '88 Chevy Crew Cab was built with twin full-floating GM 1-ton axles equipped with Detroit Lockers and a transfer case directing power to both axles and capable of four-wheel burnouts.[7]
Another vehicle built for the film was the blue Nissan Skyline GT-R R34 owned by an uncredited owner which brought a 241-mile per hour top speed at the Bayshore Route Highway in Japan. It was a hard car to build by the production so they made clones by acquiring Nissan Skyline 25GT's and made them look like the original car. The Skyline that was also used at the desert was actually a dune buggy using a Skyline R34's shell.
Marketing
Fast & Furious was released in the United States on April 3, 2009. It was originally set to release on June 12, 2009, but moved it up to April 3, 2009 instead. It was the first motion-enhanced theatrical film to feature D-BOX motion feedback technology in selected theaters.[8]
Music
Various Artists
- Main article: Fast & Furious (Soundtrack)
The various artists soundtrack was released on March 31, 2009 on Star Trak. The first single from the soundtrack was titled "Blanco" and is by Pitbull featuring Pharrell Williams and is produced by The Neptunes.[9] The second single from the album is "Krazy" by Pitbull featuring Lil Jon. The track is also featured on Pitbull's album Rebelution.
The third and final single from the album is "Bad Girls" by Robin Thicke. The soundtrack will also feature the song "G-Stro" by Busta Rhymes featuring Pharrell Williams and also produced by The Neptunes. The track is a leftover track from Busta Rhymes' album Back on My B.S. Amazon gave the album an average score of 3.5 out of 5, calling it a Spanish-themed rap soundtrack with mostly average tracks.
Another song that was omitted from the album was song "Rising Sun" by South Korean group TVXQ. The Japanese version of the movie features the song "Before I Decay" by Japanese rock group The GazettE. Also featured in the background under a club scene which was omitted from the album, was song "Ride" written by Kervins Joseph and Travis Baker, published by InDigi Avenue Music Publishing (ASCAP), courtesy InDigi Music, and Virtual Diva performed by Don Omar.
Original Score
- Main article: Fast & Furious (score)
The score for Fast & Furious was composed by Brian Tyler, who recorded the score with the Hollywood Studio Symphony at the Newman Scoring Stage at 20th Century Fox.[9] The score album was released on CD by Varèse Sarabande Records with over seventy eight minutes worth of music.
Music Videos
Home Video Release
Critical Reception
Fast & Furious received generally mixed to negative reviews from professional critics. The film is rated at 28% based on 173 reviews collected on the Rotten Tomatoes website[10] and 45 on Metacritic based on 27 reviews.[11] Lisa Schwarzbaum of Entertainment Weekly gives the film a B+, saying, "Fast & Furious is still no Point Break. But it's perfectly aware of its limited dramatic mission...and...it offers an attractive getaway route from self-importance, snark, and chatty comedies about male bonding."[12]
Kirk Honeycutt of The Hollywood Reporter thought this movie was the first real sequel to the first and also gave it a positive review, writing, "Fast & Furious is the first true sequel of the bunch. By reuniting the two male stars from the original and...continuing the story from the first film, this new film should re-ignite the franchise."[13] Betsy Sharkey of the Los Angeles Times gave it a positive review, providing viewers were car fans, writing, "If you're a lover of stomach-clenching speed that turns the world into a neon blur...then Fast & Furious, the fourth edition of that metal-twisting series, should leave you exhausted and satiated for a very long time."[14]
Roger Ebert, who gave positive reviews to the previous films, gave an unfavorable review of the film, writing, "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."[15]
On its first day of release the movie grossed $30.5 million, and peaked at the top spot of the weekend box office with $70,950,500, more than Tokyo Drift earned in its entire domestic run.[16] The film had the sixth-biggest opening weekend of 2009 and was double what most industry observers expected.[17]
It also held the record for the highest-grossing opening weekend in April[18] and of any car-oriented film, the record having been previously held by Cars, which grossed $60.1 million. Both of these records were broken two years later by Fast Five, which grossed $86.2 million.[19] Fast & Furious also held the record for the highest opening weekend for a Spring release, until it was broken by Tim Burton's Alice in Wonderland.
Its worldwide gross on its opening weekend stands at $102.6 million[20] with $7.2 million coming from the UK, $8.6 million from Russia, $6 million in France and $3 million from Germany.[21]
As of July 27, 2011 the film had grossed a total of $155,064,265 in the United States and $363,164,265 worldwide (making it the fourth most successful film in the franchise behind Furious 7, Fast & Furious 6 and Fast Five) and is the fifth highest-grossing film in the car genre, behind Furious 7, Fast & Furious 6, Fast Five, and 'Cars.[2]
Sequel
- Main article: Fast Five
Trivia
- The trailers for the film feature the track "We Are Rockstars" by Does It Offend You, Yeah? and a Travis Barker-remixed version of "Crank That" by Soulja Boy Tell 'Em.
- The song playing in the background during the dinner scene is "Bandolero" by Don Omar and Tego Calderon. Both Don Omar and Tego Calderon starred in the films Los Bandoleros, Fast & furious and Fast Five.
- Rico Santos' name is erroneously listed as "Don Omar" in the closing credits; this was rectified in the later Fast & Furious films.
- Gal Gadot's on-screen film debut.
- Due to Universal Pictures moving the release date up from June 12 to April 3rd, composer Brian Tyler only had three days to record the orchestral score.
- Ron Yuan suffers from vertigo. For the scene where his character David Park hanging out the window, the reactions on his face are natural. Director Justin Lin in the commentary said that he really wanted to get this scene done since they were losing the natural lighting. He jokily threatened to hang Ron himself if he didn't do the shot right away.
- With a gross of 72.5 million dollars on its opening weekend, the movie had the biggest April debut ever. (Anger Management (2003) formerly held the record with 42.2 million dollars)
- With a gross of 72.5 million dollars, it had the biggest three day opening for Universal Pictures, beating The Lost World: Jurassic Park (1997)'s 72.1 million dollars.
- The Nissan Skyline GT-R R34 that O'Connor drives was provided by Kaizo Industries which was claimed to be legal for road use under "kit car" guidelines. A Copy of the R34 was later believed to be stolen in July 2009, but it was not the movie car. The Original "KAIZO" GT-R 34 was seized by government agents in 2009 and exported in 2012 to GT-A Germany.
- David Ayer (The Fast and the Furious (2001), Training Day (2001)) did uncredited rewrites.
- With 72.5 million dollars, it had the highest-grossing opening weekend for a car-themed movie (beating Cars (2006)' 60.1 million dollars).
- Paul Walker's character Brian O'Conner used to be blonde yet Paul Walker switched from natural blond to brunet in real life after Timeline (2003).The script for this film offers no explanation as to why Brian is a brunet now. Paul Walker was a brunet since 2004.
- The Fast and Furious and X-Men franchises have often released the same installments of a franchise in the same year. X2 and 2 Fast 2 Furious were both released in 2003, X-Men: The Last Stand and The Fast and the Furious: Tokyo Drift were both released in 2006, X-Men Origins: Wolverine and Fast and Furious were both released in 2009, X-Men: First Class and Fast Five were both released in 2011 and The Wolverine and Fast and Furious 6 were released in 2013. Furious 7 was set to be released in 2014, the same year as X-Men: Days of Future Past, however it then was pushed to 2015 after Paul Walker's death.
- Released the same year as The Final Destination (2009), the fourth film in another franchise, whose title is also almost identical to the tile of the first film, omitting any number or subtitle. Coincidentally, the second, third, and fifth films of both series have also been released in the same years.
- The F-BOMB Camaro used at the end of the final chase scene through the tunnel is a duplicate of David Frieberger's real '71 Camaro "F Bomb". David was the chief editor for Hot Rod magazine for years. Originally built by Tom Nelson at Nelsonracingengines.com
- Toretto is seen installing a carb "hat", centrifugal supercharger on his '70 SS Chevelle during the preparation montage.
- While the racers are driving through the tunnels, it seems every actor and actress is sweating, but in reality, all the actors and actresses used a bottle with water, to spray on themselves to create the look, this is in the bloopers and behind-the-scenes in the DVD.
- Michelle Rodriguez and Laz Alonso starred together in the movie Avatar (2009).
- At the golf driving range scene when Braga tells the prospective drivers "Good drivers are a dime a dozen. Man, every corner's got a chingadera tuner racing for pinks...", Brian O'Connor (Paul Walker's character) briefly smiles as he remembered racing Dom Toretto (Vin Diesel) for pink slips in The Fast and The Furious (2001).
- Vin Diesel and Gal Gadot who star in this movie went on to be superheroes. Diesel who is in this movie went on to do the voice of Groot in Guardians of the Galaxy (2014), Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 (2017), and Avengers: Infinity War (2018). Gadot who stars in the movie went to play Wonder Woman in Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice (2016), Wonder Woman (2017), and Justice League (2017).
- Vin Diesel originally wanted to make the fourth and fifth films back to back, but Universal decided to take some time to see how the current movie would work out before moving on to a fifth. Diesel was allowed to direct an eighteen minute short film set in the Fast And Furious world, which is available on the DVD.
- The film takes place before the events of The Fast and the Furious: Tokyo Drift (2006). Sung Kang plays Han in both films, in this film when Dominic tells Han to go his own way he says he's going to go to Tokyo, where he becomes a major character in the third film.
- Despite having the cast reunited, Michelle Rodriguez (Letty) does not share any scenes with Paul Walker (Brian) and Jordana Brewster (Mia), since Letty dies after the events of the opening scene.
- The song heard when Dom, Brian, and Mia are eating, is called "Los Bandoleros" by Don Omar and Tego Calderon. They play Leo and Santos In this movie, and in the fifth film. the song is also heard at the end of the sixth film, at the cookout. There is even a short film of the same name that takes place before the events of this film. It stars Vin Diesel, Michelle Rodriguez, Don Omar, and Tego Calderon. It was directed by Vin Diesel.
- When Dom (Vin Diesel) visits Letty's grave, the headstone reads "Leticia Ortiz". In Spain this caused much amusement because "Letizia Ortiz" (with Z) was a journalist who on May 22, 2004 became Princess of Spain after marrying Prince Felipe (son of on those times King Juan Carlos de Borbón of Spain), and later crowned as Queen Letizia of Spainand King Felipe of Spain on June 19, 2014.
- The tanker sequence in the beginning is wrong, as the last two tankers would have been empty only the the one or two right behind the cab, the weight has to be on the drives not at the end.
Gallery
Notes
References
| |||||||||||