So fast, so furious there’s no time even for the word ‘the’. Screeching off the line, the nitro-fuelled bromance between LA street racer Vin Diesel and FBI man Paul Walker re-revs with a brilliant precredit action opener that sees Diesel’s team rip off a gasoline truck on a mountain road.
Tokyo Drift director Justin Lin’s fourquel never captures that visceral va-va-voom again until right at the end, when an extreme demolition derby across the desert swerves into a videogame chase-’em-up through underground tunnels.
In fact, it’s just vibrating auto-erotica: good-looking men awkwardly ignoring hardbodied girls to swoon over the custom curves of their gleaming muscle-cars. Chases, fights, explosions and a pounding bass soundtrack are bolted to the same glossy chassis – but the whole thing’s running on fumes. At least Diesel brings back the beef with a sly wink, proving his absence was a big reason why the wheels fell off the first two sequels.
No meat on the throwaway extras, sadly: skidpan featurette Driving School With Vin Diesel (four minutes), on-set featurette Filming South Of The Border (three minutes), greenscreen gag reel (five minutes). Still, Lin’s commentary does contain some fantastic observations.
“I thought the theme for this film should be sacrifice,” explains Lin. “As soon as I said that to Vin, it clicked. I guess it wasn’t a hard sell, because basically you’re saying, ‘Vin, you get to be Jesus Christ.’ I think he took that well.”
DVD Extras:
- Commentary
- Featurettes
- Gag reel
