Fast Five Review

When The Fast and The Furious originally debuted 10 years ago in 2001 it was made for gearheads and teenage boys. Relying more on cars and barely dressed women to make the box office money needed to make it a success.

What happened next I don't think was expected. A sequel was approved but Vin Diesel who played Dominic Torretto, a main character, decided he didn't want to go back to the franchise. The producers decided to try and go a different route and 2Fast 2Furious was released to tepid reviews by both mainstream and fans.

After a short break they decided to do things with the 3rd film much like the Halloween franchise did and focus on new characters, new situations and see if that helped. The barely dressed women were there, the cars were there and 'drifting' a style of racing that is popular in some sectors took the forefront in the movie. The Fast and the Furious: Tokyo Drift was probably the worst received movie of the bunch. However to be fair, if watched for just a movie instead of an installment of a franchise, it's a good movie.

After a trilogy that continued to loose steam with each installment the studio took a step back from the series and let it rest. When Fast and Furious came out a couple of years ago something happened. Along the way in this series it matured. The barely dressed women were fewer, the cars were there but they weren't the main attraction to the movie. Instead the studio focused on something that 2 out of the first three movies failed to have...a plot.

It went from a gearhead movie to a murder mystery/seeking justice type film with characters that were familiar to the audience. Creatively, at the time, one of the best movies of the series that actually allowed the characters to grow, show new facets and move along the story that had begun in the original movie. The ending tied up loose ends and introduced something new. Diesel's character, wanted for several crimes in the US stood trail and was sentenced to twenty five years in prison. The last minute of the film Torretto is in a prision bus headed to his new home when three cars come into view driven by his sister, his best friend and one other to break him out.

Now two years later Fast Five was released and I can say that the franchise has peeled off its old skin and brought forth an idea that should have been introduced years ago. While the characters are still there, they've evolved. The old issues have been buried, they have matured as people and as a family. They've spent the last couple of years on the run and end up in Brazil. Hunted by the United States as wanted fugitives, they have no choice but to try and disappear. The way to do that is to pull off the biggest heist they've ever done.

The franchise has done away with the women (There is one scene that lasts less than two minutes with a half dressed woman), toned down the cars and stopped using them as the creative device to move the story along. Instead they have worked on the angle that originally made the franchise possible, theft. Torretto and his crew were pulling off long haul truck heists in the first movie, which is why they were chased and wanted. In this movie they embrace that aspect of the stories and give the audience one of the best heist movies since The Italian Job some years ago.

Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson became part of the series in this movie and his character is the perfect foil to Torretto. A man that believes in justice and focuses on his task and doesn't care about personal situations. A bloodhound built like the Hulk and willing to do whatever it takes to make his arrestt.

The other interesting thing about this film is that they've drawn from the background of the series by bringing in characters from all of the previous movies to take part in the job much like the Ocean's Eleven series. It's a nod to things that have happened in the past but also a way to flesh out the characters that were one dimensional in the past.

A sixth movie will definitely happen with some threads from the fourth being followed up. Personally I can't wait for it. If you enjoy movies where the situations continue to seem dire as the main protagonists are still trying to complete a job, then you should give this movie a chance. Definitely not the same series that it was ten years ago and better for it.

DC's Reboot

So yesterday DC Comics dropped a bomb that after the ending of their company wide crossover going on right now, Flash Point, they were going to be restarting all of their titles at #1. This included the possibility of new origins, younger versions and a plethora of other things that haven't even been considered by most fans. 

There's outrage from one corner of the internet and there's jubilation from the other end. 

The thing is...they've done this before. 

The thing with DC Comics is that every ten years or so they have to go through this. I don't know why exactly but bear with me while I go through this with you. 

Crisis on Infinite Earths (COIE) is considered the grand father of all company wide crossovers. It was done in the mid 80s as a twelve issue series. At the time DC comics had probably hundreds of different Earths running around. The thing is this: At the time when a new series started, they didn't always co-habituate with other characters. The thinking is that if a character was good enough to have its own title then it would be good enough to stand on its own. So you had Earth, Earth 2, Earth Snickers, Earth Candyland... All of these different creations were just running around on their own. The point of COIE was to trim that down and bring all of the different characters under one Earth...a New Earth. This concept stuck for over twenty years. 

What DC did figure out at that time as well was that some of the origin stories appeared antiquated and they felt that perhaps readers would have a hard time identifying with the characters if they didn't update them. Plus they understood that if it was 1980 and the origin for Superman was still based in 1920, well then the suspension of disbelief wouldn't exist and readers just wouldn't care. 

They started with Man of Steel a mini-series aimed at updating Superman their flagship character. 

So with COIE they killed two birds with one stone. They brought all the characters together on one Earth and were able to update characters that needed to catch up. (like Batman and Wonder Woman, for example)

Ten years later DC comics did it again with Zero Hour. It was another company wide event. The basis of this one is that someone went to the beginning of time, mucked with everything and altered the course of history. This basically erased the entire backstory of DC. The heroes won the day and rewrote the history of DC as close as they could...making Batman younger, bringing a new version of Hawkman from the ashes... 

Ten years after THAT they had Infinite Crisis which was billed as a direct sequel to COIE...again someone managed to gain fantastic powers that could alter the universe. In the tampering that happened New Earth was copied...51 times. This gave DC 52 Earths with 52 different possibilities living on them, with heroes who made different choices and gave other characters a second chance at life. 

Now they do this. 

From what I've read of Flashpoint so far it's the same kind of story. Someone has altered events in time. Things are different. If anyone knows Batman's origin it began with him having to watch his mother and father gunned down during a robbery. In this new crossover his father survives and Bruce and his mother die instead. 

Little changes that are going to drive this mini series and make it readable. The thing is, they've mucked with characters again so when things get put right again, this will bring about the "Reboot" of DC comics. 

A Gimmick? Yes more than likely. The question that all readers ask is this: Will the changes last? Will they only be superficial? Will they be written out within the year? 

As much as any other reader I'm curious. But 52 new restarts and on going series is alot to ask of any reader. The possibility of this bombing is huge... I'm glad I don't write the checks.