I have to admit, as much as my last review may have given
the impression that I’ve always loved this series and I’ve been there from the
beginning, this is not so. After seeing Fast & Furious in cinemas, and not
really being that into it, I didn’t give the series any more mind aside from
the triple pack DVD of the first three films at home. However, two big things
came through the grape vine about this film in the lead-up to its release that
not only got me interested again but made me a bit compelled to revisit the series as
I did. The first was the announcement that Jason friggin’ Statham was going to
be playing the bad guy, and if you need me to clarify on why this is an awesome
casting decision then you’ve probably never seen a good action film in your
life. The second was that Justin Lin, who has been in the director’s chair with
this franchise since Tokyo Drift, was stepping down and the direction was going
to be handled by James Wan, an Australian director better known for horror
films like Dead Silence, The Conjuring and most (in)famously Saw and a man who
has become one of the new figureheads of the genre in my opinion. How does this all equal up?
