The Fast and the Furious Trilogy – Blu-ray Disc Review

March 21, 2009 – 4:37 PM - Posted by: Brendan Surpless

Tags: BD-Live, Bonus View, Chris Bridges, Cole Hunter, Digital Copy, John Singleton, Jordana Brewster, Justin Lin, Lucas Black, Ludacris, Michelle Rodriguez, Paul Walker, Rob Cohen, Tyrese Gibson, Universal, Vin Diesel

has average ratings of 5.9, 5.1 & 5.6 on IMDb
1080p in VC-1/AVC on THREE 50gb discs
DTS-HD 5.1 Master Audio
include exclusives, movie cash & Digital Copy
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– 2001, 2003, 2006
– 106, 107 and 104 minutes
– Universal
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Street Date: March 24th, 2009

Overall Verdict – Fans Will Be Extremely Pleased

Buy it for $59.99 @ Amazon.com

— Review by: Brendan Surpless —

The Films are directed by Rob Cohen (“The Fast and The Furious“), John Singleton (“2 Fast 2 Furious” and Justin Lin (“The Fast and The Furious: Tokyo Drift“). This is first out of three films in the “Fast and the Furious” trilogy tells the story of Dominic Toretto (Vin Diesel) and his group of friends Letty (Michelle Rodriguez), Jesse (Chad Lindberg), Vince (Matt Schulze), Leon (Johnny Strong) and his sister Mia Toretto (Jordana Brewster). By day Dominic and his friends seem like normal people who work in the garage on their cars, have barbecues and seem to have a good old time. Once the night comes, Dominic involves himself in the L.A. street races, something he particularly excels at. There is something else that he and his buddies do that prompts the interference of the police and officer Brian O’Connor (Paul Walker).

Turns out that Dominic and his buddies are suspects (mostly due to Dominic’s background) of stealing product from trucks of which include high-end video and audio. With a little money from column A and a little from column B they fix up their cars, go race them, and gain tons of gawking fans who then run to the local custom shop trying to fix up their own cars so they can become the next Dominic in the racing world. Brian’s job is to infiltrate Dominic and his gang, try to prove that Dominic is indeed behind these robberies and bring him down. Unfortunately for Brian, he develops a friendship with these people (well all except Vince for the most part).

As a film in itself, “The Fast and The Furious” is entertaining if only for the cars and the characters. Vin Diesel plays that bad-ass type character that is seemingly so bad-ass that you want him to succeed and thwart these cops. Also Paul Walker’s character is rather clichéd (how often have you seen the authority type figure infiltrate a group of bad guys only to become a part of their group?), but Walker portrays this clichéd role in a fine way. No the acting is not award winning, but this film helped propel him into much higher roles (same with Diesel). The other supporting characters are mostly there to play the caring (Mia), the young (Jesse), the mixed (Leon), the babe (Letty), and the obvious (Vince) who seems to know everything.

Yes the plot is rather substandard and does sound like something we have seen numerous times, but the cool race sequences and interesting characters help bring this film to a entertaining level. This films earns a “3.5 Star Rating“.

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“2 Fast 2 Furious” is the second out of three films in the Fast and Furious trilogy and it finds Brian O’Connor returning only this time in the streets of Miami. Down there he has become a Dominic type character ruling the streets with his excellent racing skills earning the respect of everyone. One night his buddy Tej (Chris ‘Ludacris’ Bridges) calls him up asking if he wants to race. Needing cash Brian obviously agrees. After a close race including an impressive bridge jump, Brian wins. Cutting his celebration short, the police arrive after an undercover cop Monica Fuentes (Eva Mendes) watches Brian’s every move. We soon learn that the authorities were rather angered with Brian when he let Dominic go. Offering to forgive this and his numerous other charges, the cops wants Brian to infiltrate a Miami drug lord Carter Verone (Cole Hunter). The only way Brian agrees to do this is if he picks his partner, who turns out to be his childhood ‘friend’ Roman Pearce (Tyrese Gibson).

We soon learn that Monica is involved with Carter as his ‘girlfriend’ which is only so she can get inside and learn what his next move is. She brings both Brian and Roman to him along with a few others. Their goal is to obtain a package that was in the glove compartment of a confiscated vehicle. This is the test for both of them, something they easily pass. Now that Brian and Roman are on board, they can give tons of tips to the police about Carter and his newest deal right? Well, that will be found out soon enough.

The best part about this film, something that makes it better than the first, is that the film opted to tell more story and decided to hire a really solid director in John Singleton. Singleton brings his legendary career to the table here and doesn’t disappoint. The idea to bring the film to Miami instead of the common L.A. resulted in a fresher look to the story and the characters, including the cars they drive and the various locales.
While the film is not something I’d watch as often as the original, I will admit that the film has a more solid approach and feel to it. With faster cars, a better story, interesting characters, and a few impressive races, 2 Fast 2 Furious fixes the few inconsistencies of the first and races away with a solid film that’s sure to give you some entertainment just as long as you don’t expect a highly thoughtful film. This earns a similar “3.5 Star Rating“.

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“The Fast and The Furious: Tokyo Drift” is the final of three films in the original film (with the fourth releasing soon). “The Fast and The Furious: Tokyo Drift is just as enjoyable as the previous two and the addition of a total new locale does add quite a bit to the film’s strength. Anyhow, Sean Boswell (Lucas Black) is your typical high school character. He loves fixing his car, racing and subsequently gets into a lot of trouble. After ‘gawking’ at the girlfriend of Clay (Zachary Ty Bryan), an immediate race occurs through the backlot of a new development. Chaos ensues and the police, due to Sean’s high trouble rate, end up sending Sean to live with his father in Tokyo. So let me understand this. If I were to get into a lot of trouble and my father lived in a foreign country, I would avoid jail time and get to go stay with him? Riggggghhhttt.

Anyhow, besides this minor story flaw, Sean soon arrives in Tokyo and promises his father he won’t do any street racing. Obviously Sean quickly involves himself after meeting Twinkie (Bow Wow). Twinkie brings Sean to an underground garage where everyone races and, something new to Sean, drifts. For some reason, Sean gets to prove himself by racing the ultra famous Drift King (Brian Tee). One of his friends Han (Sung Kang) lets Sean borrow his vehicle, which Sean obviously destroys. To repay his debt, Han enlists Sean as his new boy. The two quickly develop a friendship and Han decides to have Sean become of his racers, but first Sean must learn the art of drifting. The rest of the film follows a solid story that never seems to stem away from making sense resulting in the best of the three films.

Director Justin Lin hasn’t really had many breakout films in his career. If “Tokyo” is a sign of what Lin can do, I’m sure that the rest of his films will be interesting. Lin is successful at presenting another portion of the series in a very interesting locale where the city of Tokyo is brought to life in a great manner. Fearing that this film would rely on more of the flashy cars instead of a story, I was pleasantly surprised that the film contained such a good story. Nothing felt out of place and the film flowed well. If you’ve seen the first two films in the series, I’m sure I don’t need to tell you to see “Tokyo” as it may be the best of the three films. This earns a “4 Star Rating“.

Video Quality on this release is in full 1080p using the VC-1/AVC MPEG-4 codec on THREE BD-50 (50 gigabyte Blu-ray Discs). Similar to how other trilogy reviews are done, I’m going to break down the video quality on each release.

“The Fast and The Furious” (VC-1) is presented in 2.35:1 aspect ratio and uses 29.4GB for the movie out of 38.4GB total.

The best part of this transfer (director Cohen even thinks this too) is that a majority of the film takes place in a manner that is meant to show the day and night of L.A. The lush, bright day is brought alive in a fine manner, but I did notice a few scenes where edge enhancement was present. Nothing too annoying, but still there. The night scenes, while not as slightly problematic as the day scenes, did have a bit of grain, particularly around 48 minutes in where Dominic and Vince discover Brian looking into Tran’s business. Here one can detect a hint of grain before Dominic steps out of the light. Again, nothing too annoying, but still present.

Just like the film is suppose to do, the film’s main object of desire, the cars, look (similar to Tokyo) rather sparkly and beautiful. The level of detail is much more impressive here when comparing this side by side to the SD-DVD version. Take the scene where Brian has rescued Vince from the truck and his car is thrown to the side. Looking close up, one can detect little dirt particles if they look really close. While this may not amaze everyone, I found it great that the level of detail had been improved so much. This earns a solid “4 Star Rating“.

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“2 Fast 2 Furious” (VC-1) is presented in 2.35:1 aspect ratio and uses 32.1GB for the movie out of 39.7GB total.

The southern locale of Miami is brought to life via gorgeous bright colors. The green grass, bright skies and crystal clear water hasn’t ever looked as good as it does in HD. With all these bright scenes, one may expect edge enhancement and a possible lack of sharpness to the picture. Well, possibly due to this being a newer print, these common problems are nowhere to be found here. Grain is completely absent as well.

The major star of these films are obviously the cars. Similar to the other two films, the level of detail is quite impressive when it comes to showcasing these beauties. The scene of high interest was the initial close-up of the main four vehicles racing in the opening sequence. Another scene is toward the end where tons of vehicles race out of the planned location. Everything looked truly nice here on these vehicles. Chalk up another solid effort on Universal’s part here earning another solid “4 Star Rating“.

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“The Fast and The Furious: Tokyo Drift” (AVC MPEG-4) is presented in 2.40:1 aspect ratio and uses 24.6GB for the movie out of 40.8GB total.

First off, colors are gorgeously crystal clear. The warm city lights of Tokyo are brought alive via lush darks and vivid bright yellows. The obvious attraction of the film, being the cars, are sparkling and, well for use of a better term here, tricked out. I sometimes worried that all the attention to detail on each and every car would result in some of the car’s looking overly shiny thus creating a poor image. No such thing is found here. The attention to detail on Universal’s part is immaculate here.

After watching the film for a second time, I could not detect one area where the film’s image wasn’t sharp. Little items like artifacts, grain, pixilation, and edge enhancement are nowhere to be found. This earns an improved “4.5 Star Rating“.

Audio Quality on this release is presented in DTS-HD 5.1 Master Audio Surround. Likewise to the video, I’m going to break down the audio of each film.

“The Fast and The Furious”

Dialogue is clear for the most part except when the Extended Viewing feature is turned on causing the dialogue to become mostly muted. Besides that (which I suppose is expected because Universal is expecting that anyone who is listening here has seen the film before), dialogue throughout the film experience is clear and easy to understand in even the more lively scenes. Take the sequence where Dominic and his team is trying to get that final truck. Lots of action, from shotguns blasts to engines reviving, result in a nice mix of pumped up audio and manageable dialogue.

Dynamic range, similar to Tokyo, is great. Every little effect, from tires screeching during the race with the Ferrari, to crowds cheering for Dominic in the beginning race, come alive bringing a new sense of ‘you’re there’ to the film. I’ve always been a fan of soundtracks that give a good balance of lows and highs. This track does that perfectly giving us a rocking good time earning a “5 Star Rating“.

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“2 Fast 2 Furious”

Speaking of the music in the film, the urban use of hip-hop throughout the film, sounds great. As a majority of rap plays, whether in the opening or closing credits, the accompanying bass pumps and delivers a truly sonic type experience in your living room. Dialogue, despite the nice bass, is clear and easy to understand never once becoming muddled requiring the viewer to reach for the remote.

Dynamic Range, particularly in the numerous racing sequences, sounds great. The rears provide that ‘zoom’ type feeling (check the sequence where Brian and Roman arrive in the impounded lot) as the cars race by our ears. The center delivers a lot of the dialogue and the accompanying fronts add any real surrounds (like gun shots, punching, the sound of NOS being used, etc). One of my favorite sequences, one I rewound a few times over, was the initial race. With lots of screeching and zooming creating a fine enveloping experience in the room (the bridge!), this scene, in my view, is quite a nice demo scene. The provided DTS-HD really captures the feel of the film earning a similar “5 Star Rating“.

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“The Fast and The Furious: Tokyo Drift”

When you pop this disc in for someone, the first scenes that everyone will want to see are the car race sequences or the various crashes. This is completely understandable as all the little sounds are shown off in excellent form. Surrounds are some of the best yet heard. The bigger car crashes cause a ringing effect creating a truly awesome experience. Even the little sounds like people cheering, crowds yelling and tires screeching are delivered in great form.

Dialogue, surprisingly I might add, was no real issue. I had feared that the overly loud audio track would require myself to consistently raise and lower the volume. Granted I use using the remote a lot, but that was more for the awesome Picture in Picture extra (more on that later though). One of my favorite demo scenes (which I rewound quite a bit) was the sequence (chapter 8 I believe) where Han and Sean are drifiting around the car in the middle of an intersection. Truly great stuff when it’s pumped up loud. This earns a perfect “5 Star Rating“.

Bonus Materials will be done per disc (film) except for BD-Live (below) which is identical on each release with it’s set of features.

• BD-Live is included which allows users on a “Profile 2.0” capable Blu-ray Disc Player to access online features and content. The features included are:

– Disc 1: “The Fast and The Furious”

• Audio Commentary with Director Rob Cohen: Here Rob Cohen gives us some insight into the film covering numerous topics including casting and his views on nearly every scene. In an early version of what is now dubbed U-Control, we get Instant Access. This is somewhat similar to U-Control, but the real downside here is that all the comments made by Cohen can be found elsewhere on this disc. Would it be that difficult to actually record a few new comments?
• Tech Specs: This gives us information on the various cars found in the film as well as lets us clock the insurance damages as the cars are smashed up.

• Dom’s Charger (NEW): This runs 4min22sec and looks into the role that Dom’s Charger played in the film. We also get a brief look at the Charger’s return in the upcoming 4th film.
• Quarter Mile At A Time (NEW): This runs 9min44sec and looks at street racing as a whole from the early 20s to modern times.
• Public Service Announcement: Here Paul Walker tells us not to re-enact what we have just seen. Boy, some people must be pretty dumb no?
• Racer X: Here we get to look at the article that inspired the film.
• The Making of The Fast And The Furious: Here we get a bit of insight from Director Rob Cohen on the making. Topics discussed include production details, casting, and film ideas.
• Multiple Camera Angle Stunt Sequence: Here we get to see the final car crash from a bunch of different camera angles.
• Movie Magic Interactive Special Effects: This feature takes a look at the train and car footage and it was merged into one final film sequence.
• Visual Effects Montage: This goes over the visual effects of the film’s first race sequence.
• Deleted Scenes: Here we get a few deleted and extended scenes, most of which do nothing for the film simply because they’re way too short (some as short as 20 seconds).
• Trickin’ Out a Hot Import Car: Here we learn how to spend tons of money on tricking out a hot import car. Like I have this type of money lying around.
• MPAA Editing: This looks into the fight Cohen and team had with the MPAA over the scene with Vince and his arm attached to the truck via wiring.
• Storyboard to Final Feature Comparison: Just as it reads here we get storyboards that help us visualize the final product.
• Music Videos: Here we three music videos from Ja Rule – ‘Furious’, Caddillac Tah – ‘POV Anthem’ and Saliva – ‘Click Click Boom’.
• Digital Copy: Here we get a Digital Copy of the film that works in either iTunes or Windows Media Player:

– Disc 2: “2 Fast 2 Furious“

• U-Control: Here we get Picture in Picture, which gives us access to behind-the-scenes cast and crew interviews/footage. Tech Specs gives us information on the various cars found in the film as well as lets us clock the insurance damages as the cars are smashed up.

• Fast Females (NEW): This runs 7min54sec and looks into the women in all the 4 films.
• Hollywood Impact (NEW): This runs 13min23sec and is actually a great little look into cars and their impact in Hollywood films. Most specifically (since this is a Universal film) we see vehicles that were in Universal movies.
• Audio Commentary with John Singleton: Here Director John Singleton sits down and speaks to us on every little area of the film. Luckily for us, Singleton is quite the interesting man and his intelligence really comes off here (he has made a lot of really powerful films in his career).
• Inside 2 Fast 2 Furious: The standard making of feature that sees the cast being interviewed, a few production designs, and basic story outline.
• Driving School with the Cast: Here we get to see some of the film’s main stars as they learned how to drive all the film’s vehicles.
• Making Music with Ludacris: Here Ludacris invites us to the set of the making of his ‘Act a Fool’ music video.
• Outtakes: Yawn. Standard bloopers.
• Deleted Scenes: I really wish deleted scenes were actually interesting and showed a bit more character development instead of being more extensions than deletions.
• Tricking Out a Hot Import Car: Here we learn how to spend tons of money on tricking out a hot import car. Like I have this type of money lying around.
• Prelude to 2 Fast 2 Furious: Here we get to learn how Brian evaded the police and found his way into Miami.
• Spotlight on the Cast: Here the characters of Brian, Roman and Suki are interviewed.
• Spotlight on the Cars: The main three vehicles, The Spyder, The Evo VII, and the S2000 are looked at.
• Animated Anecdotes: Here we get a few short stories on the film’s stars.
• Digital Copy: Here we get a Digital Copy of the film that works in either iTunes or Windows Media Player:

– Disc 3: “The Fast and The Furious: Tokyo Drift”

• U-Control: Here Universal’s patented U-Control is broken down to a few different areas. We have Picture in Picture that gives us various cast interviews and behind the scenes footage as the film runs. Storyboards explores the concepts of film via various storyboards. Tech Specs gives us all the various technical specs about the cars during the film’s course. The best thing is that it actually gives us various damage total as the car’s are wrecked. GPS gives us the ability to follow the cars as we watch the film’s main racing sequence. Production Photographs gives us behind the scenes photos from the set. For a truly interesting look at what U-Control is about, go to the film’s main racing sequence and enjoy.

• Making of The Fast Franchise (NEW): THis runs 17min2sec and gives us a making of the entire 4 films. We also get a brief look into what we can expect from the upcoming 4th film.
• Drift: A Sideways Craze (NEW): This runs 1hr in length and is quite possibly the best feature found on ANY of the discs. This is a documentary that covers the lives of three real-life drift drivers at different points in their lives. What was most entertaining and informative was how this didn’t feel manufactured but actually gave and honest look into drifting. Since I enjoyed the 3rd film the most this documentary was great.
• Audio Commentary with Director Justin Lin: Director Justin Lin does come off as a typical young director would in this commentary track. He overly exclaims about his cast, never finding faults in any scenes. The good thing despite him being like this, is that Lin is very interesting and fun to listen to as he comes off as a normal kind of guy. Topics of discussion include production details, film origins and casting.
• Drifting School: Here we get to see just exactly how the entire cast trained to drift.
• Trick Out To Drift: This feature goes over some of the various cars (nearly 230) used in the film.
• The Big Breakdown: Another feature that looks into the various cars and how they were modified for the film.
• Han’s Last Ride: This feature looks into the big crash that occurs during the film.
• Cast Cam: The standard ‘give the actors/actresses cameras and see what they record’ feature.
• The Real Drift King: Kelichi Tsuchlay, the world’s real drift king, is interviewed here.
• The Japanese Way: The last of six features focuses on how the cast and crew managed to film in the country of Tokyo.
• Deleted Scenes: Here we get roughly 18 minutes of various deleted scenes. Luckily, unlike a majority of deleted scenes, these deleted scenes were quite enjoyable to watch. A lot of character information and expansion is dealt with including Twinkie’s devious side and Sean’s side with DK.
• Digital Copy: Here we get a Digital Copy of the film that works in either iTunes or Windows Media Player:

Blu-ray Disc packaging:

Screenshots:

NOTE: The full-sized 1920×1080 files are in a .PNG file format and uncompressed. Bare with the slow loading times, keep in mind these files are at least 1MB (1 megabyte) in size each.

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