Edgar Cochran’s review published on Letterboxd:
Well, my oh my... Justin Lin just broke the old Hollywood sequel law and created the best flick of the entire series!!!
...
Not really a great accomplishment considering that the entire series was garbage, eh?
How smart can Lin be if:
- he adds emotional punches to fool audiences that the film has actually some depth?
- he extends the average running time 10 minutes more to construct his own "Ocean Nine" ripoff?
- he recruits The Rock in a role that suits him and has more muscle mass than Vin Diesel?
- changes the whole street-racing idea and turns it into an entirely different film with an ambitious drug lord, Brazilian guns, a larger ensemble cast, drama, comedic relief, an endless Wachowski-wannabe action sequence....
Whoa! Too many things. That seems desperate. In my eyes, however, that also seems a sincere attempt to make something different. I am not entirely buying this whole shift, especially the dramatic subplots that remained underdeveloped and we do not care about, because they act as fillers. Ironically, I also missed my midnight street racing scenes, even if the previous flicks were trash.
But hey! He even had the guts to release a sequel! Will that be even better? Just because I was entertained, that is reason enough to give this a try.
49/100
