Fast & Furious parents guide

Fast & Furious Parent Guide

While many may argue that "Fast & Furious" is only meant to be high-octane action entertainment, it feels more like irresponsible exploitation designed to take the audience for a ride.

Overall D

Fast cars and furious driving take to the screen again when Vin Diesel and Paul Walker reprise their roles as Dominic Toretto and Brian O'Connor. This time the ex-con and the agent are forced to bury the hatchet and team up in order to capture a common enemy.

Release date April 3, 2009

Violence D
Sexual Content C-
Profanity D+
Substance Use C

Why is Fast & Furious rated PG-13? The MPAA rated Fast & Furious PG-13 for intense sequences of violence and action, some sexual content, language and drug references.

Run Time: 107 minutes

Official Movie Site

Parent Movie Review

I’m curious to know if incidents of street racing or at least traffic violations spike following the release of movies like Fast & Furious. Certainly the group of teens I screened this movie with was buzzing when the credits rolled. Whether it was from the nonstop action in the film or too many caffeinated beverages, it’s hard to say, but either way, I let the parking lot clear before I hit the roads.

It appears that the purpose of this flick is to get adrenaline pumping through the veins of viewers, particularly male audience members. If so, it likely succeeds. Scenes of souped up cars, reckless driving, prolonged shots of female posteriors, and erotic dancing along with lesbian kissing and fondling are stuffed onto the screen between bouts of fistfights and an intense rooftop chase.

However, lawbreaking activities aren’t confined to the street racers or drug dealers that squeal through crowded neighborhoods in Los Angeles or down a tiny roadway in a Mexican village. Police officer Brian O’Conner (Paul Walker), in an attempt to infiltrate a drug ring and bring it down, is just as quick to push the throttle during a street race initiation. When he fails to be chosen as a drug mule, he uses a police SWAT team to raid the home of one of the other drivers. After planting a package of illegal drugs in Dwight’s (Greg Cipes) apartment, Brian ensures himself a spot on the next drug transport trip while the unlucky driver is tied up in the judicial system for a while.

Teamed up with Brian for the cross border haul is his old nemesis, Dominic Toretto (Vin Diesel), a criminal who wants to make his way into the cartel in order to inflict his own form of retribution on one of the drug runners (Laz Alonso).

The action that follows is aptly described as fast and furious. Drivers, prompted on by the voice in a GPS system, race through heavily populated downtown streets, narrow residential alleys and across sidewalks teeming with pedestrians. They accelerate through tight underground tunnels and speed through precarious mountain passes, breaking not only stacks of traffic rules but a whole book of physics’ laws as well. However, massive explosions and rounds of ammunition are detonated so rapidly that there is little time to mull over the script’s gaping leaps of logic. (A point that might not be important to many viewers anyway.)

To the producers’ credit, or possibly in response to advice from their legal council, the film does run a disclaimer, acknowledging that professional stunt drivers performed these highly dangerous feats on closed circuits. Unfortunately the rider comes on screen well after the closing credits begin running, when most patrons have left or lost interest.

What the filmmakers don’t show are any of the negative outcomes these drivers’ actions would surely have on the general public, i.e. accident reports, insurance claims, property damage, bodily injury or, more seriously, funerals following a hit-and-run incident.

While many may argue that Fast & Furious is only meant to be high-octane action entertainment, regrettably it feels more like irresponsible exploitation designed to take the audience for a ride.

Directed by Justin Lin . Starring Vin Diesel, Paul Walker, Michelle Rodriguez, Justin Lin.. Running time: 107 minutes. Theatrical release April 3, 2009. Updated

Fast & Furious
Rating & Content Info

Why is Fast & Furious rated PG-13? Fast & Furious is rated PG-13 by the MPAA for intense sequences of violence and action, some sexual content, language and drug references.

An exploding tanker truck, crushed cars and bullet-riddled vehicles are only a part of the property damage that is portrayed in this film. In addition, characters are repeatedly shot at. They are also killed, blown up and injured in car accidents. While attempting to steal a tanker full of gas from a moving truck, a woman is dragged behind the semi, and nearly thrown from the trailer before jumping onto another speeding car. A police officer chases a criminal through a plate glass window, across rooftops, through a busy street market and into an apartment before both men fall from a second-story level onto a car below. Several characters are shown with bloody injuries. A man dangles another man out of a window by holding one foot. Drivers race through busy city streets. They crash into other cars, roll vehicles and nearly hit pedestrians. A man threatens to crush a man with a car engine. A police officer disobeys orders. A scene of cockfighting is shown. Men threaten to kill others. Cars crash and explode in a tunnel. A man is intentionally crushed between two vehicles. Women are frequently shown in revealing outfits. Several women kiss each other and one woman fondles the bare chest of another female. A painting of a naked woman is seen. Couples are shown kissing. Women engage in erotic dancing. Some sexual innuendo is included in the script along with profanities, terms of Christian deity, derogatory sexual terms and a strong sexual expletive. Characters drink on numerous occasions. Drug dealers transport illegal substances across an international border. A police officer plants illegal drugs in another man’s apartment. A Catholic priest is given drug money in exchange for forgiveness.

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Fast & Furious Parents' Guide

Although the film does include a disclaimer about the stunts performed in this film, by the time they ran only a handful of patrons were left in the theatre where I was and none of them seemed to be watching the credits. Do you think such a statement should be more strongly emphasized to viewers? Is running such a proviso a sufficient measure for studios to take?

In addition to the highly implausible portrayal of stealing tanker trailers from the gas transporter, what other feats in this film defy all logic? How easy would it be for a pedestrian to outrun or avoid a speeding car?

Do you agree with the sentence the judge hands down in this story? Should criminals be able to barter away their illegal activities in exchange for helping police? What impact might this have on the judicial system?

 

Home Video

The most recent home video release of Fast & Furious movie is July 28, 2009. Here are some details…

Home Video Notes: Fast & Furious

Release Date: 9 April 2013

Fast & Furious releases to home video in Blu-ray/Ultraviolet Digital Copy.

Release Date: 28 July 2009

Fast & Furious races onto DVD in either a single or double disc set. Both versions offer the movie in widescreen, with audio tracks in Dolby Digital 5.1 (English, French and Spanish). Subtitles are available in English, French and Spanish.

The Single Disc DVD of Fast and Furious also includes a gag reel and a feature commentary by director Justin Lin.

The 2-Disc DVD of Fast and Furious includes:

- Gag Reel

- Feature Commentary with director Justin Lin

- Featurettes: (Under the Hood: Muscle Cars and Imports, Getting the Gang Back Together, Driving School with Vin Diesel, Shooting the Big Rig Heist, Races and Chases, High Octane Action: The Stunt and South of the Border: Filming in Mexico)

- Short Film: Los Bandoleros

- Music Video (Blanco by Pitbull and featuring Pharrell)

- Trailers

- Digital Copy of the movie

Fast & Furious on Blu-ray is presented in HD widescreen, with audio in DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 (English) and DTS 5.1 (French and Spanish). Subtitles are provided in English, French and Spanish. Bonus materials are as follows:

-Featurettes: (Under The Hood: Muscle Cars & Imports, "Driving School With Vin Diesel, Shooting the Big Rig Heist and High Octane Action: The Stunts)

- Short Film: Los Bandoleros

- U-Control (Behind-the-scenes and Virtual Car Garage)

- BD-Live (Fast & Furious Video Mashup and BD-Live Center)

- Digital Copy of movie

Related home video titles:

Guns, cars and teens prove to be a lethal mix in a Los Angeles neighborhood where Erin Gruwell takes her first teaching assignment in the movie Freedom Writers. A football player has his life changed forever when irresponsible driving results in paralysis following a car accident in Remember the Titans.

This movie is part of a franchise that includes: The Fast And The Furious , 2 Fast 2 Furious, The Fast and the Furious Tokyo Drift, Fast Five and Fast & Furious 6