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FAST & FURIOUS

"Sidetracked Redemption"

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FAST & FURIOUS reunites Vin Diesel and Paul Walker as an outlaw and an FBI agent infiltrating a drug gang in Los Angeles. The gang is using street racing to move its drugs. As Dom Toretto, Diesel wants revenge against the gang for murdering his girlfriend. As Brian O’Conner, Walker is trying to find out the identity of the mysterious drug lord behind the gang. Despite Dom’s differences with Brian, who dated Dom’s sister in the past, Dom decides the right thing to do is help Brian bring the drug lord to justice. What follows is a high-octane crime thriller with a couple surprising twists along the way.

FAST & FURIOUS is the best of the movies in this franchise, including the original. It delivers spectacular thrills, a dramatic storyline, and some good acting. The movie contains strong moral elements and even overt Christian references. These positive elements are tainted, however, by plenty of foul language, several party scenes showing women kissing other women, and unresolved elements of rebellion and lawlessness. Moviegoers should exercise extreme caution. This is not a movie for children. For reviews of more acceptable movies, visit movieguide.org.

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(PaPaPa, CC, BB, FRFR, RoRo, HoHo, Ab, LLL, VVV, SS, N, AA, DD, MMM) Very strong, somewhat mixed pagan worldview with strong Christian, moral elements (including praying) but with pagan, antinomian lawlessness at times where rebellious people make up their own codes of behavior and ending on a note of strong Romantic rebellion which also runs through other parts of the movie, plus depicted homosexual behavior includes shots of women making out in at least three parties (one of which is a private party between a criminal and three women), and, despite the positive references to Jesus and Christianity, there is an anti-Catholic scene where a priest blesses an evil criminal after the criminal gives the priest some money for the Catholic Church to make up for his sins, but the protagonist (who has some implied Christian faith) comes in after the priest leaves the criminal alone at the altar and tells the criminal, who killed the protagonist’s girlfriend, “You’re not forgiven”; about 25 obscenities (including one “f” word and some “s” words), two strong profanities and two light profanities; very strong intense action violence includes dangerous car chases, fighting, a couple gunfights, FBI agent throws himself and criminal off low roof onto vehicle while they fight, car crashes, car crashes into obstacles squishing people, car runs into wall and explodes, one or two other explosions involving people, implied pointblank murder shooting, man crushed against wrecked vehicle, street racing sanctioned, and heist of gas tanker results in much derring do, narrow escapes, and tanker eventually tumbles off cliff and explodes with no one in it; strong sexual content includes several scenes of minor women characters kissing other women during parties and light sexual content includes implied fornication between two couples, kissing and suggesting dancing by young women; upper male nudity, female cleavage and women at parties show their midriffs; alcohol use and drunken parties; smoking and movie is about bringing a drug gang to justice; and, stealing, hijacking, rebellion, living by a lawless personal code rather than God’s laws is extolled, policeman decides to free a man from jail after he gets a stern sentence, and evading border patrol, not all of which is always rebuked.

More Detail:

FAST & FURIOUS is by far the best of the movies in this franchise, including the original. Though it has some strong Christian, redemptive elements, it has enough problem areas to advise extreme caution for all age levels. It also ends on a strong note of Romantic rebellion that dilutes the redemptive climax.

Vin Diesel, the star of the original, returns in the role of Dom Toretto. The movie opens in the Dominican Republic, where Dom, his girlfriend Letty, and their gang are trying to heist a gas truck. After the heist, Dom learns that the police are hot on his trail. While Letty sleeps, Dom packs and leaves the country so that she will be safe from the cops.

Cut to some time later, Dom has learned from his sister, Mia, that Letty has been murdered in Los Angeles. Eventually, Dom learns that the killer is Fenix, the right-hand man of a local drug boss named Campos, who works for a mysterious drug lord named Braga. Campos and Braga are using the local street-racing scene to move their drugs. This puts Dom into contact with his former nemesis from the first movie, Brian O’Conner, a hotshot FBI agent who used to date Dom’s sister, played by Paul Walker.

To avenge Letty’s murder, Dom wants to infiltrate the gang and destroy it. At the same time, Brian wants to infiltrate the gang and learn who the head dude, Braga, is so his FBI teammates can arrest him. What follows is a high-octane crime thriller with a couple surprising twists along the way.

The car chase scenes in this crime thriller are well worth the price of admission. FAST & FURIOUS delivers intense thrills, a dramatic storyline, and some good acting.

Despite the opening heist scene, the movie takes a positive moral turn when it looks like Dom and Brian will have to work together to bring down the drug gang. In fact, at an important point in the movie, Dom expresses his desire to help Brian and stop running from the law. Also, there are overt references to the Christian faith of Dom and especially his sister.

These positive aspects are spoiled, however, by some negative content. First, there is plenty of foul language. Second, the movie makes it a point to show at least three times in three different wild parties women kissing other women. Third, despite her Christian faith, Dom’s sister Mia and Brian re-ignite their passion for one another by having sexual relations. Finally, after the movie’s redemptive climax, the story ends on a strong note of Romantic rebellion and lawlessness.

This epilogue after the climax reflects some dialogue that Dom, Brian and Mia have in other parts of the movie. Dom is a guy who follows his own code, even if that code puts him into conflict with the law. Also, though he is an FBI agent trying to defeat criminals, Brian’s undercover work places him in some moral dilemmas. At one point, Mia wonders if Brian is a good man pretending to be bad or a bad man pretending to be good. Brian says he’s still trying to figure things out for himself. This leads to the ending where [small spoiler follows] Brian apparently decides to adopt Dom’s old code of following his own way, even if that code puts him into conflict with the law. Thus, the movie ends on a rebellious note rather than the morally uplifting one during the heroic climactic battle with the evil drug dealers. The filmmakers should have provided Brian with another, more moral way to resolve the plot problem in the epilogue following the climax. Perhaps the next sequel will do so. After all, God may close one door on us, but leave a window open.

Overall, therefore, FAST & FURIOUS has a strong mixed pagan worldview with many negative and many positive qualities. Viewers should exercise strong or extreme caution when deciding whether to see this movie or not. This is not a movie for children.

Now more than ever we’re bombarded by darkness in media, movies, and TV. Movieguide® has fought back for almost 40 years, working within Hollywood to propel uplifting and positive content. We’re proud to say we’ve collaborated with some of the top industry players to influence and redeem entertainment for Jesus. Still, the most influential person in Hollywood is you. The viewer.

What you listen to, watch, and read has power. Movieguide® wants to give you the resources to empower the good and the beautiful. But we can’t do it alone. We need your support.

You can make a difference with as little as $7. It takes only a moment. If you can, consider supporting our ministry with a monthly gift. Thank you.

Movieguide® is a 501c3 and all donations are tax deductible.


Now more than ever we’re bombarded by darkness in media, movies, and TV. Movieguide® has fought back for almost 40 years, working within Hollywood to propel uplifting and positive content. We’re proud to say we’ve collaborated with some of the top industry players to influence and redeem entertainment for Jesus. Still, the most influential person in Hollywood is you. The viewer.

What you listen to, watch, and read has power. Movieguide® wants to give you the resources to empower the good and the beautiful. But we can’t do it alone. We need your support.

You can make a difference with as little as $7. It takes only a moment. If you can, consider supporting our ministry with a monthly gift. Thank you.

Movieguide® is a 501c3 and all donations are tax deductible.