Herbie: Fully Loaded (2005)

How can they make me feel so many emotions with just a little car? I watched this film, I don’t even know how many times as a child. I don’t even know why it has become such a nostalgic film for me… But, I swear this is the reason I hated going to get my first car scrapped when it died on me. Herbie made me feel that cars have emotions! I just love this cute little Volkswagen Bug. All he wants to do is race!

Herbie began as a set of movies created in the late 60s, throughout the 70s and even briefly in the 80s and 90s. In 2005, they brought Herbie back with a brand new cast. ‘Herbie: Fully Loaded’ stars Lindsay Lohan, Michael Keaton, Justin Long, Breckin Meyer, Matt Dillon and Cheryl Hines. I do love the cast of this movie, it’s classic early 2000s.

From ‘Magic’ to ‘Working for the Weekend’, from ‘Born to be Wild’ to ‘More Than a Feeling’; the soundtrack for this film is amazing. I do think the music has to be one of the best qualities.

I can completely accept that this is not a film to break cinematic history, it’s not ground breaking. But it’s just rubbish escapism. It has a solid plot that’s easy to follow: Maggie Peyton (Lindsay Lohan) has always wanted to race, but her father (Michael Keaton) will not allow her to. It’s lucky she then meets (yes meets) the car who would do anything to race again.

‘Herbie: Fully Loaded’ has become a nostalgic film from my childhood. Watching this today, I can see why it’s hated, I could probably see why it’s disliked for the generation growing up watching the original Herbie films too. Nevertheless, I become lost into this fantasy world where a car has the biggest dream. Plus, I love that Maggie wants to become a race car driver despite it being seen as a ‘male’ profession. I just enjoy the simple escapism of this movie.

Fast & Furious (2009)

Once again, another of the famous Fast and Furious franchise, ‘Fast & Furious’ is the fourth of the series and thankfully is a return to the original characters and actors. Skipping the second and third of the film series, this film brings back Vin Diesel as Dominic Toretto, Paul Walker as Brian O’Conner, Michelle Rodriguez as Letty and Jordana Brewster as Mia. This is the cast Fast and Furious are known for and this is the cast in this fourth movie.

As I said during ‘The Fast and the Furious’ review, I’m really not bothered about street racing and fast cars. Therefore, this whole aspect of the film doesn’t really have an impact on the film for me. I guess this franchise does capture more of an audience who actually are interested in cars, and perhaps it would be more successful to them in every aspect. Nevertheless, I can still appreciate the action using the cars and the plot that unfolds with it.

To it’s credit, ‘Fast & Furious’ has a fantastic, explosive start. And it’s not just the beginning which is jam-packed with action, it’s the entire film! It’s action non-stop, thrilling all the way through. Again, I was pleasantly surprised by how much I did enjoy this film. I think this might be one of my favourite Fast and Furious films purely because of the action. The applaud should go to the plot also, it’s an intriguing shocking plot; unpredictable.

Even though I don’t have this interest in cars, the action is easy to become absorbed into. I was on the edge of my seat glued to the screen captivated by all of the bonkers action revealing itself. The plot is easy to follow and begins almost immediately. There isn’t time to become bored by any part of the film as it kicks off straight away. The film is fast-paced to keep you enticed the entire time. I really don’t have any negative comments about the film, because for what it is, an action film through and through, it has all the elements to be successful. There are an excessive amount of car chases at high speed, a character on an revenge path and even an FBI investigation trying to take down a drug cartel. It’s not a ground-breaking, profound film, and it’s not the best action film I’ve ever seen. But it doesn’t need to be and it most definitely is not trying to be. Just sit back and enjoy the action unfold – it’s just a little escapism into a chaotic, dangerous world.

The Fast and the Furious (2001)

I do love an action movie and everyone must have heard to this movie series, but truth be told I haven’t seen all of them. So since they’ve been incredibly successful having generated multiple films, I thought it was about time to review its origins. This is the beginning of the Fast and Furious franchise, starting in 2001.

The Fast and Furious franchise is known for one thing in particular: fast cars. I’m not bothered about fast cars, but like I said, I do like an action movie and this is definitely that. I really don’t understand the craze with cars. I feel like if you had this love of cars, you’d probably enjoy this film a lot more than I did. But I just appreciated it for the escapism of action and crime thrilling scenes. This original movie does become a very action-packed thrilling film.

So this is the introduction of Vin Diesel’s character, Dominic Toretto, the man who honours family over anything. Family, loyalty and respect over expensive, speedy cars. We are also introduced to the other man at the centre of the Fast and Furious franchise, Brian O’Conner, played by Paul Walker. Along with the two men, we cannot forget Letty (Michelle Rodriguez) and Mia (Jordana Brewster), who both have central roles within the films. The characters are great, they are all very different and hold their own on the screen. I wouldn’t say they are the most relatable characters, but they are definitely well acted and I did want to learn more about them.

I was pleasantly surprised by how much I actually enjoyed this film. At the beginning, I wasn’t completely sure what was going on, but once the films kicks in properly and the plot becomes more clear, it’s exciting to become part of the thrilling action throughout. I do have to admit, the graphics really aren’t great. You can tell it’s from 2001 – they were almost comically bad at some points. Although, saying this, it’s only really one scene where the graphics pull you away from the film, later in the movie I was too captivated in the action to even notice.

For an action film about fast cars, I really don’t know what else they could have done with this introductory movie. It definitely does what it says on the tin. It is an action movie about fast cars through and through. Although, there is an interesting plot (once I was sure what this plot was) which explores into the thrilling crime element of the movie. This part was much more enjoyable for me. I appreciated it for the action scenes, rather than the street racing of cars, or the discussing of how a could be improved, which just went straight over my head. The action is done well, there were times where I was glued to the screen waiting for something to go wrong. Is this the best action film I’ve ever seen? No, far from it. However, I do think ‘The Fast and the Furious’ is a good action movie – it has explosions, crime, and even a bit of mystery to uncover the criminals. And yeah, it has fast cars too, if that’s what you like!