Here's some news that will surely shock snobby film critics everywhere: Vin Diesel has made a successful action movie. It's an occurrence as rare as a celestial event, so I'd like to take some time and comment on it.
First of all, let me excuse that chomping sound you are no doubt hearing right now- that's me eating my words. You see, I all but swore that Vin Diesel's action days were done, a statement that seemed only reinforced by last year's debacle Babylon A.D. After I reviewed that movie for The Chronicle, I figured to myself there's no way Diesel can return to his Pitch Black and xXx days.
I thought that it was unlikely he could even rekindle that Saving Private Ryan spark, or even the mojo he had in the very first (if you can remember back that far) fast and furious movie. Which was The Fast and the Furious. As opposed to 2 Fast 2 Furious. Diesel's latest effort, the more simply titled Fast and Furious, seems to prove that Diesel is still a bankable action hero (or antihero, as the case usually turns out to be).
But part of me is resistant to all of this. Maybe it's just pride messing with me, but I'm not entirely sure this qualifies as a full action comeback. On the one hand, Fast and Furious has set the record so far this year for opening weekend proceeds at the box office, with $72.5 million. Not only that, according to this article, this figure marks the biggest weekend opening in April, ever. On the other hand...it it is not only the fourth part of a franchise, it is basically a different version of the first movie. It has the same actors as the first movie, and the plot revolves around the same basic idea: a racing rivalry between Vin Diesel and Paul Walker while they get involved with hot women. We've, literally, seen this all before.
What are the implications of this film's success then? Is Vin Diesel in fact an action star reborn? Does history in fact repeat itself so accurately after only eight years (when the first fast and furious film came out) And if that is the case, will, say, the Republicans reclaim the White House eight years from now? Okay, maybe that last is taking things a little too far....
Maybe its just that folks today are eager to be reminded of kinder days. When The Fast and The Furious came out, we were riding the coattails of the largest economic boom in American history. 9/11 hadn't happened yet, and Bush had been in office a mere five months.
Still, I'm not convinced Vin Diesel is the bankable action hero he tries to be. For that to happen, a few more movies with the kind of success Fast and Furious has enjoyed so far need to be made. Because it's going to take at least that much to erase the memory of this:
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