Fast & Furious
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The Story
The fourth movie in the “Fast & Furious” franchise reunites the original cast. Like this one, that film was also an unexpected box office hit. In that story, FBI agent Brian O’Connor (Paul Walker) infiltrated a ring of street-racing truck hijackers by becoming buddies with star racer Dominic Toretto (Vin Diesel) and dating his sister Mia (Jordanna Brewster). In the climactic moment, he chose to let Dom go instead of arresting him because he respected the criminal’s “code.”
Eight years later, Brian is back with the FBI hunting a major drug trafficker named Braga. When Dom, still a fugitive, learns that one of Braga’s men killed his girlfriend Letty (Michelle Rodriguez), he returns to L.A. and competes/cooperates with Brian to hunt the bad guys down in their very fast cars.
Content Issues
The whole “Fast & Furious” franchise uses women the same way hot rod magazines have done for decades, dropping them into scenes throughout the movie in revealing clothing and posing them in provocative positions while the camera zooms in on everything but their faces. This outing takes it up a notch by including several instances of these random girls making out with each other. What will they have these women doing in the next film?
The violence is mostly about car crashes, explosions, and near misses. Several deaths (and presumed deaths) happen on- and off-screen. Some blood is seen. Vicious punches are delivered. Bullets fly but rarely seem to land. The steady swearing and harsh language includes uses of God’s name.
Worldview Talking Points
“Fast & Furious” is a huge hit, scoring an opening weekend for April that is nearly $30 million more than the previous record. Many teens will definitely be seeing it—or wanting to. Whether they do or not should be up to you.
If your teen does see the film, you might benefit from asking them a few questions about one of the film’s central worldview ideas. Brian is a federal agent chasing down drug lords, but he doesn’t seem to know if he’s a good guy or a bad guy. His heart is with Dom, who is clearly an unrepentant criminal. And Brian always defies both the law and his authorities if he thinks his actions are warranted.
At the end of the film, Dom takes a step in the right direction by turning himself in. But when a judge decides to actually send him to prison, both Brian and Dom decide that obeying the law is optional once more.
A few of the following questions might lead to a productive conversation about the film with your child:
- Have you seen any of the other “Fast & Furious” movies? Which one is your favorite? How does this new one compare?
- Be honest: What’s the fastest you’ve ever ridden or driven in a car?
- Does is bother you that movies like this seem to “use” girls’ bodies to attract guys to watch them? Do you think it’s healthy for your relationship with God to watch many movies where girls pose and kiss each other as obvious sex objects for guys? What would be the problem with it?
- If you liked the cars, what was your favorite one in the film? Do you like the smaller, modded Japanese cars better or the American muscle cars?
- Are you a fan of Paul Walker or Vin Diesel? Have you liked them in any other movies?
- Do you think it was right for Brian to let Dom go in the first film? Why or why not?
- Do you think Brian’s choices in this film to break the law and defy his bosses at the FBI are justified? Is it ever right to do a wrong thing to try to make a right thing happen?
- Moral relativism means that people decide what’s right for them in any given situation. Moral absolutism means that some things are absolutely right and others are absolutely wrong all of the time. Which of those big ideas is closer to what you believe?
- Who do you think sets the standards for right and wrong?
- Can someone be a “good guy” if he does bad things like stealing, killing in revenge, or intentionally letting criminals go free?
- If so, what’s the difference between good guys and bad guys? What makes anyone in this movie good or bad?
