To Create Confusion

We’re back after a bit of a hiatus (sorry, life got in the way for all of us) and we’re starting our new series, the Mission: Impossible films, which are still going strong with Tom Cruise still running intensely & doing insane stunts. To start, we go back to the series’ roots, which were not in action, but in an elaborate spy thriller. Oh sure, there’s plenty of crazy action sequences, but this one is a Brian De Palma film through and through with a focus on tension. We meet master spy Ethan Hunt as he seeks the identity of a CIA traitor who cause his whole team to be killed. This one is still fun and almost more interesting to watch now in light of what the series turned into.

(The following episode contains spoilers) We wrap up our look at the Fast Saga with the franchise’s newest film, F9. In this movie Dominic Toretto is called into action to stop his long lost brother Jakob, working on behalf of an obnoxious dictator failson, from attaining a device that could control worldwide weapons systems. But that cannot prepare you for the awesome ridiculousness of this movie, which just keeps upping the ante of absurd set pieces. Plus, we rank the series, do Matthew McConaughey impressions & prepare for our next series: Mission: Impossible. Apologies for the rough audio during the sign-off

Our final episode before the new F9 is the Fast & Furious spinoff film, Hobbs and Shaw. In this one, Luke Hobbs and Deckard Shaw are forced to team up to stop a genetically engineered super soldier, aka Black Superman, played by Idris Elba. In addition, Ryan and Rachel detail a wild Father’s Day trip and prep for F9.

We’re heading down the homestretch in our look at the Fast Saga & we’re at the 8th movie in the series, 2017’s The Fate of the Furious. This movie had all kinds of behind the scenes drama as this was the first film in the series to be made without Paul Walker. The result is wildly uneven as while there are some cool set pieces, the movie becomes exhausting as it hops locations and defies the laws of science once too often. The idea is good though: the team, now joined by Deckard Shaw, must face its most dangerous opponent: Dominic Toretto himself, who is manipulated into turning on the Family by a cyberterrorist named Cipher.

We hit the emotional high point of the Fast Series with 2015’s Furious 7. Hanging over everything in this movie is the death of Paul Walker, who died in a car accident during production. After some soul searching to determine whether they should move forward, the film was finished. This is the biggest, craziest Fast movie to date with some absolutely outlandish stunts (most notably jumping a car through three skyscrapers). The movie’s plot is relatively simple: elite special forces badass Deckard Shaw is hunting Dominic Toretto and his family after they put his brother in a coma. In addition, the family has to also keep a surveillance system on steroids from falling into the hands of a sophisticated terrorist. But the movie’s biggest punch is it’s ending, in which the team and the audience say goodbye to Brian O’Conner. We go a bit long here, but there’s a lot to unpack, plus we figure out our next series once we’ve finished up the Fast movies.

On this episode, we tackle the sixth film in the Fast & Furious saga, the aptly titled Fast and Furious 6. In this one, Luke Hobbs calls in the retired Dominic Toretto and his crew to help stop an international weapons dealer named Owen Shaw, who intends to build a doomsday bomb and sell it to the highest bidder. Complicating things for Dom & the gang is that the miraculously still alive Letty has amnesia and is a member of Shaw’s crew. We talk that, The Rock getting in a massive real-life burn on Tyrese, everything surrounding Gal Gadot and her character in this movie and the introduction of Jason Statham to the series. Plus, Big Cat & Kaya Papaya dunk all over the recently released Zack Snyder zombie-heist movie Army of the Dead.

On this episode, we hit the peak of the Fast & Furious series as we tackle 2011’s Fast Five. This is the one where everything comes together: we get the “Avengers assemble” scene where Tej, Roman, Han, the brothers & Gisele join the team, the introduction of Dwayne Johnson as Hobbs & one crazy ass set piece after another. Plus, we discuss the recent oral history of The Fast and The Furious and some of the jaw-dropping Vin Diesel quotes therein.

We’ve hit the fourth film in our rundown of the Fast & the Furious saga with 2009’s Fast & Furious. Vin Diesel, Paul Walker and crew are back to embark on what in music is known as a “transition album.” The series becomes less about street racing and more about wild stunts and crazy set pieces. It makes for a kind of awkward film that sort of lumbers along. This movie did boffo business when it originally ran but it has aged rather poorly compared to the big budget wildness to come. Plus, we talk about the F9 trailer & The Last Blockbuster.

Buckle up folks, we’re going drifting with the third installment in the Fast & Furious franchise, 2006’s Tokyo Drift. The red-headed stepchild of this series, this film takes us to Tokyo inside the city’s street racing culture of drifting: basically just pulling your emergency brake at a high rate of speed. Anyway, the story involves goofy redneck Sean going to Tokyo where he comes under the mentorship of the lovable Han & runs afoul of the failson of the local Yakuza boss. They tried something different with this one but clearly, the series had tapped out on street racing stories, so this film brought back a certain mumble-mouthed star to begin this franchise’s ascent to billion-dollar business. Plus, we talk COVID vaccine stories as we anticipate moving into the After Times.

On this episode we dive into the second movie of the Fast & Furious saga, 2003’s 2 Fast 2 Furious. This film is a massive guilty pleasure for us as it is so goofy it’s hard not to be amused by it, in all the film’s “bro-ness.” We discuss this film, plus we have a mini-pod at the beginning as the gang dives into the 2020 action film Money Plane.