S3 EP.13: Hapa hates Letty – A Review of The Fast Franchise pt.4

The guys (Kareem, Ken, and Pat) are joined by guests Kasey (@kaseydrolow) to continue their review of Fast and Furious and Fast Five. Tangents include throwing dirt on Letty’s name, 3rd person foreshadowing, ripping off Another 48 Hours, and more.

Show Notes

Los Bandoleros (transl.The Outlaws) is a 2009 American direct-to-video short film written and directed by Vin Diesel. It is the second short film in the Fast & Furious franchise and serves as the prequel to Fast & Furious (2009). It stars Diesel, Michelle Rodriguez, Sung Kang, Tego Calderón, and Don Omar. In the film, runaway fugitive Dominic Toretto (Diesel) sets up the hijacking of a fuel tanker in the Dominican Republic.

Development for Los Bandoleros began following the announcement of Fast & Furious, and serves as a narrative bridge following the events of The Fast and the Furious (2001) and 2 Fast 2 Furious (2003). Los Bandoleros was released in the United States on July 28, 2009, as part of the Blu-ray and Special Edition home releases of Fast & Furious.[1]

Development[edit]
After positive reception from audiences to Vin Diesel’s cameo in Tokyo Drift, Universal was confident in effectively rebooting the series with its original stars.[9] The film was announced in July 2007, with Diesel, Paul Walker, and several other cast members of the original film reprising their roles.

Filming[edit]
Filming began in 2008. The movie cars were built in Southern California’s San Fernando Valley. Around 240 cars were built for the film.[8] However, the replica vehicles do not match the specifications they were supposed to represent. For example, the replica version of F-Bomb, a 1973 Chevrolet Camaro built by Tom Nelson of NRE and David Freiburger of Hot Rod magazine, included a 300 hp crate V8 engine with a 3-speed automatic transmission, whereas the actual car included a twin-turbo 1,500 hp engine and a 5-speed transmission.[10]

The original Dodge Charger 426 Hemi R/T that was used in the original movie was a 1970, but the car in this movie was a 1969 Dodge Charger R/T 426 Hemi with a slightly modified front grill and rear tail lights to appear as a 1970 car; the original 1970 Dodge Charger was in pieces, being totally disassembled for restoration.
The original red 1970 Chevrolet Chevelle SS seen in the end credits of the first Fast & Furious movie, also makes an appearance but is later highly modified for a street race.

The most radical vehicles built for the film were the Chevy trucks constructed for the fuel heist. Powered by 502ci GM big block motors, the ’67 had a giant ladder-bar suspension with airbags using a massive 10-ton semi rear axle with the biggest and widest truck tires they could find. The ’88 Chevy Crew Cab was built with twin full-floating GM 1-ton axles equipped with Detroit Lockers and a transfer case directing power to both axles and capable of four-wheel burnouts.[11]
Another vehicle built for the film was the blue Nissan Skyline GT-R R34 owned by an uncredited owner which brought a 241-mile per hour top speed at the Bayshore Route Highway in Japan. It was a hard car to build by the production so they made clones by acquiring Nissan Skyline 25GT’s and made them look like the original car. The Skyline that was also used at the desert was actually a dune buggy using a Skyline R34’s shell.

From https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fast_%26_Furious_(2009_film)

Lisa Schwarzbaum of Entertainment Weekly gave the film a B+ and wrote, “Fast & Furious is still no Point Break. But it’s perfectly aware of its limited dramatic mission … it offers an attractive getaway route from self-importance, snark, and chatty comedies about male bonding.”[27] Writing for The Hollywood Reporter, Kirk Honeycutt called it “the first true sequel of the bunch. By reuniting the two male stars from the original and … continuing the story from the first film, this new film should re-ignite the franchise.”[28] Betsy Sharkey of the Los Angeles Times considered it a “strange piece of nostalgia, where, without apology, fast cars still rule and fuel is burned with abandon.”[29] Roger Ebert, who had given positive reviews to the previous films, considered the story, dialogue, and acting to all be perfunctory: “I admire the craft involved, but the movie leaves me profoundly indifferent. After three earlier movies in the series, which have been transmuted into video games, why do we need a fourth one? Oh. I just answered my own question.”[30]

From https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fast_%26_Furious_(2009_film)

EP.120 – Jimmy Olsen's Manosphere Problem – A Review of James Gunn's Superman pt.4 – Tangential Giants Podcast

The Tangential Giants return to finally wrap up their review of James Gunn’s Superman, and somehow, the last stretch of the movie gives them even more chaos to chew on. Kareem, Ken, Pat, and guest Tim dive straight into Jimmy Olsen’s full-blown Manosphere spiral, because apparently, even in the DCU, no one is safe from a podcast algorithm gone rogue.From there, the crew takes a hard look at the new Kents, who are depicted as so financially underwater that even Smallville’s cows are probably judging them. Then comes Lex Luthor’s army of Musk-like minions, a collection of tech bros who look like they’d unionize only to demand more stock options in exchange for less dignity.And of course, the episode wouldn’t be complete without discussing this new foul-mouthed Supergirl, who arrives like a cosmic warning label and immediately starts cussing out anyone within a five-mile radius. The Giants try to make sense of it all, but naturally end up wandering into philosophical detours, comic book lore debates, and at least one argument about whether Jimmy Olsen needs therapy or a firmware update.If you enjoy superhero analysis mixed with unhinged tangents, this is the perfect finale to the Superman review saga.#tangentialgiants #superman #jamesgunn #supergirl #jimmyolsen #LexLuthor #dcu #dcuniverse #supermanmovie #comicbookmovies #nerdpodcast #popculturepodcast #dccomics #moviediscussions #superherotalk #podcastlife #dcfans