Amph The Fast & The Furious (Fast X)

Is it really worth celebrating the 7th or 8th iteration of something? I'd much rather have an adaptation of a good novel than see the 17th entry in some series just because the first was an "original" mish-mash of a bunch of tired,cliched story elements into mindless, mediocre action movie.

 

Too soon.

 

Automobile safety is always improving, but apparently it's not enough to counteract the power of driving a high-end sports car like a ****ing idiot. Thanks, Paul Walker's "friend," for giving him a death we can use to reference his most well-known work.

 

Exactly. I wasn't into this franchise at all—had only seen the first one actually—but when they re-tooled it, bringing in Dwayne Johnson and turning it into a sort of Ocean's 11 on Red Bull, I gave it another shot, and I'll tell you; Fast 6 wasn't necessarily the best movie I saw in 2013, but it's the most fun I had at the cinema all year by far. But now, considering the ironic way Walker died, I want no part of F&F7. I'm not against them completing it, and not even against them moving on with 8, 9, 10, etc., but count me out. I just won't be able to enjoy them anymore, and you've gotta wonder if Diesel and Co. will feel the same way.

 

Can't believe Paul died, very tragic, gonna be very hard to watch the F&F series now, with the way he died

 

I know that in the wake of his death there are obviously larger and more important concerns than the fate of F&F7, but I am really curious to know just how much of it they have completed. I agree with The2ndQuest, there's no way they don't finish this film at least, and likely the "saga" as whole. It's not the first time an actor has died with a film they were making not completed. If they would finish and release The Crow after Brandon Lee died on set (the result of negligence no less), they'll surely finish F&F7. The question is; will they have to re-tool so much that it'll get delayed?

 

The thing the F&F franchise has going for it is that, unlike the aforementioned The Crow, which relied heavily on Brandon Lee's role as the central character, F&F had developed into more of an ensemble casting effort (with, admittedly, a chunk of the spotlight on Vin Diesel's Dom), so, depending on how much they have in the can, they probably could retool the rest of the movie to limit Walker's absence and put a bit more focus on the rest of the cast, especially since my gut says a lot of this sequel is likely to focus on Diesel and Stratham's characters anyway.

 

What's worse about this is that his friend was driving him back from his charity event that he was hosting.

 

EDIT: What 2ndQuest posted.


Also...

In comparing it to Heath Ledger, at least Ledger completed his work on The Dark Knight. It also concluded in a way that you could believe the Joker was now caught and sent away. Though unlike Magneto, wasn't able to escape in grand fashion despite it being obvious the third film was going to feature his character initially.

The difference between Brandon Lee and Paul Walkers characters is that Lee played a dark and mysterious character who came out of nowhere and wore makeup for the majority of the film. It was a lot easier to hide his death to complete the Crow. Also, being the first film of that story, there was nothing expected regarding the conclusion. It was what it was.

The character of Brian is nothing like that. Best they can do to hide his character is inside more car stunt work. But he was so central to the plot (even if he wasn't the biggest star of an ensemble now) that if they don't have a beginning, middle and end with his character already completed, it just won't make sense. This isn't a dark franchise at heart. Nobody was anticipating his dramatic demise. At least not before the very end. He was pretty much the constant of the story with Dom to the point where the final scene of the franchise would include those two.




I think they have three options.

1) See if he filmed enough scenes to where they can rework F&F7 to the point where there is either a satisfying conclusion to the character, or possibly even the franchise for the time being. That said if they were planning on a part 8 and part 9, it's highly unlikely there's an ending scene that isn't a cliffhanger. But we'll see.

2) Kill off the character of Brian O'Connor. They'd almost certainly have to do it in some routine car chase though and frankly his character is more the type who would die in someones arms after jumping in front of a bullet than some slow motion car death out of nowhere. So ultimately it's just not going to work even if they are forced to do it. Yet fans would have to settle for it.

3) Recast the character of Brian O'Connor for 7, 8, & 9. But I wonder if there's any actor who would even want to do that. In fact the more I type this, the more unpleasant it sounds. It's not Dumbledore where you simply can't write out the character. On the other hand, it's not like the story of Fast and Furious truly warrants 9 movies.



Plus as I said last night, I don't know where the cast and crew stand now. While there's the old saying "the show must go on," it doesn't mean the Fast & the Furious needs a part 8 and 9. Without their friend and essentially family member Paul Walker around, what's the point?

 

otoh you just wrote that many words about fast and the furious sequels so idk what to tell you dawg

 

When I first heard I assumed the franchise would die with him.

But I'll be that guy again.

Recasting Brian O'Connor could end up being one of the best things to happen to the franchise, as Paul Walker was consistently terrible in the role.

 

ive never seen a fast and furious so i dunnno if they're likable or not homie

 

Very sad about both deaths as they were not much older than I am, and both appeared to be genuinely good guys. Tragic.

As for the films, I read that this week they were going to be shooting a lot of Walker's scenes so that's definitely going to need a rewrite. In addition, none of the actors are even thinking about returning to work any time soon, and I doubt the studio would even consider making them. So there is plenty of time for a rewrite. I think there is no way they'll hit their original target date. May need to be pushed to the end of summer. As for recasting, I am not in favour at all. Say what you will about his acting, Paul Walker was Brian O'Connor. No one else can come into that role after 6.5 movies and expect to be taken seriously. They will undoubtedly rewrite the script so that Brian is killed off in some way. And I hate to say it, but the easiest way would be in a wreck, like Han. Only need to cut in some closeups of him (even from other movies since there was a lot of green screen) and then film a stunt driver flipping the car. However, that would probably not go over too well with the audience, so hopefully Justin Lin can come up with something a little better.

 

If you're counting Star Wars as recent, there are loads. Saw, Final Destination, Toy Story, Friday the 13th, American Pie, Halloween, Hangover, Die Hard etc

And if you're counting Avatar, then any single film would count. Avatar is not a franchise. Sure, there's a sequel or two being made, but you can't call it a franchise.

EDIT: Ok, Die Hard is based on a book, but Avatar is not an original story created for the screen. It's adapted from several sources as are most films.

 

In terms of the story, Brian has a wife and child. He wanted to hang up the car keys after Fast Five, but he felt he needed to help Dom get his family back. If they wanted to rewrite the whole thing, there's a perfectly good explanation there.

 

This, and it was Dom's sister he was married to, so if you could get Jordana Brewster to come back in between taping her current role on Dallas for perhaps a brief telephone conversation with Vin's Dom saying that Brian and her and their child (or children if they've had more between the time of Fast 5 and 7, then that could work as a way of writing the character of Brain out of the story and giving the character a satisfying resolution that doesn't potentially traumatize movie - goers that having Brian die in a horrific crash (and thus mirroring Walker's own fate) might. Most fans will be smart and wise enough to understand the situation and why Brian would be potentially written out like that.

Edit: BTW, somebody either at E! or elsewhere in the universe has a morbid black sense of humor as E!'s newscrawl announcing Walker's death ran during Vin Diesel's "The Pacifier" movie.

 

I'd say watching "The Pacifier" by choice is far more morbid than that.

 

They could always get Paul Walker's chiropractor to do the role...

 

I actually had the TV turned to something else when the news broke, I'd turned to E! to see if they were acknowledging it in anyway (since it seems these days they don't acknowledge any 'breaking' Hollywood news unless the last name is Kardasian or Lohan), and just happend to discover that it was The Pacifier playing.

 

I'm so sorry.