New Model, Original Parts: FAST & FURIOUS 4 (2009)

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Despite freezing rain and frigid temperatures on Sunday night, Daniel Demaras drove his classic Subaru WRX to the cinema for Fast Film Fest IV. His car had just received a front-end JDM conversion, making it look just like a Japanese model. This really shows the popularity of tuner car culture today. Just as strong as it was in 2009 when “Fast & Furious 4” was theatrically released.

Demaras Racing hosted 18 guests in slightly cramped Cinema 7 in Oakville, just like in October when the Fast Film Fest started. But “Fast & Furious 4” is very much a rebirth for the series, so it made sense to go back to where it all started.

“2 Fast 2 Furious” retained Paul Walker but otherwise lost the original cast including Vin Diesel, and “FF3: Tokyo Drift” had an all-new cast, except for a cameo by Vin Diesel. This movie’s tagline ‘New Model. Original Parts‘ refers to the return of the original cast including Vin Diesel, Paul Walker, Michelle Rodriguez and Jordana Brewster. Many consider “Fast & Furious 4” to be the direct sequel to the first film, but also signals a shift away from the juvenile delinquency and street racing in the earlier installments. This movie is much darker, more serious in tone, and launched F&F into an action movie series.

Set 5 years after the events of the first film, fugitive ex-con Dom Toretto is hiding out in the Dominican Republic, where he robs gasoline tanker trucks to help impoverished locals. Estranged from Letty and his friends in L.A., Dom’s idyllic island life is shattered and he is forced to return home once he learns that his girlfriend Letty has been murdered.

On the other end of the story, Brian O’Conner has left his street racing family behind, and is back with the FBI. He’s working on taking down mysterious drug lord Arturo Braga, who uses street racers to transport dope across the Mexican border; a scheme which cost his friend Letty her life.

Former friends Dom and Brian reluctantly agree to put aside their animosity and work together to get the bad guys, and avenge Letty’s death.

To infiltrate the drug kingpin’s organization, Dom and Brian enter a street race organized to find the fastest wheelmen in L.A. Other street racers driving a BMW M3 and an Infiniti G35 also compete for the chance join the gang, but they’re quickly dispatched. This sets the scene for a one on one rematch between the bickering bros; Dom in his Chevy Chevelle representing American muscle, and Brian in his R34 Nissan Skyline GTR on the import tuner side.

With Brian seeking a conviction, and Dom seeking revenge, the duo rip off the $60 million in heroin they were transporting across the border. In an attempt to capture Braga, undercover agent Brian O’Connor devises a plan to use the dope as bait to draw out the elusive Braga for a face-to-face payoff in exchange for the solen drugs, where he’ll be apprehended. But is their target even the real Braga?

This is the crux of the movie, as the main theme explored in the movie: identity. Every major character is the movie is faking their identity. The slippery Braga not who he appears to be. Brian and Dom aren’t street-racers; they’re an undercover cop and a vigilante out for blood.

More than just false identity “Fast & Furious 4” explores the protagonists coming to grips with who they really are; their true identity. In one dramatic scene, Brian tries to reconcile with his old flame, Mia (Dom’s little sister). But she knows that Brian is torn and confused. Mia asks him “Are you the good guy pretending to be the bad guy, or the bad guy pretending to be the good guy?” which has been the question about Brian through three F&F films!

Then there’s Dom, with his selfish “I live my life a quarter-mile at a time.” dogma. Late in the movie, Dom learns that Letty wasn’t just running drugs for Braga. She was co-operating with the FBI as part of an immunity deal for Dom. Dom’s world crashes around him when he realizes the repercussions of his actions. He abandoned his family, and in her efforts to bring Dom home, it cost Letty her life.

The first three films in the Fast & Furious series are sometimes called the original trilogy, but they may as well be stand-alone movies. Their connection was low-stakes street-racing, but in “Fast & Furious 4” there’s a dynamic shift towards big-budget action sequences and a focus on ‘family’. After dodging a gasoline truck fully engulfed in flames, how could director Justin Lin be expected to put Dom back on the streets of L.A. racing against Hector for pink slips?

The new action-movie style starting in “Fast & Furious 4” drew a much wider audience and huge box office results.

Back at the Fast Film Fest in Oakville, Demaras Racing raffled off a “Fast & Furious 4” movie poster, and invited everyone to return in three weeks for the next installment, Some grumbling was heard in the audience that this was the point where the F&F franchise lots its way. Other guests were super-excited about “Fast Five” coming up on January 18 2026, with its iconic bank vault heist. Without a doubt, these movies are polarizing, but never boring.

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