My, how far The Fast and the Furiousfranchise has come. What started as a Point Breakknockoff centered on the world of illegal street racing has, somewhere over the last 14 years, developed into that rarest of beasts: a blockbuster Hollywood franchise that actually improves with age.
After a couple of cinematic detours in 2 Fast 2 Furious and The Fast and the Furious: Tokyo Drift, the series wisely returned to its roots with the fourth entry (simply titled Fast & Furious) in 2009, bringing back the original cast and refocusing back on the relationship between franchise leads Dominic Toretto (Vin Diesel) and Brian O’Connor (Paul Walker). Subsequent films have built upon that rediscovered foundation, and despite a number of challenges both onscreen and off, Fast & Furious 7 (or just Furious 7, if you’re down with that) continues the series’ evolution and nicely ties up this era of the series.
Aging badasses are nothing new. After all, the late Charles Bronson was already in his 50s when he made the first Death Wish, let alone its four sequels. Meanwhile, Sylvester Stallone’s The Expendableshas spawned an entire franchise around the idea of greying men with guns. So the idea of an actor as accomplished as Liam Neeson brandishing a weapon isn’t exactly as novel as it seems. Still, the actor has appeared in one film after another since showing off his “particular set of skills” in 2008 thriller Taken. So is Neeson’s latest shoot-em-up Run All Night just more of the same?
For decades, Disney has established itself as a haven for family entertainment, but more specifically, the studio has become synonymous with fairy tales. To that end, few of these “happily ever after” fables is as well-known or beloved as Cinderella, brought famously to life by Walt Disney and his team way back in 1950. The film, in fact, remains an integral Disney princess, and her palace still stands as the central landmark of Disney’s Magic Kingdom as well as the logo for the Disney brand itself. So, that being said, does the world really need another take on this age-old story, especially from the studio that most famously brought it to the big screen decades ago?
