Without a moment's hesitation, Toretto opens the mangled car door after he's in these accidents and walks out of them without the dramatic pause we see
in other action films.
I've harped on this
with other action films, and I'll do it again here: every action scene in this movie tells a story, has a beginning, middle and end, and every single one reveals things about characters and their relationships with one another.
While other action film directors rely on vertiginous stunts, CGI and / or gore to stun audiences, Greengrass manages to make incredibly simple violent encounters thrilling.
Their wit is on full display in this movie, and together they have a good sense of how to properly mix character, dialogue, and action, so we have enough ingredients to avoid that «mind - numbing» effect of
some other action films.
The use of practical effects for the action scenes and stunts is what may make this film more memorable than
other action films from the early 2000s.
Ball has acquitted himself well with this series and will hopefully find himself on a shortlist when it comes to
other action films in need of a particular directorial eye (The Flash almost makes too much sense, but that spot is apparently taken... for now).
And while there are good parts of the film and some strong action sequences, it just doesn't do anything to set it apart from all
the other action films out there, with the exception of a female lead.