The Fast and the Furious, take four.

[rsadelle]

I went to see The Fast and the Furious for the fourth time tonight. On the big screen for free again. I didn't take many notes because I wanted to just watch and try to get a feel for Letty's character, but I did write down a few numbers.

--Brian's green car has Arizona plates, number RNO263.

--Dom's red car has California plates, number 4CBO626.

--At Race Wars, Jesse's number is 208, and Johnny Tran's is 433.

And a few other observations. Spoilers as usual.

--I checked out Mia's books again. I think she's probably working on her general ed requirements. The book she's working from in the store looks like a math or science book of some sort, while the book she's reading when Dom and Brian come back to the house looks more like a literature anthology.

--I had Leon and Jesse's conversation about Brian backwards. It's Jesse who says, "He's beautiful," and Leon who says, "I like his haircut." Remember that Jesse and Leon "just showed up one night and never left."

--Letty really gets off on racing, as you can see when she beats the asshole at Race Wars.

--It is at the post-race party that Jesse's arms are around Vince.

--As he gets ready to leave on the last job, Dom tells Mia, "I'm doing this for the both of us."

--I swear Brian says that Vince has been shot in the left leg, but it's really higher than that, so maybe what he says is "the left flank" and it's that Keanu surfer drawl thing Paul Walker has going on that makes it sound like "left leg." It's the only thing I can think of that makes sense.

--A lot of the cars only have plates on the back. In California, you have to have plates on the front and the back.

--Dom tells Brian that the bathroom is "upstairs, first door on the right."

--If Vince is about 24, and he and Dom "grew up together" and "were friends as kids," then Dom's probably also 24 or so. He has to have been out of jail long enough to establish his dominance in the street racing world, plus they've been jacking trucks for three months, so that's at least a bit more than a year. Which means that Dom was no older than about 21 when his dad died and he beat up Linder. The way Mia talks about the relationship between Dom and Letty makes it sound like Letty's at least a few years younger than him. Jesse looks about 19, and Leon's probably 22 or 23. The only one I really can't figure out is Mia. The way Dom acts about her--not listening to her, being very protective in respect to her love life--seems to indicate that she's younger than him, but by how much? Are we meant to assume that she didn't go to school until Dom got out of prison, so maybe she's not the same age as your usual college sophomore (I'm guessing on her year in school using the assumption that she is working on general ed classes)? Or is she really only 19 or 20? If she's that young, wouldn't everyone else be a bit worried about her getting involved with Brian, who's probably 25 or so? Or is it okay because of the age difference between Dom and Letty?

--Dom does what Letty tells him to. When Mia tries to get him to break up the fight between Brian and Vince, he doesn't really go do anything until Letty insists. Back at the house after the race, it takes a repetition of the command, but he does give in to her request to "go upstairs" and "give me a massage."

--I'm fascinated by the relationship between Letty and Mia. When Letty shows up at the store, she says to Mia, "How you livin', girl?" Then, when Mia asks Dom to break up the fight between Vince and Brian, Letty takes her side and pushes Dom to get out there. Mia rides home from the race with Letty, and we do get a shot of them standing next to Letty's car together.

--Mia's supposed to be the nearly perfect one, but she shows an awful lot of resentment. When Brian says, "Where I come from, the cook doesn't do the dishes," she replies, "I'd like to go there," and you can hear the bitterness in her voice. There's also the way she tells Brian that it's nice to be first for once.

--Letty laughs a lot more than I think. She also tries to help make peace when Vince returns.

--Dom and Mia are definitely Catholic. When Jesse says grace, Mia crosses herself.

I found the crowd reactions very interesting. Last night's crowd thought the whole movie was hilarious. Tonight's was more responsive to the moments of action and suspense. Last night's crowd murmured, either in surprise or disapproval, when Vince kissed Dom's head, and was pretty much silent about the two girls kissing at the house. Tonight's crowd was silent about Vince and Dom, but there were some approving sounds for the girls kissing. Last night's crowd was mostly women. Tonight's had a higher percentage of men.

Mid-movie Mia musings: I go out with Brian, and he tells me I come first, that being friends with Dom is "just a bonus." I know they're out jacking trucks tonight, and I know that as soon as they get back, Dom'll take Letty upstairs and they'll fuck and I'll have to listen to him making her come. So I go home with Brian. If she's going to sleep with Dom instead of me, I'm going to sleep with Brian. We have sex in his bed tucked away in the corner of a little room at Harry's. It's good, but it's not the way it is with Letty. We sleep, but then his phone rings, waking us up, and we make love again. I try not to think about Dom touching Letty the way Brian's touching me.