Fast & Furious DVD Release!

11:30PM and I'm standing in the Wal-Mart checkout line, clutching my 2-disc Fast & Furious set. Hell yeah, I made a trip to Wal-Mart in the middle of the night to get my damn DVD, and honestly I was surprised by the amount of people there at the store. You weren't all there to buy that movie, I know you weren't.

And yeah, I'm still up. I just finished watching about as many of the extras as I could stand before my eyes dry up and fall out of the sockets from lack of sleep. The 2-disc set is worth it for the little "Los Bandeleros" movie tucked in on the second disc. Of course they weren't popping that truck for capitalistic gains. A few years ago Dom would have, but now he's a southwestern mechanic with a hero complex. Which I had to grin at. The only thing that disappointed me about that movie is that it and the rest of the franchise still has yet to prove reasonably to me at what point the third movie occurs - between Han's departure and Dom's return to the states, or after all of the events of Fast & Furious? Any thoughts? I could go either way on this one, though I'm still stubbornly clinging to the notion that Han needed some time to set up the operation he had going in Tokyo, which is why I'm leaning towards Dom visiting Japan after Brian, Mia and the rest of his gang busted him out of the prison bus.

I know that it doesn't completely jive that Tokyo Drift happens after Fast & Furious because the car makes in the fourth movie are newer than the third. Be that as it may, I'm still inclined to say that this franchise makes its money on showcasing popular dream cars. We're not talking Bridges of Madison County here. Nobody but the car nuts will pay attention to what the year of that really awesome sports car is - and even though the movies are marketed to car nuts, admit it, you'd still see the flick with the continuity errors included.

Paul Walker made the gag reel. Gah. It's not legal to operate eyes that blue without a license, is it? The rapport between the cast members is fantastic and apparent through all the documentaries on the second disc I've watched so far. Nice documentaries, too. There's a very very sweet film about 'getting the band back together,' basically, and I'm really surprised by how much consideration and respect this film crew gave the fans - although considering the loyal fanbase, I guess I shouldn't be.

Vin was corny as hell with his inspirational message en Espanol to a cheering crowd in that little border town where they filmed. I cringed for him, since he didn't seem embarrassed by his own overacting.

Has anyone watched the movie with the commentary on yet? I really wish more movies would work harder to get the cast on the commentary - I hate to say it, but I really don't care what the director has to say about the movie. I want to hear Paul, Vin and Michelle ribbing each other.

Sorry, Mr. Lin. :( The Lord of the Rings spoiled me for other commentaries.

Han

I'm sure somebody's done this already, so I'm sort of using this as a location to stockpile this information and also help anybody else who may be reading this who, like me, isn't already aware of these details.

Han Lue
We have very little information about Han - imdb doesn't even list his surname. He shows up in Fast & Furious: Tokyo Drift as well as in the early scenes of Fast & Furious and also appears in the movie Los Bandoleros on the disc of extras in the new F&F DVD release. His relationship to Dom is only minimally explored, as is his relationship with characters in Tokyo Drift. Han keeps his secrets close.

However, while not officially part of the Fast & Furious franchise, Han Lue (played by none other than Sang Kung) shows up in another Justin Lin movie called Better Luck Tomorrow (2002). If you choose to take it as F&F canon (in my case, I'm grabbing it with both hands), it provides a somewhat closer look at Han's family, history, and potential motivations.

In Better Luck Tomorrow, Han Lue has a cousin Virgil Hu and is involved in a laundry list of money-making schemes, breaking an ever greater number of laws. I'm going to Netflix this movie forthwith and find out if it's a) available and b) what I'm hoping it is.

The brain takes us strange places. I dove into this fandom because I wanted to write Brian and Dom. And now I'm writing Han. What the hell, brain.