Home
Home

The Fast And The Furious (2001)

DVD Cover (Universal Reissue)
Add to Collection
Sign up to add this to your collection
Add to Favorites
Sign up to add this to your favorites
Overall Rating 68%
Overall Rating
Ranked #414
...out of 20,196 movies
Check In? Sign up to check in!


Los Angeles street racer Dominic Toretto falls under the suspicion of the LAPD as a string of high-speed electronics truck robberies rocks the area. Brian O'Connor, an officer of the LAPD, joins the ranks of Toretto's highly skilled racing crew undercover to convict Toretto. However, O'Connor finds himself both enamored with this new world and in love with Toretto's sister, Mia. As a rival racing crew gains strength, O'Connor must decide where his loyalty really lies. --IMDb
User Image
Review by Crispy
Added: December 4, 2013
I'm not going to sit here and pretend I'm devastated by any celebrity's untimely death, but by all rights, Paul Walker seems to have been a decent guy. Hell, he died in a car crash en route to one of his many charity events, so I'd say a small tribute with the movie that made him a household name should be in order. Now, I'll be perfectly honest, I never really paid The Fast and the Furious series any attention, and a big part of the reason was its fans. You look at all the retards sitting in parking lots until all hours of the night, revving the motors on their gaudy Hondas and you don't want anything to do with the movie that started this nonsense. Who'd have thought it was actually a decent flick?

It's a dangerous time to be a truck driver heading through the Mojave. There's been a rash of hijackings lately; three black Honda Civics with green underlighting trap the truck; the thieves then acrobatically board the cab, subdue the driver, and make off with a rig full of electronics. Through a joint venture between the LAPD and the FBI, LAPD officer Brian O'Connor goes undercover as Brian Spillner working at a popular auto parts store to infiltrate the local underground illegal street racing circuit. In no time at all he learns that the entire street racing world revolves around one Dom Toretto, and Brian's positive that whether or not Dom is directly involved with the hijackings, he knows who is. In order to get close to him, the FBI supplies him with a ten-second car and he enters into a street race with him, using the pink slip to pay the entrance fee. Shortly after Dom wins the race, the site is overrun with cops. Brian sees an opportunity to gain the man's trust and helps Dom stay out of the cuffs. The plan works and he continues his investigation as a member of Dom's team, falling for the racer's sister along the way.

The thing about The Fast and the Furious is that it's not actually a car movie. Sure, it's main characters are all about modding their cars and illegal street races, but the primary focus is on Brian's undercover investigation and his relationship with Dom's team. Don't get me wrong, there's more than a few car scenes in there for the lug heads, but it's a subplot more than anything. Still, they were definitely aiming at that young and fast audience, with rap/numetal blasting in the background for no reason whatsoever and CGI trips through the inner mechanisms of the cars whenever the racers would hit that NOS button. Thankfully, the technique wasn't overused, and there was a nice consistency throughout the movie that simultaneously caters to the ADD ravaged youth without getting stale. The whole movie is filmed like a giant music video, and while it's not "good" film making, it makes for an entertaining hundred minutes.

He'd been in a few movies before this, but this is the movie that turned Vin Diesel into a household name. The man's acting skills rank somewhere just above average, but he has an understated charisma that carries him beautifully. While Paul Walker is definitely a few steps up in terms of straight action skill, he also relies primarily on charisma here. Difference is he uses more of a confident "pretty boy" approach, whereas Diesel was that stone cold bad ass. Both characters fit the general tone of the movie, and were able to avoid being clones of each other. Also, in our two main female roles, Jordanna Brewster and Michelle Rodriguez, are able to position themselves a few steps above mere eye candy. Brewster in particular did a lot with her small role. Even more important, the whole is more than the sum of the parts here; every one of these actors play off each other so naturally. This chemistry even carries down to the tertiary characters: Ted Levine, Matt Schulze, and Chad Lindberg all cemented solidly . More than anything else, I'd say the characters and the chemistry between them was the true secret to the film's success.

Bottom line, even if you've ever snickered at a movie theater full of Hondas when the new sequels come out, don't let that detract you from the actual films. While I haven't seen all of the sequels, I can say that the first flick was actually very nicely done. Nobody was more surprised than me. 8/10.

Rest in Peace: Paul Walker (09/12/1973-11/30/2013)
Sign up to add your comment. Sign up to add your comment.
Recommended Movies
Fast & Furious 2 Fast 2 Furious Fast Five Furious 7 Fast & Furious 6 Fast X F9: The Fast Saga The Turbo Charged Prelude To 2 Fast 2 Furious Los Bandoleros The Fate Of The Furious The Fast And The Furious: Tokyo Drift Fast & Furious Presents: Hobbs & Shaw xXx Shaft Running Scared Hostage Ambulance Get Carter
Layout, reviews and code © 2000-2024 | Privacy Policy
Contact: Join us on Facebook Follow us on Twitter Review Updates