Movie Reviews #57 - The Fast and The Furious (2001)

Plot: An undercover cop infiltrates a gang of street racers in order to stop truck thieves.

Review: It has already been 15 years since the first Fast & Furious movie came out. In that time a lot has changed. The focus of the series went from street racing to heists and stopping international threats. And with at least 3 more movies to come, who knows where the series will go.

            The Fast and The Furious started off with fairly humble beginnings. The story was basically the same as Point Break, but instead of surfing it was focused on the world of street racing. While the story was one that we have seen before, the racing world was different enough that it felt fresh.

            The acting, surprisingly enough, was not that bad. Before he became a low-voiced one-liner machine, Vin Diesel actually spoke like a normal person. It was strange going back and seeing him this way, it was a pleasant surprise. Paul Walker was fine too. I wasn’t expecting an Oscar worthy performance, but he did what was necessary. The rest of Diesel’s crew were there to play their role, nothing more. The villain, played by Rick Yune, was bland and uninteresting; he and his gang were just a distraction. In the grand scheme of the movie they were unimportant and showed up to add a threat that was easily resolved. Of course it was necessary in this kind of movie to have some sort of villain, but I would have preferred he have some meaning and menace, instead he was just there. The truck driver near the ending heist kicked more ass than any these guys did.

            The street racing was thankfully real for the most part. There was some terrible blur effect CGI going on during some of the races, but when they pulled the camera away and showed the cars actually racing it was real. All of the crashes looked good and the races were well done.

            Of course, as in any Fast & Furious movie, there were huge leaps in logic. How could a hundred or more flashy and loud cars be able to close down a ton of roads in order to have a race and the cops only respond 20 minutes later? Even though the movie was hip at the time, there were many outdated elements. The music featured the likes of Limp Bizkit and Ja Rule. The main items that were being stolen from the trucks were DVD players. All of this though just made it more nostalgic and fun to watch.

            This movie was surprisingly much better than I thought it would be. When I first saw it back in the day, I wasn’t a big fan but it grew on me. It was just one of those fun dumb movies you can enjoy if you don’t think too hard. Another thing I learned, there was an after the credits scene! They beat Marvel to it.

Score: 7.5/10