I'm a bit ashamed of myself. And, to a point, somewhat proud. I have never watched any of the Fast and Furious movies other than 2 Fast 2 Furious for some reason. So I got sick over the weekend and decided to start watching the entire season to see what I have missed over the last 20 years. Here are some of my thoughts on the first movie into this adrenaline-filled, NOS-injected, action-packed love story.
The Fast
This movie starts out at a pretty fast pace. Quick racing, quick fights, all the machismo you can shake a stick at. We get to follow Brian O'Connor, played by the late Paul Walker. A blonde surfer type who is an undercover cop sent to investigate the infamous street racing gang leader, Dom Toretto (Vin Diesel). This is because a bunch of truck's have been hijacked and good ole Dommy boy is the main suspect. We find out the Brian likes tuna sandwiches. Pretty dang cool I guess.
I'm not a car guy and I will never pretend to be, but what I noticed is there are a lot of references to things inside the cars and I cannot attest to their accuracy. They sound authentic though so we'll accept it. Anyway, Vin Diesel runs a tough crew and whenever he wins a race, people freak out and buy everything he has used to make his modified vehicle a beast. That's what we're told anyway. The cars and feel of this whole world look exactly how you would imagine a movie made in 2001 would look. I'm not sure if that is good or bad yet.
The Furious
Dom and Brian are headed towards an inevitable clash since racing is a no no and Brian is a po po. Brian picks a fight with Vince, who is not happy that Brian is eating tuna sandwiches. We set up for our first D/B race and after losing in a humiliating fashion to Dom, Brian shouts out some very embarrassing lines like "I almost had you bro" as his busted pile of scrap lay smoking in the middle of the road. Brian clearly doesn't know how to race as he is the only one to have his entire car nearly fall off by pushing the NOS buttons. This is where we get the infamous "It doesn't matter if you win by an inch or a mile, winning is winning" line and it's honestly pretty good. Vin daddy is perfect for this role and he seems exactly like the cold-blooded dude that will beat you up, race you, and tell you how much you suck after. But then he takes Brian to a party. Context here, it is only because the cops decided to crash the festivities and chase down Dom. All Dom's crew leave him hanging and the only person there to save him is White Knight Brian. After a nifty little escape, Dom takes him to a 90's house party. Things get a little out of hand because Vince, Dom's muscle head, hates Brian. It must be the hair. Or the tuna sandwiches These two fight through the entire movie because you need a bad guy and that bad guy CANNOT be Vin Diesel.
The Race Wars
Big Dom finally trusts Brian a little and decides to use him to make money in a thing poorly called The Race Wars. I don't like this name and personally think they could have had something like Road Club or Django Unchained. That's just me though. I forgot to mention that Brian is falling HARD for Dom's sister Mia, played by Jordana Brewster. She feeds him those famous tuna sandwiches. And no, that is not an innuendo. Letty, Michelle Rodriguez, is also REALLY trying to calm Dom down and get into his pants. He plays it off but also doesn't? It's weird but makes sense in the actual movie.
Now it's time to prepare for The Race Wars. A tournament, I think, where people from rival gangs race. It's like West Side Story but with cars. And sometimes guns. Actually, I don't think it's a tournament per se, but more like people race each other for money in the middle of a sand dune. There is a rival gang that tries to out-gang Dom's gang throughout the movie and they are only REALLY relevant for the sake of Brian trying to beat them for money to pay back Dom. Also, they totally eliminate a member of Dom's crew who is in the movie for about 2 minutes of screen time. He's a mechanic who is super smart but couldn't go to college because of his "ADD." The bad gang sends him to the grave instead.
All this time, Brian struggles between being a police officer and a friend to a literal gang leader and cannot decide which side is the good side. With this internal struggle, total crap hits the fan as Dom is going to get revenge on the worse gang for pew pewing the mechanic guy. Brian has all these people weirdly set up to get busted soon and suddenly doesn't want Dom to get arrested. Or killed. So decides it's best to tell Mia he has lied to everyone. There are a bunch of "HOW COULD YOU" type lines here and another race begins with Dom and Brian. Not like a whoever gets their first race. Okay, it's a chase?
A whole action scene happens where everyone with guns fires upon every vehicle ever and in the midst of it all, tunnel-snake Vince gets hit. He's hurt. Badly. Brian again plays White Knight and uses his power of copness to call in an ambulance to Francis' location. This is where Dom finds out Brian has been a total fibber this whole time.
As the cops are about to show up, Brian lets Dom go because he believes that all criminals who cause mass destruction while street racing and hijacking trucks deserve a second chance. He also decides "Nah, I don't want to be a cop anymore. Doing illegal things is WAY more fun." This sets up the next 20 years, apparently as Dom gets into Brian's car and drives off into the sunset. Roll credits.
The Verdict
This movie is pretty good, actually. A little cheesy at times but overall, a good story about morality, friendship (even if it IS with a gang), and what it takes to put yourself in someone else's shoes. Now, I HAVE seen the second movie in this series and it is VASTLY different than this. Of all the things I have heard, The Fast And The Furious seems to be the most tame of the 13,000 movies released. I'll be reviewing 2 Fast 2 Furious next so strap in. Time to get more furious.
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