After a series of dangerous lorry hijacks by a crew of exceptionally talented drivers and robbers, the Los Angeles police fear that the lorry drivers will take the law into their own hands. In an attempt to discover the identity of the gang of criminals, the police send one of their own, Brian Spilner, undercover into the world of the street racers in the hope of infiltrating the close nit community and discovering the identities of the robbers.
Awkwardly forcing himself into the world of the street racer, Brian soon comes to the attention of mechanic and hotshot driver, Dominic, as his innocent flirting with his sister, Mia, causes unrest amongst Dominic's gang of drivers. Initially rebuked for his lack of street racing know-how, he manages to win Dominic's approval by helping him escape during a police chase. Welcomed by Dominic into his family and driving crew, his presence still causes friction with the other drivers, in particular with hard nosed Vince, especially once his friendship with Mia flourishes into a relationship.
Whilst working for Dominic, he carries on his mission as he goes about attempting to find the identity of the team of lorry hijackers. But as his friendship with Dominic and Mia grows, he starts too become enraptured by the street racer life style and looses sight on what his job really is. With all his investigations leading him back to his new found friends, he has to deal with his emotions and morals as to whether he should do his job or protect his new friends.
The Fast and the Furious, or as it should have been known "Boy Racer's Wet Dream", is in all honesty, little more than an excuse for showing off some very suped-up motors. Not that it is a terrible movie, in fact it is an enjoyable bit of escapism, but with a plot which has been used more times than I care to remember, and other than Vin Diesel
and the cavalcade of stylized vehicles, there is really little else to this film. Probably its biggest problem is the lack of a decent and new plot. As soon as you know you are watching an undercover cop, the film becomes very predictable and for those who watch numerous movies will not only be able to predict the outcome but will be able to foretell what the next scene is, it is really that predictable. The whole relationship scenario between Brian, Dominic and Mia, although entertaining and at time engrossing seems very contrived and packed with cliché dialogue and play it by number scenes. But in all fairness, the plot to this movie was never going to be that great and would ultimately always play second fiddle to the cars.
Sadly the plot is not the only bad thing about this movie, and other than Vin Diesel as Dominic, the remaining cast appear to struggle. Whether this is down too their inability to act or, as I suspect, a poor script, the delivery does come over as a bit wooden. Not that I have anything against him, but Paul Walker as Brian Spilner an undercover cop, masquerading as a street racer, must be one of the worst casting decisions ever, as he is unrealistic at being either. It is a shame as Mr. Walker is indeed a reasonable actor, but for me, personally, this was not the film for him. The saving grace to the film is Vin Diesel as Dominic, the muscle bound mechanic and hotshot driver who heads his crew of street racers and robbers. Not that he displays any great amount of acting skill, but his casting was absolute perfection and I doubt that this film would have been anywhere nearly as successful with out him. Other than Michelle Rodriguez putting in a reasonable performance as Dominic's girlfriend Letty, there is not another performance worthy of a mention.
For all its failings, the Fast and the Furious is still an enjoyable film, and a lot of credit should be bestowed upon director Rob Cohen for managing to make the most of what is basically a poor script. Knowing that with a predictable plot and poor dialogue he would struggle to hold an audiences attention, he has switched the focus of the film to the action and in particular the cars. In some ways, it was a huge gamble, but he has done it so effectively that fans of action movies will enjoy the spectacular car chases and the suped-up motors will undoubtedly appeal to a generation of car lovers. Some of the action scenes involving the cars are some of the best choreographed sequences I have seen for many years and still amaze me every time I watch this film.
The soundtrack, just like the film is fuelled by fast paced, thumping tunes which although does not appeal to me, is typical of the genre of music favoured by street racers. Saying that, the soundtrack is not over bearing and generally sits there is in the background adding to the scenes rather than detracting from them.
So with all its faults and failings, it is very surprising how enjoyable The Fast and the Furious really is. Its appeal will only really find three sets of fans, those who like action, those who like suped-up cars and anyone who is a fan of Vin Diesel. It is a shame that the plot and dialogue could not match the stunning special effects and car chases, but sadly it doesn't and stops this from becoming a very spectacular film.
"Audio commentary" - the audio commentary by director Rob Cohen, although informative is in my opinion marred by his over enthusiasm for the stars of the film, at times going far too over the top with his praise.
"The Making of The Fast and the Furious" - Packed full of the usual behind the scene footage, interviews and general information. At 18 minutes long it is very informative and manages to stay focussed rather than drifting off in to a mere promotional feature.
"Multiple Camera Angle Stunt Sequence" - Allows you to view two of the spectacular car stunts from several different angles, and really shows how amazing they really are.
"Movie Magic Interactive Special Effects" - Pretty much the same as above, but focuses on the spectacular final stunt and explains all aspects of its construction.
"Deleted Scenes" - In total there are 8 of these and add no real depth to the film.
"Editing for the Motion Picture Association of America" - Looks at how Cohen and his editor went about deciding which pieces of footage to use, in reality pretty boring.
"Visual Effects Montage" a short piece featuring a mixture of storyboards, final footage, computer animations to take you on a journey through the action sequences in the movie.
"Storyboard to Final Feature Comparison" - more storyboards as to how certain action sequences were constructed, to be honest this was very boring.
"Music Videos" - there are 3 music videos which unless you enjoy the music in the film, will not appeal at all.
"Music Highlights" - This was new to me and allows you to jump to any of the 19 songs which feature throughout the film, nice for the novelty factor but basically just padding.
The DVD also contains theatrical trailers, production notes, filmographies which are all pretty much padding and are sadly becoming the mainstay of DVD special features.
In general the special features are mere padding, with only a couple worthy of any real viewing.
Action/Adventure - Director: Gore Verbinski - Original Language: English - Classification: 12 years and over - Starring:Bill Nighy, Keira Knightley, Johnny Depp, Geoffrey Rush, Orlando Bloom, Chow Yun-Fat
Production Year: 1964 - Action/Adventure - Director: Cyril Endfield - Original Language: English - Classification: Parental Guidance - Starring:Stanley Baker, Jack Hawkins, Ulla Jacobsson, James Booth, Michael Caine, Nigel Green
Production Year: 2002 - Action/Adventure - Director: Vincenzo Natali - Original Language: English - Classification: 15 years and over - Starring:Lucy Liu, David Hewlett, Anne Marie Scheffler, Joseph Scoren, Matthew Sharp, Jeremy Northam
Great review, loved the first two films saw the new one the other week, it was awful. Vin only appears for about 5 secs at the end and ended it in such away that they can make a fourth. V x x
eve6kicksass 22.06.2006 22:46
Loved the review, but hated the film...ripped off POINT BREAK to a tee I thought. Also, despite the great cars, I think that was the real reason why the film became so popular. Chris :)))
A guilty pleasure with excess horsepower,The Fast and the Furiousefficiently combines ... more
time-honoured male fantasies (hot cars, hot women, hot action) into a vacuous plot of crystalline purity. It's trash, but it'sfuntrash, in which a hotshot Los Angeles...
Postage & Packaging: £1.21 Availability: Usually dispatched within 1-2 business days...
A guilty pleasure with excess horsepower,The Fast and the Furiousefficiently combines ... more
time-honored male fantasies (hot cars, hot women, hot action) into a vacuous plot of crystalline purity. It's trash, but it's fun trash, in which a hotshot Los Angele...
Postage & Packaging: £1.21 Availability: Usually dispatched within 1-2 business days...
Advantages: Back to the cruising scene with great cars, great sound systems and great girls. Action packed Disadvantages: It's not as good as Fast and Furious, poor acting, unrealistic story
![The Fast And The Furious [HD DVD] [2001]](http://picnicb.ciao.com/uk/78158583.jpg "The Fast And The Furious [HD DVD] [2001]")
![The Fast and the Furious [DVD] [1954] [Region 1] [US Import] [NTSC]](http://picnica.ciao.com/uk/75101444.jpg "The Fast and the Furious [DVD] [1954] [Region 1] [US Import] [NTSC]")
![The Fast and the Furious [DVD] [1954] [US Import] [NTSC]](http://picnica.ciao.com/uk/81497500.jpg "The Fast and the Furious [DVD] [1954] [US Import] [NTSC]")
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