The Fast and the Furious

"Let's go for a little ride."

The LAPD and FBI are investigating a series of high speed robberies. They believe the culprits are part of the street racing scene and send LAPD officer Brian O'Conner (Walker) undercover to identify the crew responsible for the heists.

Brian earns the begrudging respect of notorious street racer Dom Toretto (Diesel). He starts working at Dom's garage alongside Hetty (Rodriguez), Leon (Strong), tech wizard Jesse (Lindberg), and volatile Vince (Schulze), while preparing a car for the upcoming Race Wars.  As he growa closer to the group he begins dating Dom's sister, Mia (Brewster) and learns about the rivalry between Dom and Johnny Tran (Yune). All signs point to Dom as the mastermind of the robberies, putting Brian's loyalties to the test. With his career on the line and lives at risk, will Brian turn in his new friends?

Based on the Vibe magazine article "Racer X" by Ken Li, this is the film that launched the Fast & Furious franchise.  To date, the series boasts 9 subsequent films: 2 Fast 2 Furious (2003), The Fast and the Furious: Tokyo Drift (2006), Fast and Furious (2009), Fast Five (2011), Fast and Furious 6 (2013), Furious 7 (2015), The Fate of the Furious (2017), F9 (2021), and Fast X (2023). The franchise also includes a TV show, short films, and spin-offs.

The Good:

If you like fast cars and adrenaline, but don't care about acting or developed characters/plot, then this is the film for you. It is a mindless action flick, with flashy cars and stunts and doesn't really try to be anything else.

The chemistry between Vin Diesel's Dom and Paul Walker's Brian is good. This feels like the perfect film for Diesel, and launched his career.

The Bad:

Everyone is dirty or sweaty (or both) throughout the film. The acting is rough, but I don't really expect great acting in a movie like this.

The women. The 2 female leads (or the only women in the film with names that appear in more than one scene) are underdeveloped. The rest of the women that appear in the film are just shiny eye candy: no purpose, just shallow excuses to show women in tight and revealing clothing.

Other Comments:

-I recently discovered that almost all of the films in the franchise are available on streaming services that I have. While I have never understood the appeal, people love this series and it boasts an impressive number of big name stars, so I plan to watch them all, in the order they were made.

-How did this film launch a franchise? I know people love it, but why? I have watched the entire film twice (I've seen bits and pieces over the years) and I still don't understand why it it beloved. It is fine as a mindless action flick (with a few heists), but not woth the hype.

-Very similar to Point Break and Donnie Brasco.

-A final (11th) film is planned.

The Fast and the Furious (2001) 106 minutes

Rating: PG-13 for violence, sexual content, and language. 

Director: Rob Cohen 

Starring: Paul Walker as Brian O'Conner

Vin Diesel as Dominic Toretto

Michelle Rodriguez as Letty Ortiz

Jordana Brewster as Mia Toretto

Rick Yune as Johnny Tran

Chad Lindberg as Jesse

Johnny Strong as Leon

Ted Levine as Tanner

Thom Barry as Bilkins

Matt Schulze as Vince

Noel Gugliemi as Hector

Ja Rule as Edwin