2001 | Dir. Rob Cohen | 106 Minutes
"I live my life a quarter mile at a time. Nothing else matters, not the mortgage, not the store, not my team and all their bullshit. For those ten seconds or less, I'm free."
Brian O'Conner, an undercover cop, enters the world of illegal LA street racing to investigate a rash of semi-trailer truck hijackings perpetrated by amateur racers. Brian quickly befriends Dominic Toretto, the charismatic leader of a ragtag crew of street racers and mastermind behind the heist operation. With pressure from the LAPD and the FBI bearing down on Brian to make an arrest, Brian must choose between his as a duty lawman and his friendship with Dom and his team.
Inspired by an article about street racing by Ken Li entitled Racer X featured in the May 1998 issue of Vibe magazine, director Rob Cohen set out to make a thrilling action film with fast cars and high-speed stunts. The film is essentially a variation on the seminal 1980's action film Point Break, but it firmly establishes its own trademark style under Cohen's direction with intense racing, chase, and heist sequences, occasionally peppered with gratuitous shots of scantily-clad young women. The film's heart is in its lead characters, a group of honorable thieves that make up an unconventional family unit.
The film features the breakout performances of Paul Walker and Vin Diesel. As Brian, Walker is a competent but somewhat bland leading man, serving as a point-of-view character for the benefit of the audience. In the role that earned him true mainstream Hollywood movie star status, Diesel is surprisingly nuanced as Dom, undeniably cool with an intensity barely contained just under the surface. Halfway through the film, Dom recounts the defining moment of his life to Brian, in which he lost control and nearly beat to death the man that was responsible for the death of Dom's father. For a young actor that most would peg for tough guy or, at best, action star parts, Diesel demonstrates real acting chops during this monologue, showing genuine emotional depth.
The rest of the cast is filled out with the stock characters one would expect from action films of this sort. Michelle Rodriguez plays Dom's tough as nails girlfriend and like Walker and Diesel, her snarling performance in this film defines virtually every acing role she's taken on since for better or worse. Jordana Brewster provides an ample amount of emotional content as Mia, Dom's sister and Brian's love interest. Matt Schulze plays big-dumb-guy-who-hates-Brian Vince, comically predictable but still amusing. Chad Lindberg plays mentally sensitive mechanical genius Jesse, whose role exists to show that Dom is the kind of guy who will take in and protect outcasts, finding a place for them within his family. Johnny Strong barely registers as Leon, another guy in Dom's group who's just kind of there. Then there's Rick Yune hamming it up as Johnny Tran, stereotypical leader of the Asian gang and Dom's rival, with Reggie Lee as his cousin/henchman in leather pants. Ted Levine plays Tanner, Brian's fatherly balding LAPD sergeant, and Thom Barry plays FBI Agent Bilkins who doesn't have much to do except arbitrarily berate Brian because that's what federal agents do to street level cops in these movies. Ja Rule, who provides several songs for the soundtrack, has a small but notable part during the first street race sequence, a competitor whose prime motivation for winning is the promise of a ménage à trois with two comely ladies.
Featuring exciting high speed hijacking sequences, decent racing and chase scenes with slightly silly CGI, and a stellar performance from Vin Diesel, The Fast and the Furious is a classic action film that any fan of the genre ought to appreciate.
POST-CREDITS STINGER
Dom drives through Baja, Mexico - setting up Fast & Furious, the fourth film in the series
FRAGMENTS
- In Japan, the title for this film is Wild Speed
- Director Rob Cohen makes a cameo appearance before the first street race sequence as a Pizza Hut delivery guy while Producer Neal H. Moritz plays an arrogant man in a Ferrari that Dom and Brian leave in the dust after having some words at a stop light
- Reggie Lee who plays Johnnie Tran's cousin/henchman Lance, has appeared in various genre films since including the second and third Pirates of the Caribbean films in different roles under heavy make-up, Sam Raimi's Drag Me to Hell, JJ Abrams' Star Trek, and The Dark Knight Rises
- Though the truck hijacking sequences are appropriately intense, they seem quaint (but grounded) in retrospect knowing the straight-up insanity the series will embrace a few films down the line
- Race Wars in the desert looks like the best late 90's/early 00's party ever, with drag racing, wet t-shirt contests, and raves at night
- Have to wonder if LA cops/federal agents in LA really operate out of former celebrity homes
- The extensive use of NOS brand nitrous oxide with accompanying CGI inside-the-engine shots is also somewhat amusing
007 CONNECTIONS
- Rick Yune (Zao in Die Another Day)
MCU CONNECTIONS
- Vin Diesel (Groot in Guardians of the Galaxy, Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2, Avengers: Infinity War, Avengers: Endgame, Thor: Love and Thunder, and Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3)
