Directed by Rob Cohen
If you let your mind forget everything that happens to this franchise after Tokyo Drift, you’ll quickly remember that the original Fast and Furious is a near-perfect movie. I will die on this hill. Let’s break it down.
THE PLOT (IN CASE YOU SOMEHOW HAVEN’T SEEN IT?)
Brian O’Conner (Paul Walker) is an undercover LAPD officer working to identify a crew of highway hijackers who have been stealing electronics and other goods from semi trucks. The truck drivers are close to boiling over, and their anger + pressure on the LAPD team offers from additional steam to the plot. Brian’s investigation leads him to Dominic Toretto (Vin Diesel), a legendary L.A. street racer who runs a tight-knit crew out of a corner market in Angelino Heights. Brian infiltrates the crew, falling for Dom’s sister Mia (Jordana Brewster) in the process, and slowly loses his ability to pretend the job is all that matters.
The plot follows a traditional three-act structure built on a classic heist/undercover formula, and stacks the stakes properly. Brian’s professional life, relationships, and sense of self are all on the line; all at once, he’s forced to navigate his feelings for Mia, his growing loyalty to Dom and his crew, and growing demand from his bosses to close the case. The breaking point comes when Brian falsely accuses rival racer Johnny Tran (Rick Yune) as the hijacker and it blows up in his face, meaning he can no longer avoid what he’s known for a while, that Dom is almost certainly the man he’s been sent to bring down. There’s no move that doesn’t cost him something.
By the end, Brian has to choose between the law and his new friendship, a decision that leads him to an epic future (and the cast to nine or ten more movies).
THE CAST
Walker and Diesel play their parts perfectly, and it’s their reluctant connection that drives the film (no pun intended). This is one of the few movies where Vin Diesel actually acts, and his monologue on his father’s death is real stuff. The franchise suffers in a major way when we lose their dynamic.
Michelle Rodriguez is just cool and Jordana Brewster brings warmth and grounding despite still being a badass driver and member of the crew. The rest of the team (yet to be rounded out as it is over the next 3-4 films) are charming and fit this plot, but it’s only Vince who comes back for a repeat appearance later on.
FINAL THOUGHTS
The Fast and the Furious knows something its sequels gradually forgot: these stories ultimately work because we want to know what happens when someone falls into a family they weren’t supposed to join. By the time Brian hands over the keys to his Supra, we’re so bought in that 2001 us would’ve been thrilled to know our futures held a ten-part franchise. What it actually turned into is another conversation… but this first edition remains pure.
I named my dog Vin Diesel, so I think that explains where I stand.
this movie is good.
My rating: 5/5 stars
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