Review of The Fast and the Furious (2001) by Chris O — 25 Jan 2016

Although the visuals are dull and the screenplay makes you wince, "The Fast And The Furious" manages to bring our beloved franchise off to a decent start, and it provides a solid adrenaline rush.

This movie is where it all started, and although the franchise probably should've died by the third movie, I'm glad we've made it this far.

We follow the life of street racers, and more specifically, the life of Brian, who has come across Dominic's crew. In a nutshell, they all deal with cars for a living, and they all live off of racing. Without spoiling anything, that's the basics of the movie, but there is more to be told.

This movie is so messy that I really am unsure where to start. I'll start with the visuals and the camera work, which were absolutely abysmal. The visuals while the characters were racing looked terrible, and it was obvious that it was crappy green screen. The camerawork was also horrendous in this movie, and there really was nothing good about it. All of the shots and framing were just horrible, and it was often shaky and cringe worthy while the mayhem went down. Whenever someone was racing, it also looked bland and crappy, and this movie definitely isn't made for its visuals.

The screenplay was based off your typical 90's action film, and had no shortage of its cheesy lines. Like future Fast films, they had plenty of one liners and awkward moments. It was often unbearable to listen to, and this franchise doesn't seem to fix that for future films.

The action and racing in this movie, although shot horribly, was still entertaining. The hand to hand action wasn't as present in this movie as it is in future films, but it was still suitable. This movie definitely focuses more on the racing aspect, which is a good separation between this film and other films in the franchise.

The characters, although paper-thin, are still the characters we all know and love. They each provide something unique, and the movie manages to set up all their story arks. Although none of them have much depth to them now, they do grow on you over time, and will soon become the recognizable faces of the series.

This movie was really messy overall, and it was often unclear in which direction this movie was trying to go in. The tone jumped back and forth, and the plot was all over the place. This movie was just way too chaotic, and its inconsistent tone made this movie a roller coaster ride.

In the end, although this movie isn't a quality made film or smart for that matter, I admit that I was still entertained in the end. I realize that this movie was kind of already pre-established because I've already seen the future films, but that doesn't stray from the fact that this movie holds up on its own. It was still a decent start to the franchise, and although it's not the most memorable movie in the world, it's still the beginning of a great saga.