Review of The Fast and the Furious (2001) by Ben J — 17 Jul 2014

Just to preface this review, I have never watched any entry in this franchise before this point. I decided to give them a go in the series entirety after being convinced that I will enjoy at least "one" of them. I started with part 1 last night and as I watch the series all the way through I will be posting small review on each one.

So, this film was released in the Summer of 2001. Boy, does it show. Through every rock and hip hop song of the time, through the dialogue, through the cars, and the clothes. If there was ever a film to properly time capsulate the 00's I would have to say this is it. That is not a knock on the film. Quite the opposite in fact. it had style, flash, and good action as well as knowing exactly what it was and when it was. From the first time "Limp Bizkit's Rollin" pops up at the first race or "Saliva's Superstar" during another you know exactly when in time you are and that makes it more fun.

Vin Diesel is clearly the stronger actor of the two main stars. That's not to say he's great, but his charisma and mere presence is somewhat polarizing. Walker is there and is serviceable, but there's so little flashed out about his character that its conflicting on who to really care about. Its half way through the movie before its made known that he is a cop and by that point it almost just feels like straight up betrayal. Not that that's really suppose to convey emotions, it still seemed out of pace and should have perhaps been made known sooner in order to invest in someone or simply pick a side. Point Break dealt with this conundrum much better.

Michelle Rodrigez is tough and cool like always, though I wish she were in it a tiny bit more being that its kind of implied that Dom does what he does for his love for her. You never really see that love, you only hear about it. The story is so simplistic that its almost hard to know what is going on with the heist aspects because they are rarely made mention of. Its unclear through most of the movie what anyone's motivations are or why things are happening, but its a fun ride. One thing I will say, it may not have good dialogue, but at least the script knows how to competently take the viewer from point A to point B and move the plot points forward. It know what it is and delivers on exactly what people going to see this sort of film want.

So far, I am not hating this series, but I hear it gets worse before it gets better. The next review in this series will be for "2 Fast 2 Furious". Really. I'm not kidding. That's actually the title of it. Oh boy. This is going to be a long ride.