I know that this may come across as hard to believe, but it's a pretty tall order deciding what to discuss in this blog week to week. We're just over two years in and I like to think that we've kept things pretty fresh, especially with some of the subject expansion that's taken place in the last year. However, it can still be tough to decide on subject matter that will provide satisfactory variety. To that end, I started marathoning through the Fast and Furious franchise. As you know, there have been eight of them with a ninth on the way. We're not going to blow through them all in one stint as that would definitely get old quick, but instead, I'll toss a review in approximately once per month until we've gotten through them all.
I have to be honest, I wasn't a huge fan of The Fast and the Furious when it first came out. In fact, my only exposure to the first film was a friend of mine who insisted that he was super cool because he knew what they were talking about when they discussed NOS. The second film came out at a time when my access to movies was limited. As a result, the only exposure I had to that film were the trailers and those incessant Mitsubishi adds that ran all the time. I actually entered the franchise at the behest of my wife who insisted that I needed to watch Tokyo Drift because it was pretty cool. At that moment, a romance was born. I'm not sure why exactly I didn't get into the franchise earlier, but after watching Tokyo Drift, I realized that Fast and Furious was everything I love about James Bond films with more and faster cars.
I went back shortly after my initial exposure to watch The Fast and the Furious so that I could find out how it had all began, and I wasn't disappointed, but we'll get to that. I know that this is all a lot of backstory, but I just wanted to demonstrate that I didn't start out as some sort of rabid fanboy. I was however, thoroughly won over by the franchise over time, and that's where I'm coming from as I do these particular reviews. I'll still try to employ my patented level of objectivity, but just be warned that as the years have passed, I have grown pretty fond of this franchise.
For those who are unaware, The Fast and the Furious was based on an article from Vibe magazine titled "Racer X". The article was about the underground tuner racing circuits that were quickly becoming a thing. The actual screenplay is credited to Gary Scott Thompson, who also wrote 88 Minutes, and episodes of the 2008 reboot of Knight Rider. I bring this up for a reason that will hopefully become apparent pretty quickly.
The story of The Fast and the Furious centers on Brian O'Connor, played by the late Paul Walker, an officer with the LAPD. An unknown gang of thugs have been stealing (mostly) electronics from semi-trucks in the area by cover of darkness, and remoteness. O'Connor is drafted to go undercover to find out who has been committing the crimes and gather enough evidence to prosecute them. This is where the writer stuff comes in. Walker's performance is very much that of an over-eager outsider who has been looking in from afar for a very long time, and has finally gotten his chance to slink into that world that he's coveted for so long. I don't know if this was a byproduct of Scott's feelings towards the tuner culture, or maybe the author's point of view that wrote the original article, but it's an exceptionally good angle from which to approach a story of this type. I don't know if it was intentional, but it happened that way and it payed off. At the time that this film was released, the tuner underground race culture was still a pretty new thing, and you had to dig pretty hard to find it. Thus, an examination of the culture along with the presentation of the story really helps the general audience to get the most out of the viewing experience.
Along with Brian as our protagonist, we're introduced to Dominic 'Dom' Toretto, played by Vin Diesel. Dom and his crew represent the best that the underground racing scene have to offer in LA. They're extremely good at racing and have earned the respect of everyone that they've come in contact with on the quarter mile. Brian has tried to get into the scene by working for an informant who owns a race tuning auto-parts store. In this way, Brian can come into contact with racers, keep track of who is buying what, and also buy things for his own car. Brian and Dom cross paths when Brian starts flirting with Dom's sister, Mia. This adds an extra layer of drama as Dom's childhood friend Vince has a thing for Mia as well, and maybe feels a little entitled to a shot at a relationship, but you know what they say about moving or losing. At any rate, Brian builds car up from a Mitsubishi Eclipse. He sinks a bunch of money into it, and looking at specs, it's a great car, but the moral of this story is that you can toss all of the money at a thing you want, but if you don't know how to use the things that you build, they're more than useless. Brian and Dom race, and Brian destroys his car in the process. As a result, Dom brings Brian on to build up a new 10 second car to make up for the one that Brian destroyed that Dom should have gotten keys to.
This sets off a series of events where we get to see the true depth of Brian's ineptitude. He bungles a recon op where he pisses off some Japanese racers who absolutely do not like the dishonor of being accused of theft. There's a raid, and as a result, the Japs tear up Dom's crew as retribution. There are guns and explosions, and it's all very exciting. In the meantime, when there aren't guns and explosions, Brian begins to see that Dom's crew is much more than just racing associates. He sees how Dom does everything possible to protect his family, and how they all have each other's backs in every way. This is, of course, to throw Brian off their trail, narratively speaking, Dom and his gang are actually pretty honorable folks minus the whole thievery thing. As Brian gets absorbed further and further into Dom's family, he begins to empathize with and relate to the new culture that he's finally broken into. The attack from the Japanese racers throws the entire crew into chaos as each person scatters to ride out the storm. Dom is left holding the bag, and all seems lost, but Brian saves him. When Dom gets home and finds everyone else partying, he's understandably upset.
There finally comes a moment of reckoning when Brian realizes, and has to face facts that the perpetrators behind his heists are Dom's crew. There's a snag though, because there always is. In the interim time that it's taken LAPD to track down the thieves, the truckers have just taken to carrying weapons in their rigs, and Brian knows that on this last job, there's a very good possibility that someone is going to get shot, and maybe even killed. He races to save everyone, and manages to do so, but Vince gets shot bad in the process. It's at this point that Brian has a critical choice to make. Does he maintain his cover, or does he save Vince with his police connections. He does the latter and medivac arrives to fly Vince to the hospital. Dom is visibly shaken by the betrayal and drives off. Brian goes after him, and finds him sitting at an intersection in the most iconic aspect of this franchise, the 1970 Dodge Charger with the supercharger stack that makes me wet my pants every time I see it. The idea is that Dom, not wanting to go back to prison, is going out his way, in a freaking beastly Dodge Charger. He and Brian do one last quarter mile before Dom plans to flee, but during the race, the Charger is clipped by a train and does some spectacular flips through the air before landing painfully in the asphalt and smashing to many little pieces... and then probably blowing up because it's that kind of movie.
We hear sirens in the background as we see a wounded Dom get out of his car. Brian checks him to see if he'll survive and concludes that he probably will. At this point, Brian has to make another critical choice. Does he arrest Dom, or does he show Dom the respect that's been earned and allow him to flee? Brian chooses to let Dom flee, and Dom rides off into the sunset to lay low.
So how good is this movie really, and how does it hold up? Well, I'd say pretty well on both accounts. Yes, the franchise has lived long enough to see itself become a meme, but this original film is actually pretty solid. These were the days before rampant CGI in every movie and so a lot of the stunts are even more spectacular because they were physical stunts done in the real world. The plot is actually pretty well layered and engrossing. I don't feel like there are any moments when the story lags too much. It just keeps a good pace throughout. The technical stuff is all well done. There's some good cinematography used, especially during the race sequences, the lighting is consistently interesting and well utilized, and it seems like the directing is mostly solid. I can appreciate that there is quite a bit of character development going on in this film. Practically no main character ends up the same as when they started. They all evolve slightly. For that matter, even quite a few of the side characters undergo some sort of development during the film. I'd say the greatest weakness of this film is the acting. Our two main stars had a good bit of experience, but had done a lot of pretty shallow stuff for the most part. The rest of the cast were all somewhat inexperienced in big budget films going into this project and it goes without saying that most of the cast were relative unknowns at the time. As a result, the acting can be a bit off at times, but it doesn't detract from the experience very much at all.
I can't tell you how much I'm looking forward to reviewing this entire franchise! Yes, it's had its ups and downs, as we'll see, but to me, it stands really well on its own. This film in particular was a great foot to start off on. It was a strong film in its own rite and I think there's a lot to enjoy if you give it a chance. You don't have to pay super close attention to the film if you don't want to, but there's a lot there if you do pay closer attention. Seeing the fantastic cars, and hearing the music, and seeing the costumes and make-up really immerses you in that world and it can be a fun escape if that's your thing. Give it a watch and see what you think! And as always, stick around for next week to see what we'll review next!
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