The Fast and the Furious

"The Fast and the Furious" has a plot that often feels familiar. Some of the performances are only so-so. It’s got plenty of cheese and a teenager’s understanding of what “awesome” means. It’s also fully committed to everything it does, making the likable cast and appealing story the kind you can’t help but sort of fall in love with. Maybe you'll be embarrassed to admit it... maybe not.

Undercover police officer Brian O’Connor (Paul Walker) is investigating a gang of high-profile on-road thieves who are somehow tied to the L. A. street race scene. That territory belongs to Dom Toretto (Vin Diesel) and his crew and the only way to get to know anyone is to impress him. While Brian gets closer to discovering the culprits behind the crime spree, he risks forgetting which of his lives is the real one.

I bet many reading this review remember when The Fast and the Furious arrived in theatres. They look back fondly on the time they saw it with their friends and then promptly ignored the end credits’ warning that “the stunts here were done by professionals, you shouldn’t even attempt this” by doing their best to re-enact the NOs-fuelled street blitzes with their high-school friends in the back seat. Me? I saw this Rob Cohen pic for the first time in 2017. I technically have no nostalgia for it… but I feel as though I do. There’s something about this motion picture and its complete, un-ironic belief that what it’s showing us - the cool cars, the neon lights, the fuel spiraling through the engines, the peeks under the hood, the scantily-clad women drooling over the cars rather than the tank top-wearing drivers - that brings you back to a time that was silly, but that also, in its own way meant something. Or maybe it’s that the cars are so well shot and displayed that you, like Brian, forget who you were before the movie started a little bit.

It’s the mix of everything and everyone working in perfect synch that makes this film successful against all odds. Paul Walker is a charmer. You easily see yourself in his shoes. Similarly, Vin Diesel is surprisingly good in his part. He has a few key moments that immerse you into his character. By the time the film is wrapping up, you don’t know if you want Brian to finish his mission and return to his real life, or keep up with the charade indefinitely. Is that a new story? No. We saw it before in "Point Break" and despite the well-selected cast, the performances can be a bit rough, the characters lean towards the over-the-top or cartoonish and you can see the finish line way ahead of time. Somehow, that doesn’t matter. You see the flaws, acknowledge them and then admit the film wouldn’t feel right without them. How else can you explain that this undercover cop story gets better with age?

I know you’re eager to see the increasingly explosive actions-oriented sequels but take the time to appreciate the perfect circumstances that made "The Fast and the Furious" a movie that grabbed the world by storm. When you do, stay all the way to the end of the credits to see an extra scene that ties up the film nicely. (On Blu-ray, April 7, 2018)