The Fast and The Furious Movie Review

Hey guys, Movie Maniac here, and today, I'm bringing you guys the first review of a six-part movie franchise review of the Fast and Furious Franchise. Without further ado, here is my review of The Fast and The Furious (2001).

Released on June 22, 2001, The Fast and the Furious, starring Vin Diesel, Paul Walker, Michelle Rodriguez, etc., became the first of many movies that would become one of the most successful movie franchises to date. Face it, we all know it is true. The film's concept was inspired by a Vibe magazine article on street racing in New York City at the time. The plot was pretty simple, a Los Angeles police officer goes undercover in the underground world of street racing in an attempt to catch the perpetrators of recent semi-truck robberies in LA.

Now of course, the first thing everybody says "it's a rip-off Point Break!" And I'm not going to dispute the fact that yes it is a rip-off of Point Break. However, I am going to review the movie as if Point Break never existed.

Like in my Kick Ass 2 Review, I'm going to list down what I liked about it, in the form of "Positives" and what I did not like about it, in the form of "Negatives" and then give my final rate of listing both.

Without further ado, the "Positives"

Positives:

• It is a popcorn flick, meaning you do not watch the movie and judge it too harshly on its plot, you go watch it just for the action and just for pure entertainment.
• The cars and the racing scenes in the film was awesome for what is was at the time the film was released. Some really good action scenes such as the race between Brian and Dom right before the cops showed up and Brian saves Dom, gaining Dom's respect.
• I believe the ensemble of Paul Walker, Vin Diesel, Michelle Rodriguez and crew was, to me anyways, a driving point of the film; granted, in a film about street racing, I wasn't looking for Oscar-worthy acting so I did not find their acting worth calling it bad, it just fit the movie and its premise.
• The whole truck scene where Vince gets shot by the driver with a shotgun was pretty cool. Between us, I have always hated Vince as a character so I wanted him to die; granted, I got my wish in Fast Five, hehehe.
• The second to last scene of the film where Tran gets killed by Brian and Dom injures Lance was pretty cool as well. Their impromptu race at the end of the film was cool as well.

Now the "Negatives"

Negatives

• Though I felt the acting was good, it was still bad.
• I did not care for much about certain character such as Jesse and Vince. Hell until Fast and Furious (2009), I did not care about Mia Toretto. Most of the scenes those characters were in made me want to not watch the movie while those parts were on.
• The Brian and Mia Romance was pretty dull and boring and lifeless. I found Dom and Letty's romance more exciting.
• Pacing was a problem at some points. I felt bored until the action scenes happened.
• Finally, I tried not to bring this point up but clearly if anybody saw Point Break, this was like a 2001 bastard child of that film. You forced my hand, writers of this film.

Overall, I'm going to give The Fast and The Furious (2001) a 2: Ehh it was ok. I believe at the time it was probably worth the money to see it in theaters. However, it is just a good popcorn flick if you are bored and there is nothing else to do or watch on TV. As well as, if you want to know all the characters and the origin of the franchise, then you definitely should watch this. Or watch Point Break and just picture cars, street racing, lesser plot and acting chops instead of surfing.

Let me know what you guys thought of this film and check back in a couple of days for my review of 2 Fast 2 Furious.

And As Always, I'm The Movie Manic and I'm Frantic about Film :D