The Fast and the Furious (2001)

A guilty pleasure with excess horsepower, The Fast and the Furious efficiently combines time-honored male fantasies (hot cars, hot women, hot action) into a vacuous plot of crystalline purity. It's trash, but it's fun trash, in which a hotshot Los Angeles cop named Brian (Paul Walker) infiltrates a gang of street racers suspected of fencing stolen goods from hijacked trucks. The gang leader is Dom (Vin Diesel), ex-con and reigning king of the street racers, who lives for those 10 seconds of freedom when his high-performance "rice rocket" (a highly modified Asian import) hurtles toward another quarter-mile victory. Racing is street theater for a lawless youth subculture, and Dom is a star behind the wheel--charismatic, dangerous, and protective toward his sister Mia (Jordana Brewster), who's attracted to Brian as the newest member of Dom's car-crazy team.

Director Rob Cohen treats this like Roman tragedy for MTV junkies, pushing every scene to adrenaline-pumping extremes; when his camera isn't caressing a spectrum of nitrous oxide-enhanced dream machines, it's ogling countless slim 'n' sexy race babes. The undercover-cop scenario cheaply borrows the split-loyalty theme perfected in Donnie Brasco; a rival Asian gang adds mystery and menace; and digital trickery is cleverly employed to explore the fuel-injected innards of the day-glo racecars. It's about as substantial as a perfume ad, but just as alluring, and for heavy-metal maniacs of any age, Diesel's superblown '69 Charger proves that Detroit muscle never goes out of style. --Jeff Shannon Amazon.com

Brainless but fun

Paul Walker's undercover cop infiltrates Vin Diesel's illegal car racing crew to try and find out who is behind a spate of truck hijackings. If you are a speed freak you will love this film and the cars are very snazzy as are the action sequences. The plot isn't up to much but this kind of film is more spectacle than anything else. Brainless but fun.
July 13, 2008

Fast and Furious

Action packed, fairly fast paced movie. Good racing scenes. This movie shows a serious side of todays mini car racing culture. June 30, 2008

"Point Break" except with street racing

That's about it. It's basically a rip-off of Point Break. In fact the plot is almost exactly like "Point Break". Think about it. June 16, 2008

hd-dvd version looks amazing

This a fun movie for anyone who enjoys car racing and the import tuner culture. While there is some misinformation and some of the lines are very cheesy, the movie is still fun and by far the best in the F&F series. The HD-DVD version looks stunning and the audio is also excellent. A "guilty pleasure" as some other reviewers have stated and I have to agree. April 18, 2008

Huge Gulity Pleasure

When I walked out of this movie back in 2001 ,I remeber still trying to catch my breath after the movie was over. Vin Disel (should have been the next big action star) plays Dom a drag racer/mechaninc who is caught up in a stolen goods ring. Paul Walker(well on his way to being the next Rob Lowe) plays Brian an undercover cop sent to inflriate Dom's gang and try to stop them. The film also a subplot where Dom's gang has beef with an Asain crew lead by Rick Yune. Things complicate when Brian falls for Dom's sister played by the very sexy Jordanna Brewster. The film has a great supporing star in Michelle Rodgurez and cameo by Ja Rule. It also has some of the best car chase scenes since Ronin. Just go and enjoy this film. April 2, 2008

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