The Fast and the Furious Revisited "I never narc'd on NOBODY!!"

Rrrrrright, so its been quite a while since I've done a review on here (well sort of, just under two weeks) and I figured its time I did one and this will be yet another revisitation and it will be on the original film of the Fast and Furious franchise, The Fast and the Furious.

So, after 17 years, how does this one fair? Well, let's take another look...

And yep, the usual warning is coming...

PLOT SPOILERS ARE AHEAD!!!

STORY

So the story is set in Los Angeles and it begins with the main character, Brian O'Conner (Paul Walker) who is an undercover cop who is trying infiltrate the local street race scene by working at an aftermarket parts shop and making connections in the process.  This is in an effort to try and find a gang who are responsible for hi-jacking cargo from trucks.

While Brian visits a tobacco shop he flirts with a girl, Mia (Jordana Brewster) who works there and is the sister of a locally famed street racer, Dominic Toretto (Vin Diesel).  When the rest of Dom's team arrive, one of them, the hotheaded Vince (Matt Schulze) picks a fight with Brian over Mia, which Dom breaks up and he tells Brian to get out of there and not to come back.

Brian later however enters a street race with his car and he wagers pink slips for Dom's car, which Dom accepts.  During the race, Brian gains an advantage as he uses nitrous oxide to boost his car's speed, but Dom also uses it and goes on to beat Brian and win the race.  Soon after the race the LAPD arrive which forces everyone to flee from the scene, as Dom takes off in his car, he parks it in a parking garage and leaves on foot, however he is nearly caught by the police, but Brian shows up just in time to rescue him in his car.  Dom appreciates Brian's actions and begins to show him respect but he insists he still owes him his car for winning the race.

However while they are driving they unwittingly enter the territory of Dom's main rival, Johnny Tran (Rick Yune) who follows them and forces them to pull over.  After a brief exchange, Tran and his team leave Dom and Brian, but they soon return and blow up Brian's car, which forces Brian and Dom to walk back to Dom's.

On arriving at Dom's house, Dom invites Brian into his home, much to the chagrin of Vince, but this allows Brian to flirt a little more with Mia before she tells him he "definitely needs to take a shower!".  The following day Brian brings a wrecked Toyota Supra to Dom's workshop where he offers his skills as a driver and mechanic.  As Brian get's acquainted with Dom's crew, he becomes romantically involved with Mia, and we meet Dom's other team mates which include his girlfriend Letty (Michelle Rodriguez), Leon (Johnny Strong) and Jesse (Chad Lindberg).  Brian also thinks that Tran's team are the ones behind the hi-jacks of the trucks cargo and he puts it to his superior officer, Tanner (Ted Levine) as they raid Tran's home and hideout, but they find the parts that Tran has were legally bought.

After this Tanner tells Brian that it has to be Dom that is behind it all, even though Brian is reluctant to see it as he has developed a bond with Dom as well as dating Mia.  Brian then approaches Dom, frustrated at why he is keeping him in the dark about how he has acquired the auto parts and Dom invites Brian to a race event called Race Wars, and Dom says if he proves himself there then they will talk afterward.

On the day of the races, Jesse races Tran for pink slips and he loses to Tran, and in a panic Jesse flees. Tran then confronts Dom demanding that he go and fetch his car and he accuses him of narcing him to the police, which angers Dom, who beats Tran in a rage before he is pulled off by his team.  After this we find out that Dom and his team are the ones that are behind the truck hijackings and they decide to go on one more hijack to absolve Jesse's debt to Tran.

As Brian nearby sees Mia argue with Dom, he soon confronts Mia after Dom leaves with his team, and tells her he is a cop and that he needs her help to find Dom as the truckers will be more heavily guarded out on the roads.  And from here the film reaches it dramatic climax as Brian and Mia head out to try and find Dom before he could face his fate on the roads from the truckers....

THOUGHTS 

The Fast and the Furious to this day, is still a very entertaining and at times thrilling experience and I still think its also the best in the series as the sequels that followed were a bit hit and miss but here the mix of action, drama and fun is just about right.  The story of course it has to be said is a carbon copy of the action film, Point Break, in which the main character is an undercover FBI agent who infiltrates the surfing community to find the gang of surfers responsible for a series of bank robberies. And the only differences here being its racing gangs and its an LAPD officer who is undercover, and he also ends up unwittingly befriending the gang leader who is behind it all.

PERFORMANCES (Warning: this section may contain spoilers!)

Performance wise things are mostly good here as the cast are in good form.

Starting with Paul Walker, who's performance is admittedly a bit wooden here as the undercover cop, Brian O'Conner, who befriends the street racing hero, Dominic Torretto and becomes involved with Dom's sister Mia.  Walker nonetheless does provide the film with some good moments such as in his first scene where he tests out his car at full speed and it spins out of control, and he hits the steering wheel angrily yelling "Shit!!".

Walker also has some good moments with Vin Diesel such as in the scene where Brian turns up at the street race with his car and he says he will race Dom for slips and he says "If I lose, the winner takes my car clean and clear.  If I win, I take the cash and I take the respect!  To some people that's more important".  And after Brian loses the race to Dom he smiles and says "Dude, I almost had you!" and Dom mocks him "Had me??  You never had me.  You never even had your car!".

Then there is the scene where Brian and Dom after having built up a new race car for payment to Dom (after Brian lost his race against Dom near the start of the film) that they test it out and stop off for some food but Brian, frustrated with the pressure from his LAPD boss, tries to inadvertently get Dom to admit how he get's the money to pay for his car parts.

So, in the scene as they eat, Dom asks "So, what's wrong, Brian?" and Brian says "Nothing, man" but Dom carries on "Come on, something is obviously off" and Brian sighs and says "Look, I have my good days and bad days like everybody else". Dom then warns Brian "Brian, don't lose that cool of yours. Its your meal ticket". Brian then annoyed says "No, that's one thing about me you don't understand. I don't take handouts! I earn my way, every step! I need something extra on the side, like you!".

Dom however then asks Brian "What do you mean like me?" and Brian angrily says "I'm not stupid, all right? I know that there's no way you paid for all that shit you got under the hood-- " and Dom ushers him to lower his voice. So, Brian lowers his voice a little "There's no way you paid for what's under the hood of those cars...by doing tune-ups and selling groceries. Whatever it is you're in on, I want in on it, too!". Dom looks at him for a moment and takes out a piece of paper and hands it to Brian, who asks "What's this?" and Dom says "That's directions" and Brian says "To what?" and Dom tells him "To race wars. We'll see how you go. Then we'll talk".

Another good scene from Walker is during the race when he sees Jesse is about to race Tran with his dad's car, as Jesse says "Don't worry when I win me and my dad can roll together when he get's out of prison" and Brian says "And they'll throw him right back in prison after he kills you!".  And when he Brian sees that Jesse is about to race Tran, he warns him "Jesse, don't do it! He's gotta have at least 100 grand underneath the hood of that car!".

And then later there is the scene where Brian admits to Mia that he is an undercover cop and he tells her "Right now this isn't about you and me, and if you don't want anything to happen to Dom, to Letty, to Leon, to Vince, you need to tell me where they are right now!  Maybe they might make through the night, but those truckers aren't layin down anymore!".

Sadly after having appeared in seven of the eight films in the series, Paul Walker, later tragically died in a car accident in November 2013.

Vin Diesel is very good in his role as Dominic Toretto, the charismatic street racer, who is at times not all that he seems to be.

Diesel has various highlights in the film such as in his first scene where Brian get's involved in a fist fight with Vince outside his store.  And in the scene Mia yells at Dom to get out there and stop the fight and he says to her "What did you put in that sandwich??" as he refers to a tuna sandwich Mia made up for Brian.  And as Dom stops the fight he holds back Vince and says to him "RELAX!  DON'T PUSH IT!! YOU EMBARASS ME!!" and takes a look at Brian's fake ID and he says "Brian Earl Spilner, that sounds like a serial killer name!  Don't come round here again!". Dom then asks Brian if he is working for a parts dealer named Harry "You work for Harry right?" and Brian says "Yeah, just started" and Dom tells him "You were just fired!".   

Diesel also has his fair share of good lines in the film as well, such as in the scene where Dom mocks Brian just after Brian lost their race.  And Dom looks at Brian, who smiles and he says "What are you smiling about?" and Brian grins and says "Dude, I almost had you!". Dom laughs and says "You almost had me??? You never had me, you never had your own car!  Granny shiftin not double clutchin like you should.  Ask any racer, any real racer.  It don't matter if you win by an inch or a mile.  Winning's winning!".

Also another good line is when he invites Brian back to his home, which when they arrive, Dom's team mate, Vince objects and asks why he brought "the buster" i.e. Brian back and Dom yells back "Because the BUSTER kept me out of handcuffs!  He didn't just run back to the fort, the buster brought ME back!". Then Dom looks at Vince's beer and asks "Is this your beer?" and Vince says "Sure, its my beer" and Dom takes it off him and gives it to Brian and he says "You can have any beer you want in the house as long as its Corona!" as Corona beer is all they have!

Another good scene from Vin comes in a quieter moment of reflection when Dom shows Brian his father's car, and he remembers how his father, who was a great street racer, was killed in a car race and also the regret he felt about beating one of the fellow racers involved in the race with a wrench sometime later out of rage.  And after he turns to Brian and says "I live my life a quarter mile at a time.  Nothing else matters, not the mortgage, not the store, not my team and all their bullshit.  For those ten seconds or less, I'm free."

And later when Johnny Tran confronts Dom over Jesse fleeing in the car race Jesse just lost to Tran. So in the scene Tran angrily asks Dom where Jesse went "Where's he going?" and Dom sarcastically says "He went to the car wash". Tran not amused, angrily says "Go fetch my car!" and Dom a little taken aback says to Tran "Go fetch my car??? We're not on your block anymore. You better watch who you talk to like that".  And as Dom turns back on Tran, Tran shouts "TORETTO! SWAT came to my house! Disrespected my whole family and its all because someone narc'd me out!  And you know what?!  It was you!!".  This then enages Dom, who gives Tran a real beating and he is pulled back by his team and Dom shouts to Tran "I never narc'd on nobody!  I never narc'd on NOBODY!!".

And last of all is the scene where (SPOILER!!!) Brian confronts Dom back at his house just after Brian helped rescue Dom and his team from being killed on the highway by truckers as they attempted their final hijack.

So, in the scene, Brian pulls up and get's out his car and points his gun at Dom, who is holding a pump action shotgun. Brian then warns Dom "Dom, put the gun down!" and Dom says to him "Move your car!" and Brian shouts "Put it down! No more running!" and Dom shouts back "I'M NOT RUNNING!!". Brian then asks Dom where Letty and Leon are and Dom tells him they are long gone, so Brian shouts at him "Then its over! I didn't call the police but don't push me!!". So, Dom shouts back "YOU'RE THE COP!!! YOU'RE A COP!!!" and Dom calms down a little and pleads with him "Brian, I gotta find Jesse before they do. I'm all the kid's got!".

And as Dom and Brian continue to argue, Jesse suddenly turns up in a state of panic, he says to Dom "I am so sorry, man!" and Dom drops his shotgun and he says to Jesse "Jesse, what were you thinking, man?!". Jesse then shouts back almost in tears "I don't know! I panicked! I'm sorry!" and all of a sudden Tran and Lance show up on their bikes and open fire on Dom, Jesse and Brian, who dive for cover and Jesse appears to be fatally wounded, so Dom, cradles him just as Brian decides to chase after Tran and later Dom does the same.  

Jordana Brewster is really good as Dom's sister, Mia, who becomes involved with Brian.  Jordana has some good scenes as well, and her first scene in the film introduces her sassy character very well where Brian arrives at the tobacco store where she works and he asks how the tuna is.  And Mia replies "Every day for the last three weeks, you've been coming in here asking how the tuna is.  Now it was crappy yesterday, it was crappy the day before, and guess what?  It hasn't changed".  Brian the smiles and says "I'll have the tuna then" and Mia smiles and asks "No crust?" and Brian says "No crust". 

This is then followed by the scene where Brian and Vince fight each other and Mia insists that Dom get out there and stop the fight. So, Mia shouts to Dom " Jesus Christ, Dom! Would you get out here please? I'm sick of this shit!" but Dom ignores her, so she shouts at him "I'm not kidding, Dom! Get out here!!!". Dom finally get's up and looks over at the fight going on and he asks Mia "What did you put on that sandwich?" and Mia, annoyed says "That's REALLY funny!".
 
Another good scene from Jordanna is when Mia and Brian while at a party in Dom's house flirt a little with each other. funny yet cruel moment in the film where Mia flirts with Brian and Vince enters the room, drunk, he tries to make popcorn and he insults Brian. So, Mia asks Vince "What was that Cuban restaurant you wanted to take me to? The one with the food all over the place?" and Vince smiles and says "Cha cha cha" and Mia turns to Brian and says "Well you can take me there. Friday night at 10:00. Is that good for you?" and Brian says "Yeah, that's perfect" and this leaves Vince, furious, and he storms out.

Michelle Rodriguez is also good as Dom's girlfriend Letty, who is pretty fiesty and not to be messed with.  And this is well noted in the scene of the car street race at night where we see Dom chat to some of the girls there. So, Letty walks up to them and says to them sternly "I smell... skanks!  Why don't you girls pack it up before I leave tread marks on your face!".

Another good scene from Michelle is when at the race wars out in the desert, Letty is challenged by a male racer, who makes advances on her at the same time. So, the racer says to her "Baby. Hey, baby. You should watch from the side. I wouldn't want to get exhaust on that pretty face".  Letty then says to him "Why don't you put your money where your mouth is??" and the racer says "I'll race you for that sweet little ass of yours" but Letty tells him bluntly "You want ass, why don't you hit Hollywood Boulevard? You want an adrenaline rush it will be two large". So, Letty holds up two rolls of money in between her middle finger, so the driver goes for the deal and as they get ready to race, he blows her a kiss and Letty rolls her eyes. However its soon apparent as the race starts, the racer is no match for Letty, who says "See ya!" and hits her NOS switch and her car zooms past his. 

As for the supporting cast, Ted Levine is excellent in his role as Sergeant Tanner, Brian's supervisor in the undercover operation and his scenes with Walker work really well in the film and offer a nice change in the dynamic of the story.  Levine has some good moments in the film such as where he tries to convince Brian that Dom may be responsible for the hijacks but Brian thinks Dom is too controlled for that, and Tanner then shows him some photos of a man Dom brutally assaulted with a wrench and he says "Oh yeah, Toretto's a real model of self control".

Rick Yune is also good in his role as Dom's arch rival, Johnny Tran, and he has some good moments such as the scene where we first meet Tran, who stops Brian and Dom as they are driving in his block within Chinatown. So, as Tran and his cousin, Lance (Reggie Lee) who were both driving on motorbikes and armed with silenced uzis, check out Brian's souped up NOS race car, he warns Dom of their position of him being on his block.

So, Tran tells Dom "I thought we had an agreement. You stay away. I stay away. Everybody stays happy" and Dom says "We got lost". And after Dom introduces Brian to Tran and Lance, Tran asks Brian "Is this your car?" and Brian says "It was, its his now" but Dom says "No it's not. I haven't taken delivery yet". So, Tran grins and says "This is nobody's car but somebody put in the wrench time and he asks Lance "What do you think, Lance?" and Lance looks at the car and says "Its an amazing machine" and Tran says "Yes, it is" and he says to Lance and his gang "Let's go". Tran get's back on his bike and says to Dom "I'll see you in the desert next month. Prepare to have your ass handed to you". Dom teases him and says "You'll need more than that crotch rocket" and Tran says "I got something for you!" and he drives off.

Then there is the scene where Tran brutally questions a man named Ted for the whereabouts of his car's engines.  So, Tran says to a very nervous Ted "Let me ask you a question, Ted. Do you see anything wrong here?" and Ted looks at the cars in the warehouse and he says "No" but then Tran grabs Ted and thrusts his head down the open bonnet of the car where there is no engine and shouts "WE GOT NO ENGINES, DO WE??!!!".  So, Tran grabs Ted and get's him ont he ground and starts to pump oil all over Ted's face until he admits where the engines are, so afterward, Tran says to Ted "Kiss my shoes" and Ted, who is drenched in oil, moves over to do so but Tran simply kicks him in the stomach and he says to Lance "Let's go get our engines!".  

And later, Yune has another good scene where he confronts Dom about the SWAT raid on his house, and he says "TORETTO!  SWAT came into my house and disrespected my whole family because someone narc'd me out!  And you know what?!  It was you!!".  And lastly Chad Lindberg is also good in his role as Dom's team mate, Jesse, who is a real car geek, who has great automotive knowledge but also suffers from ADD and he later makes the mistake of racing Tran for pink slips.  Lindberg's best moment comes in the film when Jesse says grace before Dom and his team eat their meal and he says "Spirit.  Thank you for providing us with direct-port nitrous, uh injection, four-core intercoolers, and ball-bearing turbos, and um... titanium valve springs.  Thank you!".

Chad Lindberg is also pretty good in his role as Jesse, who is part of Dom's racing crew and he is a brilliant mechanic but also suffers from ADD and he later on get's himself into water with Tran and his gang.

And I will quickly mention, two of Chad's scene first off is the one where Jesse sits down for dinner with Dom and the others and he impatiently grabs a bit of chicken but is told off for it. So, Dom says to Jesse "Jesse, since you were the first to reach in and grab some chicken, why don't you say grace?". So, Jesse says "Spirit. Thank you. Thank you for providing us with the direct-port nitrous... uh... injection, four-core intercoolers, an' ball-bearing turbos, and... um... titanium valve springs. Thank you".

And lastly there is the scene where Jesse shows the designs he has on his computer for Brian's new race car. So, Brian impressed with Jesse's skills says "You should be going to MIT or something.." and Jesse says "Yeah right! No, I've got that...what's it called? Attention disorder..." and Brian asks "ADD?" and Jesse says "Yes, that's shit! You know, I was good in algebra and like math and shit. Everything else I failed. Dropped out of school. I don't know. It's just something about engines...that calms me down, you know". 

And last of all is Matt Schulze as Vince, one of Dom's team, who is hotheaded and has a real dislike for Brian as he senses he isn't all he appears to be but is also jealous of Mia's affections for Brian, as the two of them appeared to have previously dated.

As for Matt's good scenes there is his first one where Vince fights with Brian outside the drive-in as Brian finishes his tuna sandwich and Vince glares at him. So, as Brian leaves, Vince get's and shouts at him "Why don't you try Fat Burger from now on? You can get yourself a cheese and fries for 2.95, faggot!". Brian then says without turning around "I like the tuna here!" but Vince angrily says back "Bullshit, asshole! No one likes the tuna here!" and the two of them start fighting, which is later broken up by Dom.

Then there is the scene where Brian rescues Dom from being arrested and they make their way back to Dom's place where he is holding a party (in his absence it appears!). So, Vince looks annoyed when he says Brian has turned up aswell and he later says to Dom "He's got no call being up in here. You don't know that fool for shit!". Dom however says to Vince "There was a time I didn't know YOU!" and Vince shouts back "That was in the third grade!". 

And last of all is the scene where in another party, a drunken Vince goes into the kitchen to use the microwave to make popcorn and he notices Mia and Brian talk, so he grins and says to Brian "Wash my car when you get done!" and Mia asks "What was that?" and Vince says to her "No, Mia. I'm talking to the punk! Wear your favorite dress, 'cause when you're done...I'm putting you on the street where you belong, cutie!". So, Mia then asks Vince what was the name of a Cuban restuarant he once wanted to take her to and all of a sudden, he beams and says "Cha Cha Cha!" but then Mia turns to Brian and says "Well, you can take me there? Friday night at 10:00. Is that good for you?". This then leaves Vince furious and he drunkenly storms out and says to the others "Make your own goddamn popcorn!". 

DIRECTOR AND MUSIC

Getting onto the director guy here, Rob Cohen does a fine job with directing the film as he keeps the pacing of the film nice and tight throughout and he stages the car racing scenes really well.  Cohen also makes a nice use of a visual effect that shows the difference between daytime and night time as during the film in certain points we see the skyline change from day to night for specific scenes, such as when we cut from day time to the night of the first street race early on in the film.

Cohen also makes a rather brief and corny appearance in the film as a pizza delivery driver and is called a pizza boy by one of the street racer gang, who is monitoring the streets for police activity but Cohen is no boy as he was in his 50's by then! 

As for music score, its also worthy of note which was composed by BT (no not British Telecom!) or his to use his actual name, Brian Transeau, an American composer who provides a cool, atmospheric soundtrack for the film which is both electronic and at times orchestral. BT also uses tracks from different artists such as rock and metal arists such as Limp Bizkit, Hoobastank and Dope, which while not all of them are great they are used pretty well in the film.

FLAWS (Warning: this section may also contain spoilers!)

So, moving onto the flaws section, does TFATF have any worth mentioning??? Well yes.... 

And to start off it has to be said that the film's plot is hardly original as it is as I mentioned a carbon copy of Point Break's plot right down to the very end (well just about as its not quite the same). Yeah basically we have a low enforcer infiltrate a criminal gang of sorts and he get's sucked into their world, which makes him have a difficult time making objective choices as far his job is concerned. 

And then there are some pretty cheesy scenes in the film and it has one or two cringing moments such as the scene where Dom and Letty are getting it on in Dom's garage, while she takes off his vest and swings it about and he grabs her ass and buries his face in her chest! Yep, more cringeworthy than sexy for sure!

And there is also the scene near the end where Dom and Brian race one another, and Dom get's into his dad's car and as he drives off and after he helps deal with Tran and his right hand man, Lance, the two of them get ready to go at the traffic lights, and when they turn green, Dom revs the car as the front of it rises up as he speeds off!  Its just a moment where you want to bury your head in the sofa (of if you could bury it in Michelle's chest that would be better!). 

I also felt that the hijacking sequences are far less interesting than the rest of the action in the film and that it actually has less of an impact on the story than Point Break's bank robbery plotline did. Although one way in which the film does score over Point Break is the identity of the hijackers isn't really established until later on, as Dom's team don't use their voices, but in Point Break we know Patrick Swayze is behind it right from the get go.

Sooooo despite that, The Fast and the Furious is still a very enjoyable action film and for me its still the best out of the eight films in the franchise, although the following films were also quite enjoyable to mixed degrees. But in the original here, we get a good mix of the thrills, drama, suspense and a bit of ham and cheese thrown in too! Also the cast are in good form and the film's direction by Rob Cohen is pretty solid and the film is also notable for its wonderfully colourful cinemaphotography, Ericson Core and a good atmospheric score by BT (again NOT British Telecom!).  

And if you can forgive this film's more corny, silly moments, then there is certainly alot to enjoy here and the original Fast and Furious film is certainly still the best.

OK, so that's it for now I will be sometime soon with another post of some sort or other.

Till then, its bye fer now!