The Fast and the Furious (2001 film)

The Fast and the Furious
Theatrical release poster
Directed by	Rob Cohen
Produced by	Neal H. Moritz
Written by	Ken Li (magazine article "Racer X") Gary Scott Thompson Erik Bergquist David Ayer
Starring	Paul Walker Vin Diesel Michelle Rodriguez Jordana Brewster Matt Schulze Thom Barry
Music by	BT
Cinematography	Ericson Core
Editing by	Peter Honess
Studio	Original Film Mediastream Film
Distributed by	Universal Pictures
Release date(s)	June 22, 2001 (2001-06-22)
Running time	107 minutes
Country	United States
Language	English
Budget	$38 million
Box office	$207,283,925

The Fast and the Furious is a 2001 American street racing action film starring Paul Walker, Vin Diesel, Michelle Rodriguez and Jordana Brewster. Directed by Rob Cohen, The Fast and the Furious was the first mainstream film to feature the Asian automotive import scene in North America. It is the first film in The Fast and the Furious film series. The film's concept was inspired by a Vibe magazine article about street racing in New York City, and its plot is loosely based on No Man's Land, and Point Break. It bears no relation to the earlier racing film of the same name. The Fast and the Furious film series was followed by 2 Fast 2 Furious (2003), The Fast and the Furious: Tokyo Drift (2006) (chronologically the last), Fast & Furious (2009) and Fast Five (2011).

Plot

Three modified 1995 Honda Civics follow a semi-trailer truck, and they manage to hijack the truck, stealing over $6 million in merchandise. LAPD officer Brian O'Conner (Paul Walker) is sent undercover on a joint LAPD-FBI investigation to apprehend the hijackers. Brian uses his cover job at The Racer's Edge, an aftermarket parts shop, to make connections and infiltrate the local street racing scene. He enters his modified 1995 Mitsubishi Eclipse RS 420A into an illegal race with Dominic Toretto (Vin Diesel), Edwin (Ja Rule) and Danny (Rj De Vera) bartering the pink slips, but loses to Dominic's modified 1993 Mazda RX-7. Brian gains Dominic's respect, however, when he arrives in time to prevent Dominic from being caught by police responding to the race. As they flee from the scene, Dominic and Brian accidentally venture into Southern California's Little Saigon, encountering Dominic's rival, Johnny Tran (Rick Yune) along with his cousin Lance Nguyen (Reggie Lee) and his gang, who open fire with submachine guns, rupturing a nitrous tank and destroying the Eclipse in the resulting explosion.

The next day, Brian delivers a totaled 1994 Toyota Supra to Dominic's shop and offers his talents as a driver to repay the debt incurred from losing the race. Brian begins dating Dominic's sister Mia (Jordana Brewster) and Jesse goes to work restoring the Supra. The investigation eventually leads Brian to suspect Tran and his gang of performing the hijackings and he reports the findings to his superior, sergeant Tanner (Ted Levine) and FBI special agent Bilkins (Thom Barry). The SWAT team, along with Brian, raids Tran's garage and arrests him and his cousin Lance, but when it is proved that they are innocent, Bilkins and Tanner, Brian's superiors return to their original theory that Dominic and his crew are the perpetrators. Tanner warns Brian not to let his feelings for Mia or his friendship with Dominic cloud his judgment and lead him too far from the case, and Bilkins, angered about this, gives Brian thirty-six hours to break the case or he will be sacked from the job and lose his entire career.

With the Supra now fully prepped to race, Brian presses Dominic for information regarding his income, citing that the shop alone wouldn't pay for all his racing expenditures. Dominic gives Brian an invitation to "Race Wars", a massive street racing event held in the desert, and informs him they'll talk once Brian has proven his worth on the strip. Jesse, wanting to impress his dad in jail and Dom, bets his modified 1995 Volkswagen Jetta and Tran bets his modified 2000 Honda S2000. Jesse loses, panics and hastily flees the track, prompting Tran to confront Dominic and demand that he retrieve the car for him. Dominic refuses and Tran accuses him of informing on him. In response Dominic brutally beats Tran and is pulled off by Vince, his best friend, and two race wars security. That night, Dominic and his crew leave Race Wars.

Brian realizes that Dominic is the hijacker and confesses to Mia his status as an undercover cop. She is angry at Brian and leaves him, but he says to her that everything that he said to her about their relationship is true and convinces her to come with him to save her brother and his friends from the armed truck drivers. Meanwhile, the attempted hijacking goes wrong when the truck driver fights back with a shotgun, causing Letty to crash and critically wounding Vince. Brian tracks their location by triangulating Dominic's cell phone signal, and works with Mia work together to get him off the truck. Just then, Dominic arrives with Leon and Letty. Brian, realizing that Vince will die and that he has no other choice, makes the difficult decision to blow his cover to the crew by phoning in for a medivac and saying that he is a police officer and that Vince needs medical help. The revelation enrages Dominic, but he contains himself and flees with Leon, Letty and Mia as the medivac arrives for Vince.

Dodge Charger '70

Brian follows Dominic to his house and holds him at gunpoint to prevent him from fleeing, but he is angry and yells that he is going to look for Jesse before Tran finds him. Just when Dom points his shotgun to him, Jesse arrives, apologizing for his actions at Race Wars and pleading for help with Tran. Moments later, Tran and Lance arrive on their bikes and perform a drive-by shooting and kill Jesse. Brian and Dominic chase them, with the latter driving his late father's modified 1970 Dodge Charger. He forces Lance's motorcycle off the road, severely injuring him, while Brian, after a short chase, manages to shoot and kill Tran. Afterwards, Brian and Dominic engage in a drag race, narrowly avoiding a passing train. Dominic smiles, but he crashes into a semi-truck and rolls his car twice, rendering the Charger undrivable. Brian pulls out Dom, with Dom assuming that he will arrest him now, but instead of arresting him, Brian hands over the keys to the Supra and lets him escape, making good on his promise to deliver a "ten-second car". Dom leaves, and we see Brian walking past the camera.

After the credits, Dominic is seen driving through Baja California, Mexico, in a 1970 Chevrolet Chevelle SS, with a words "I live my life a quarter-mile. For those 10 seconds or less, i'm free", disappearing in the sunset.

Cast

Main article: List of The Fast and the Furious characters

• Paul Walker as Brian O'Conner
• Vin Diesel as Dominic Toretto
• Michelle Rodriguez as Leticia Ortiz
• Jordana Brewster as Mia Toretto
• Rick Yune as Johnny Tran
• Chad Lindberg as Jesse
• Johnny Strong as Leon
• Matt Schulze as Vince
• Ted Levine as Tanner
• Ja Rule as Edwin
• Vyto Ruginis as Harry
• Thom Barry as Bilkins
• Stanton Rutledge as Muse
• Noel Guglielmi as Hector
• RJ De Vera as Danny Yamato
• Beau Holden as Ted Gassner
• Reggie Lee as Lance Nguyen
• David Douglas as Rasta Racer
• Peter Navy Tuiasosopo as Samoan Guard
• Neal H. Moritz as Ferrari Driver
• F. Valentino Morales as Dispatcher

Director Rob Cohen makes a cameo appearance on the first race scene as a pizza delivery man.

Production notes

The title rights, not the story rights, to the film The Fast and the Furious (1955), were purchased so that the title could be used on this project, another film about racing. The original film was shown in a theater owned by the grandfather of producer Neal H. Moritz.

According to an interview found on the original DVD release, Cohen was inspired to make this film after reading a Vibe magazine article about street racing in New York City and watching an actual illegal street race at night in Los Angeles.

The film was shot in various locations within Los Angeles and parts of Southern California. Key locations included Dodger Stadium (on the opening scene where Brian tests his Eclipse on the parking lot), Angelino Heights, Silver Lake and Echo Park (the neighborhoods around Toretto's home), as well as Little Saigon (where Tran destroys the Eclipse) and the San Bernardino International Airport (the venue for Race Wars, which attracted over 1,500 import car owners and enthusiasts).. The entire last rig heist scene was filmed along Domenigoni Parkway on the South side of San Jacinto/Hemet in the San Jacinto Valley in California near Diamond Valley Lake.

Prior to filming, both Jordana Brewster and Michelle Rodriguez did not have driver's licenses, so they took driving lessons during production.

In one scene at Toretto's home, the gang is seen watching Dragon: The Bruce Lee Story, another film directed by Cohen.

For the climactic race scene between Brian and Toretto, separate shots of both cars crossing the railroad and the train crossing the street were filmed, then composited together to give the illusion of the train narrowly missing the cars. A long steel rod was used as a ramp for Toretto's car to crash through the semi-truck and fly in mid-air.

Music

Main article: The Fast and the Furious (soundtrack)

Main article: More Fast and Furious: Music from and Inspired by the Motion Picture The Fast and the Furious

The film's score was composed by music producer BT, mixing Electronica with Hip-hop and Industrial influences. Two soundtracks were released for the movie. The first one features mostly hip-hop and rap music. The second one, titled More Fast and Furious: Music from and Inspired by the Motion Picture The Fast and the Furious, features alternative metal, Post-grunge and Nu metal songs, as well as select tracks from BT's score.

Release

The Fast and the Furious was released on DVD on January 2, 2002. A second print known as the "Tricked Out Edition", released on June 3, 2003, featured Turbo-Charged Prelude, a short film that set the tone to the film's sequel. The scene is also on the DVD of that sequel.

The film was released on HD DVD along with 2 Fast 2 Furious on September 26, 2006 along with The Fast and the Furious: Tokyo Drift on DVD and on Blu-ray disc on July 28, 2009 along with Fast & Furious on DVD and Blu-Ray.

Reception

The Fast and the Furious was met with mixed reviews, with a score of 54% based on 142 reviews on Rotten Tomatoes (64% among 33 top critics) Todd McCarthy of Variety called the film "a gritty and gratifying cheap thrill, Rob Cohen's high-octane hot-car meller is a true rarity these days, a really good exploitationer, the sort of thing that would rule at drive-ins if they still existed." Kevin Thomas of the Los Angeles Times called it "an action picture that's surprising in the complexity of its key characters and portents of tragedy." Susan Wloszczyna of USA Today gave the film 2¹⁄₂ out of 4 stars, saying that Cohen "at least knows how to keep matters moving and the action sequences exciting."

Owen Gleiberman of Entertainment Weekly gave the film a C, saying it "works hard to be exciting, but the movie scarcely lives up to its title." Rita Kempley of The Washington Post gave the film a scathing review, calling it "Rebel Without a Cause without a cause. The Young and the Restless with gas fumes. The Quick and the Dead with skid marks." Paul Clinton of CNN wrote that Cohen "created a high-octane, rubber-burning extravaganza" but he criticized the film for "plot holes you could drive the proverbial truck through" and an idiotic ending.

Merchandising

Video game

The Fast and the Furious (video game).

The film series has spawned a couple racing video games for arcade, PlayStation 2 and PlayStation Portable.

The Fast and the Furious (Wild Speed in Japan) arcade video game was released by Raw Thrills in 2004. In 2006, The Fast and The Furious (ファスト・アンド・フュリアス) was released for the PlayStation 2 and PlayStation Portable.

Toys and model kits

Racing Champions released diecast metal replicas of the film's cars in different scales from 1/18 to 1/64. RadioShack sold ZipZaps micro RC versions of the cars in 2002. 1/24 scale plastic model kits of the hero cars were manufactured by AMT Ertl.

Sequels

The film has spawned four sequels: 2 Fast 2 Furious (2003), The Fast and the Furious: Tokyo Drift (2006), Fast & Furious (2009), and Fast Five (2011) with a sixth installment in the works. Paul Walker returned for "2 Fast 2 Furious", teaming up with Tyrese Gibson and Ludacris. Diesel was never approached to reprise his role in this film. Lucas Black starred in "Tokyo Drift", his only appearance in the series. Diesel had a small cameo at the end of the film, and Walker never appeared. "Fast & Furious" was the first true spiritual sequel to the original - Diesel, Walker, Rodriguez and Brewster all returned to reprise their roles. "Fast Five" also featured Diesel, Walker and Brewster, as well as Gibson and Ludacris, who both reprised their "2 Fast 2 Furious" roles in the film, along with the new addition of Dwayne Johnson. Eva Mendes and Matt Schulze also returned to the franchise, reprising their roles from "2 Fast 2 Furious" and the original film, respectively. Rodriguez also made a cameo in a post-credits scene in "Fast Five". Diesel, Walker, Brewster, Gibson, Ludacris and Rodriguez are all confirmed to return for the 6th film.

See also

• No Man's Land - A 1987 film with a similar premise.

External links

• The Fast and the Furious at the Internet Movie Database
• The Fast and the Furious at Rotten Tomatoes