The Fast and the Furious
Rewatching the first film in the “Fast and the Furious” franchise for the first time since 2009, it’s clear the pivot in how Dom and crew were seen as heroic outlaws that started in the soft reboot in 2009’s “Fast and Furious” is what paved the way for the franchise to become one of the longest-running in modern times. Also clear in rewatching it is how much stronger it got when Justin Lin took over the director’s chair in 2006’s “Tokyo Drift.” I haven’t seen John Singleton’s “2 Fast 2 Furious” since 2003, but Lin has a clear-eye for action that doesn’t require camera tricks or wild photographic effects to make the danger and speed in the driving felt. Director Rob Cohen leans heavily on both in the 2001 initial offering, and it does not hold up well at all.
The screenplay by Gary Scott Thompson borrows liberally from other movies (namely, “Point Break”) as Paul Walker’s undercover cop, Brian O’Connor, enters Dominic Toretto’s orbit. It’s wild to see how young Walker, Vin Diesel, Jordana Brewster (as Mia) and Michelle Rodriguez (as Letty) are in this film, with Diesel probably the most surprising, since he had already done “Pitch Black” and “Saving Private Ryan,” at the time. These four feel like kids making a film with their friends rather than stars of a blockbuster film, but they all grew into the roles successfully, which is part of why the franchise has endured the way it has. I’m as baffled as ever how this became one of the biggest hits of 2001.
The story of cops and robbers, and O’Connor infiltrating Dom’s team as part of an investigation into street racers who have been hijacking electronics trucks, is well constructed, actually, with Brian starting as someone going to Mia’s shop because he likes her, always ordering the same thing, and seeing how the dynamic between he and Dom’s crew is established early on. Watching “F9,” it was most obvious that the franchise was missing Paul Walker, and no wonder, since it was the 2001 film that established him as the main lead of the franchise. Eventually, he and Dom became co-leads, and both of them are important to why the franchise works, especially if Mia is involved in the story. That dynamic being formed is vital to this one working, and Walker and Diesel succeed in doing so, even if neither of them have the weight to make me take some of the tensest moments as seriously as the movie does. You get it in those moments, “Ahhh…this is why people liked it.”
I’ve now watched “The Fast and the Furious” three times in 20 years- in theatres, in 2009, and now, after the latest installment. In 2001, I wasn’t a fan; it didn’t land with me, I didn’t care about the characters, and it felt stupid. In 2009, I liked it more, but still not that much. Now? I think the young stars do the best they can to make this story, and the ideas of family and loyalty work, while Cohen as a director has misguided ideas of how to make this film flashy and work as a modern action film. The score by BT is fine, and I like a lot of the supporting cast (why didn’t we get more of Ted Levine in this series?), but the racing and car chases are, while not as chaotic or indecipherable as a Michael Bay film, have a lot of “shaky cam” and camera moves that feel like Cohen is trying too hard to make them exciting rather than trusting his staging and what he could do in the editing room. This might be the worst directed of the “Fast” movies; say what you will about the “everything and the kitchen sink” plotting of the latter franchise, but at least- especially in Lin’s films- you understand the cinematic choices. I understand them here; I just think they fail the film.
I almost wish I could say that you could easily pass over the first film in this franchise if you’re coming to it for the first time. Certainly, the story bares little resemblance to the megablockbusters that would to come- street racing is only name checked most of the time, and Dom and co. are more superspies than ordinary people- but the truth is, the quartet at the center of these films feel like they’re coming into focus as the characters they would become in this movie. Just because it isn’t as well made as later entries doesn’t mean it isn’t worth watching anymore.
