It is a high octane action film that has enough race scenes and stunts for us car lovers to cheer...
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I love cars. Especially fast cars. I own a ´99 Camaro Z/28 that I purchased new and have tweaked to get more performance that what was delivered in its factory skin. She´ll run the quarter mile in the twelve second range and my zero to sixty time is in the fours. She is a full-blooded American muscle car (albeit built in Canada) and the rumble of the 350 cubic inch LS1 V8 motor and Flowmaster exhaust is a beauty to behold. I love nothing more than to throw the Hurst powershifter back and spin the tires as I move into second gear. Formerly, I worked in Carlisle, Pennsylvania – a town where car shows bring people in from all over the United States. Corvettes at Carslisle and the GM Nationals are my favorite events. Owning a mighty American V8 in Carlisle didn´t attract much attention, but sometimes I got a brotherly wave into traffic from a fellow car enthusiast.
My peaceful existence was shattered with the release of "The Fast and the Furious." A town where classic cars and American muscle reined supreme was quickly invaded by mass numbers of tuners. Small Japanese cars with nitrous oxide canisters and grapefruit sized exhaust tips led the assault. At first, they did not have much power and they needed to use the nitrous to stay in the rearview mirror of the big Chevys and Fords that were commonplace. Then, they became faster, but the craze started to hit Saturns and Chevrolet Cavaliers. Stories spread about the tuner that could take a Camaro and it wasn´t long until driving a Camaro Z/28 in Carlisle seemed like a call to any surrounding tuner to challenge me at a red light. Where I could previously drive peacefully through the quiet town of Carlisle, I was soon pestered and irritated by these annoyingly loud tuners at every red light. A craze had started and now, every teenage boy seemed destined to convert an old Mitsubishi Eclipse or Honda Civic into a brightly adorned rice rocket.
That being said, "The Fast and the Furious" has been a watershed film for the automotive industry, especially for those specializing in aftermarket parts and customizations. Car makers are building cars that are geared to the ´Tuner´ market and horsepower continues to soar. Though my beloved Camaro is in the middle of a production hiatus, the front wheel drive, four cylinder sports cars have flourished. There are not many films that have an impact on culture, but "The Fast and the Furious" is one such film. Street racing reached near epidemic status after the release of this film, cars became brighter, louder and faster as teenage boys strived to mimic and emulate the cars seen in the film. Not since the old hot rods of the Fifties, has teenage street racing been as showy or prevalent as the couple of years that followed the 2001 film. The muscle car era of the Sities and Seventies was all about power and speed, there was not a lot of showmanship. However, the ´Tuner´ craze has made streetracing more than just bragging rights.
The film itself was not a great achievement in filmmaking or storytelling. The plot is relatively thin. Neither Paul Walker nor Vin Diesel deliver notable performances and there are many mistakes in both factual information and continuity in the picture. This is most definitely a popcorn film for the masses and not one that necessarily strives to entertain gearheads and hard core streetraces. "The Fast and the Furious" brings street racing to the public and not to a target audience involving its subject matter. It is watered down and not deeply technical; making it far more accessible to a bigger audience. "The Fast and the Furious" is a cliché heavy "Undercover cop befriends the bad guy" story that just happens to involve fast and colorful cars. It is a high octane action film that has enough race scenes and stunts for us car lovers to cheer, but doesn´t become overbearing on its audience by discussing dual cam engines and the differences between a turbo charger and a super charger.
Paul Walker is undercover cop Brian O´Conner. He is hired to infiltrate the street racing gang led by Dominic Toretto (Vin Diesel) and uncover the truth as to whether or not Dominic is responsible for some daring truck jackings that are putting the truckers into a violent uproar. Toretto is a legendary street racer that is surrounded by a very tallented crew and a lovely sister Mia (Jordana Brewster). Toretto´s tough girlfriend Letty (Michelle Rodriguez) is at times a bodyguard, than a love interest. Toretto´s friends pose a problem for O´Connor, as they are not ready to accept him with open arms and his own street racing skills are not quite up to par with their abilities. Only by saving Toretto from capture by the police does O´Connor gain Toretto´s trust. Once he gains the respect of the driving kingpin, O´Connor must find out if Toretto is the one responsible for the daring hijackings.
The film is pretty predictable. Johnny Tran (Rick Yune) is introduced as a competing villain and foil to have the audience believe that Toretto is not the mastermind of the black cars that are involved in the hijackings. It is a quick ploy that is easily ignored and it doesn´t take long for the audience to figure out that O´Connor and Toretto are going to butt heads and that they will discover the truth behind each other´s facades. The audience can also safely predict that the race will feature the fast Supra that O´Connor builds to aid Toretto and a rather powerful black Dodge Charger. Fortunately, for all of the complete lack of cleverness, the film delivers the expected climax with entertaining results. I found myself cheering Toretto because he was driving the black Charger and hoping he would be able to ride off into the sunset.
It is with Vin Diesel behind the wheel that "The Fast and the Furious" succeeded. Directed by Rob Cohen, the film was a successful venture, but was a film solely intended to entertain and not educate or expand anybody´s horizons. Vin Diesel is a man with charisma and the role of tough talking Dominic Toretto was a perfect skin for the strong actor. Paul Walker was a worthy partner for Vin Diesel throughout the film, but he alone would not have been able to carry the film. This was proved with the Diesel-less sequel. For as much as those brightly colored tuners had aggitated me and brought me headaches when I drove my Camaro to work, I do enjoy the film that was responsible for their being. Once or twice, I had to let my adolescent side take over and show them what a souped up Z/28 can do to a horribly overmatched rice rocket, but I generally just smiled. Much as I smiled when I watched "The Fast and the Furious."
Video:
"The Fast and the Furious" looked about as good as its striking cars when it was released onto standard definition DVD. With all of the bright colored cars and flashy race scenes, the film has a lot of flash to it and it translated very nicely to video. When the film arrived on HD-DVD with its two sequels, I had very little anticipation to watch the two films that I had never seen, but I was looking forward to rewatching this initial film in the franchise; especially the first big night racing scene where Brian O´Connor blows the motor in his bright green Mitsubishi Eclipse. With all of the neon and pretty cars, I knew that scene was going to look very impressive in high definition and I can happily report that I was correct in my assumptions.
The VC-1/1080p transfer of the 2.35:1 film looks absolutely wonderful on HD-DVD and continues the strong tradition that HD-DVD´s major exclusive supporter has carried on. Rob Cohen tends to deliver films that are quickly edited and visually busy. The director weaves a palette that is bright and strong, making it a perfect choice to show off the high definition format. Colors are vibrant and bright. Their contrast is spot on and there is no color bleeding or other flaws to be found. There are a few key scenes that take place during the night and the black levels and shadow detail of this disc are very good. Detail is absolutely stunning and one thing I noticed with the HD-DVD transfer that I did not recognize with the standard definition release was the very wet look of the cars´ clearcoats. I was tempted to see if I could see my reflection and I was reminded that my eight year old paint job on the Camaro is starting to become dull. This is a great looking disc and with "The Fast and the Furious" bringing about a visual revolution in teenage streetracing, the HD-DVD does not disappoint.
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