... when characters are not racing at breakneck speed, the movie as a whole ceases to move.
The Fast and the Furious (2001)
Tomatometer
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Reviews Counted: 138
Fresh: 72
Rotten:66
Average Rating: 5.4/10
Consensus: Sleek and shiny on the surface, The Fast and the Furious recalls those cheesy teenage exploitation flicks of the 1950s.
Rated: PG-13 [See Full Rating] for violence, sexual content, and language
Runtime: 1 hr 47 mins
Genre: Action/Adventure
Theatrical Release:Jun 22, 2001 Wide
Box Office: $142,542,950
Synopsis: THE FAST AND THE FURIOUS is a nitro-burning joyride that makes outstanding use of special effects, innovative camera work, and a nonstop throbbing soundtrack. From the opening sequence--a... THE FAST AND THE FURIOUS is a nitro-burning joyride that makes outstanding use of special effects, innovative camera work, and a nonstop throbbing soundtrack. From the opening sequence--a high-speed, high-tech truck robbery--the film never drops below the red line. Roaring along at breakneck speed, Dom (Vin Diesel) and his crew meet on the streets of L.A. each night to show off their high-powered racers. When new guy Brian (Paul Walker) wants to add his fuel to the fire, he can't cough up the cash to race, but offers up his car as collateral. In their tiny jacked compacts, Dom, Brian, and Edwin (Ja Rule) burst into a high-gear race with Brian nearly beating perennial champion Dom. But in the final moments, he loses the race and his car. Brian's debt is quickly cleared, however, when he saves Dom both from the cops and from a potentially violent encounter with Johnny Tran (Rick Yune), a rival gang lord. Dom takes Brian under his wing--a decision that disgusts his gang but delights his sister Mia (Jordana Brewster). The gang never suspects that Brian is not who he seems: he is actually an undercover cop, and though he wishes otherwise, he's there to bust Dom for committing the armed truck robbery witnessed in the opening scenes. [More]
Starring: Vin Diesel, Paul Walker, Michelle Rodriguez, Jordana Brewster
Starring: Vin Diesel, Paul Walker, Michelle Rodriguez, Jordana Brewster, Rick Yune
Director: Rob Cohen
Director: Rob Cohen
Screenwriter: Gary Scott Thompson, David Ayer
Producer: Neal H. Moritz
Composer: Brian Tyler
Studio: Universal Pictures
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Reviews for The Fast and the Furious
It's all testosterone and swagger, and tries so hard to be cool that it's just the opposite.
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.
While few of the paper-thin characters register long enough to make much of an impression, Diesel carries the movie with his unsettling mix of Zen-like tranquillity and barely controlled rage.
This is probably the most fun to be had at the multiplex so far this year.
From first frame to last, this is an unabashedly B-Picture, elevated by A-level stunts but dragged down to C-level characterizations.
Returning the series to solid ground after 2 Fast 2 Furious leaned too heavily on cartoonish CGI effects, Tokyo Drift relies on old-fashioned stunt work that gives its best sequences a sense of brute physicality.
...ultimately entertaining enough to warrant a mild recommendation...
It doesn't matter that we know where it's going, what counts is that Cohen keeps his pedal to the floor and that his actors gun their lines with absolute conviction. Loud cars, fast music: this movie knows exactly what it's about.
At first it's an exhilarating ride with original action scenes that quickly become routine when they are thrown at the audience over and over.
The plot gets ridiculous as it's slowly revealed that one of them isn't what they seem to be at first, and continues to get more preposterous, but with better car crashes!
What is unforgivable is that many of the racing scenes were boring too.
It’s dumb as a post, sure, but man, does it get your heart pounding and the adrenaline racing through your bloodstream.
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April 01, 2009:
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August 25, 2008:
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November 21, 2007:
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Justin Lin has already convinced Vin Diesel and Paul Walker to get on board for The Fast and the Furious 4 -- but they may not be the only members of the first installment's... More...
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