Category: Fast and the Furious

Iconic franchise with iconic actors who have become legendary among huge audiences and millions, if not billions of people have seen at least one of the Fast&Furious movies. Total worldwide gross of the series stands a tiny bit higher than the $5 billion mark. This takes the series to the 6th place in the list of highest grossing movie franchises of all time with two more movies yet to be released. The huge potential of an already established giant. It is the most profitable franchise that Universal has ever had. But it needs to begin with something. There must be a movie that shifted the tip of balance and gave birth to this enormously huge project that modern youngster already grew up on. This movie is the first Fast & Furious.

Like most of the great ideas, the concept for the movie was based on the real-life events. Kenneth’s Li 1998 article named “Racer X” was the inspiration for the movie which later grew into the franchise. The article is about the racers with quick, beautiful cars with powerful engines that take over the NYC streets at night, deciding who is the fastest one. It describes the drag racing and people of many ethnicities who are united around only one thing – speed. Drag racing becomes the key thing in the Fast and the Furious movie.
It took the same path that Li’s article did, describing the depth behind the races asides from it being obviously illegal. Each driver does not just get his car and go break the law. The best drivers treat their cars like their kids or loved ones. Each vehicle is a result of hundreds of hours of time, tons of effort and tens of thousands invested dollars. The driver would often live in the car or cut expenses on the food just to get the new shiny detail under the hood of his metal passion.

The Fast and The Furious does a great job to recap the nostalgic DIY mentality of the past, where making something yourself is much more rewarding than buying it. Unlike the inspirational article, the film is set in Los Angeles. The movie gets us right into the action with all the cars that are beautiful both on the outside and the inside. The main character is Brian O’Conner, portrayed by Paul Walker who had sadly passed away in 2013. Brian is an undercover cop, who was ordered to find the thieves, reportedly the local street racers. He meets Mia Toretto, sister of Dominic Toretto, another main character in the franchise. The latter is a very reputable street racer. Brian and Dominic participate in the race with money and Brian’s car at stake. However, the LAPD’s intervention forces Dom and Brian to flee together, making the two closer. This is the start of possibly the best partnership in movie history. The characters are yet to experience epic plot twists, crazy crimes, hot pursuits, and races. The interaction between characters within the movie is built amazingly well, and the friendship bonds along with treachery feel realistic and relatable.

The visuals in the movie are stunning, mainly due to the beautiful shots of Los Angeles and great custom cars that are a joy to watch. The sound was done masterfully, especially the engine sound during the races. These factors make the immersion absolutely undeniable. The viewers are captivated both by what they see and feel during the storyline with the spicy parts like sound and action scenes, which is the major highlight of the movie. Without a doubt, this is a great start to an even better franchise.