I'm more than a little inclined to think that the "Fast and Furious" franchise is fairly remarkable. Somehow, an entire mythos and complex chronology was created out of, what essentially was, a "Point Break" remake. I found this so interesting that I decided to rewatch every film in the series (excluding Furious 7) in an attempt to better understand what makes it what it is. It should be noted that I am a person who is very much so into these films, but I had never sat down and watched them all in an attempt to see what they are and how they all work. So, I start this trip with the first film, "The Fast and the Furious."
"The Fast and the Furious" serves as an interesting psuedo-remake of "Point Break." An undercover police officer infiltrates a group of people engaged in some sort of extreme activity (in the film's case, underground street racing) that are also suspected of some sort of illegal activity. The officer then begins to, sincerely, become close to them emotionally. From here, he is faced with a dilemma: turn them in, or let them go? What's interesting isn't its nature as an almost remake, but in the way it plays itself out. By no means is it stellar, for flatness in acting and characterization are everywhere, but it plays itself very well in a few areas.
The most articulated characters are Vin Diesel's Dom Toretto, Paul Walker's Brian O'Connor, and Jordana Brewster's Mia Toretto. These three stand out the most because, well, they're the only ones with any real development. Every other character is basically the same throughout the entire film and only vaguely defined. Even so, this film excels on a number of other levels. I should say that it's important to note the film's place within the Fast and Furious franchise. I would dare say that the impetus of many of the car-based stunts in later films are built off of the truck heists within this one.
This is its greatest accomplishment, for what it lacks in quality of dialogue it more than makes up with well choreographed stunt work. The largest of these is on of those said truck heists towards the end of the film. It's one that happens multiple times throughout the film, but at this point we see it in daylight, with all the identities of the players revealed. Dom and the rest of the members of the heist encircle an 18-wheeler with their cars in an attempt to highjack it and its cargo to sell to a fence. We are given clear geography of the scene; at any given moment we know were each person is. It's pure cinema, with each action leading to the next, telling small stories that are mostly visual. This is the case for the majority of the film.
One important aspect of this movie that was echoed throughout a few of the other films is the theme of family. Dom serves as the patriarch (resonating even to his prized possession, a car he and his departed father built) and the sincerity of his concern for those in his family (read: gang or crew) is palpable. Dom, and many of the other characters work much like Rocky. Particularly, from the first "Rocky", that is to say they are dopey but emotionally sincere. For me, Dom's strongest moment with dialogue comes when he is giving Brian the history of the car he and his father built. He describes the tragic death of his father in said car, which he renovated in the years after, his nearly beating the driver responsible for the car wreck to death, and all of the subsequent trouble from that. Dom concludes by describing how his worldview has changed since the accident, saying that he lives life "a quarter-mile at a time" and that "during the ten seconds in that car, in a race...I'm free."
The entire movie thematically stems from that line. The people who race in the movies are not merely people who drive cars very quickly, but people whose cars are an extension of who they are. When they race, they feel alive, much like an athlete would when performing in their sport of choice. It is a blend of practical movement with artistry, each driver learning the ins and outs of their vehicle to better perform. A very likely reading is that each car represents some aspect of each character driving it. Perhaps, it wasn't intended and just happened to be there. Either way, it elevates the film from a mere film about racing to a film more about why they race, though only slightly.
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