Incredible!

Rating: 10/10 (24 June 2001)

Being a part of the import scene, I was extremely nervous about the release of "The Fast and the Furious". Visions of riced-out Civic's running 7 second quarter miles danced through my nightmares for weeks on end. We even went out and rented The Skulls (with Paul Walker) and Pitch Black (with Vin Diesel) just to see what the acting was going to be like. We had already seen The Faculty, so we knew what a hotty Jordana Brewster was.
You cannot imagine my relief on opening night, as we emerged from the theater. IT WAS INCREDIBLE! There were very few ridiculous antics to be seen anywhere in the film. My beefs are as follows:
Civics driving under big rigs. Totally unrealistic. But come on, this is Hollywood. It looked cool, just let it go.
They lead you to believe green non-turbo Eclipse is turbocharged. Anyone associated with the industry knows all about that Eclipse. It has been in magazines and is well documented. The film makers even admit to the fact that it is a non-turbo, yet still proceed to tell you it IS turbocharged and even dubbed in blow-off valve noises when it shifts. But again, its a MOVIE. We have actors pretending to be things they are not, so what is the difference if they pretend the car is something its not.
Paul Walker's acting. From time to time in the movie, he really nails a line and conveys incredible amounts of emotion. (Like the scene where he and Dom are eating lunch alone together) But other times his delivery is just plain flat. (Like where he offers up his pink slip to race) If you just focus on the acting of Vin Diesel (which was just awesome) you should be able to overlook Paul Walker's short comings.
They had to bring something illegal into it. Well, apart from the fact that street racing is illegal in the first place, that is. I am sure there is someone, somewhere, who street races and IS in fact a criminal. But the way it is portrayed in this movie is just ridiculous. But again, this is Hollywood we are talking about. If there was nothing like that going on, there would be no plot. Just be happy its not drugs.
Nitrous Oxide was over used. Especially on turbocharged cars. Anyone who has ever tuned a turbocharged car knows that it is no small task. Maintaining a safe air-fuel ratio while maximizing power is tough. Adding nitrous-oxide into the mix (which requires additional fuel to go with it) is damned near impossible. Only the top of the line professional racers pull it off as a large power adder and do it safely. The fact that almost every car in this movie has both a turbocharger AND nitrous is just ridiculous. HOWEVER.. with that being said, it definitely adds something to the suspense of the race scenes. It gives the director the ability to make someone appear to be losing a race, and let them hit their NOS button at the last minute to start a come back and make it close. So although it is a bit unrealistic that so many people would run nitrous oxide, it adds entertainment value to the film.
So thats it! The movie was extremely well done. The editing is great, and there are some parts that really keep you on the edge of your seat. It is by no means predictable, either. There are many parts of the movie that could really go either way, and the director does a great job of keeping you in the dark until the scene ends. The interaction between Brian, Mia, and Vince was great too. You could feel the love Vince has for Dominic and his crew, and that he really feels he is protecting them from Brian.
The characters are believable, and you really find yourself caring for them and what happens to them. The action is great AND believable (if you can overlook a few minor things).
GO SEE THIS MOVIE! In fact, I am about to go see it again right now.