Good start to a great action-packed film franchise

Rating: 6/10 (24 April 2015)

I love FAST AND FURIOUS movies, so I thought, "What if I reviewed these movies?", so I will review each film from the original film to the new film.
So, I begin my second franchise review with the original 2001 film, The Fast and the Furious.
The Fast and the Furious was not only released on June 22, 2001 to financial success and mixed reviews, but it also launched the careers of nearly all of it's stars, including Vin Diesel and Paul Walker, who would later become household names, as well as Jordana Brewster and Michelle Rodriguez.
The film is directed by Rob Cohen with a screenplay by David Ayer, who wrote the 2001 film Training Day and co-wrote this film with two other writers including the creator of the franchise, Gary Scott Thompson.
The film follows undercover cop Brian O'Conner who must stop semi-truck hijackers led by criminal and wanted fugitive Dominic Toretto from stealing expensive electronic equipment while developing a relationship with Dominic's sister, Mia Toretto and forming a friendship with Dominic.
That is just a quick summary. I won't go into too much of the plot, because a lot of people should know what is the main premise of the story in this film and the other Fast and Furious movies. The franchise would later go to move away from the underground street racing plot into a plot much more cooler with the heist of $100 million dollars, gun fights and brawls and the movie that would change this franchise and bring new life into it would be the fifth entry in the series, released in April of 2011, Fast Five.
The story is just really cool and amazing, but is not Oscar worthy, but the dialogue is the movie can get a little weak on a few occasions, but not throughout the whole darn movie.
The action is just top-notch and the car chases in this film is as intense and action-packed as they would be later on in the franchise. My favorite car chase is at the beginning of the film and at the end of the film involving Dominic and Brian driving.
The acting is just dreadful, but not all of it is. I will give credit to Vin Diesel, who plays Dominic Toretto and he pulls it off wonderfully, but while it's not Oscar worthy, he does show emotion, drama and laughter into his character. Michelle Rodriguez as Letty Ortiz, is great in this film and she would remain in that part for the other films and she would play in James Cameron's groundbreaking special-effects extravaganza Avatar and in the 2002 action-horror / zombie movie film based on the survival video game, Resident Evil.
The other two that also does a great job is definitely Paul Walker and Jordana Brewster, who plays Brian O'Conner and Mia Toretto, and they do a very decent good job with the material written for them and they have such a great chemistry on the screen.
Dominic Toretto's team members are just good. The actors who play the people in his crew is just incredible, with the exception of Matt Schulze as Vince.
The music and soundtrack is really cool and Ja Rule is in this film, playing the role of Edwin and he provides music on the soundtrack.
Overall, The first and original FAST AND THE FURIOUS is really good, but can get a little confusing in a few areas. I give it a 6 out of 10. It's not the best score, but certainly not the worst. This film is worth the watch and worth buying on DVD and Blu-Ray or watching on basic cable and Video on Demand or Xfinity Streampix.