the first ride

Rating: 7/10 (28 March 2015)

It's strange that one of the best franchises in movie history started off with Vin Diesel stealing a bunch of VHS players. Make no mistake about it, under the corny dialogue, awful soundtrack, horrid direction, and a general sheen that makes it clear that this is a 2001-ass movie from 2001, this is also at its core a Fast & Furious movie. So in preparation for the impending release of Furious 7, let's look how the film that started it all held to the franchise's tenants of Life, Cars, and Family.
Life: Although the "I live my life a quarter mile at a time" mantra is corny, I think it plays well in the streets of the film's world. A world where respect is everything, but that respect has to be both earned and backed-up with actions. It means taking big risks, knowing your priorities, but also living in freedom of choosing your own destiny. While Dom's arc here is learning to live with that freedom, by his own code of honour, and the consequences and all it entails, Brian's arc is about earning that respect and choosing how far he's willing to go to get it. It may not seem a lot, but I think it speaks a lot to their arcs throughout the entire series, especially when you see how awkward Brian is at the beginning, knowing he'll eventually become one of the coolest and most respected white dudes on the planet later.
Cars: Although originally envisioned as a movie about street racing, the film actually grinds to a halt when people stop to race. Director Rob Cohen is as bad at directing as he is at acting (As that Pizza Hut guy annoyed by street racers) and manages to make the races both boring, but also hideous to look at. He adds several horrible effects to each racing scene to convey speed and excitement, both CGI and otherwise, but it never feels, or looks right, and they also never sound right. Seriously, when people aren't talking, Cohen turns the film into some god-awful "nu-metal" or "rapcore" music video. All he needed was to add some crunk, and he would have completed a devil's threesome of best-forgotten 00s music genres. What is good however is how Cohen handles the heist, which the series would eventually realise is much more interesting than racing, which they prove here. Cars drive under trucks, people jump from cars to trucks, and people jump from trucks to cars. It's nothing the series wouldn't do better later, but it's still edge-of-your seat classic action, complete with a last minute save by our hero, Brian. As for the cars themselves, the only truly memorable one is Dom's classic Charger, which plays heavily into his back story.
Family: Again, this movie is strangely best when people are talking, and not racing. The film obviously establishes the code of honour and of respect, but it's also about family, which the series is ultimately about. I forgot that they go into Dom's back story here, and why family is so important to him as he establishes one in the absence of his father, while being welcoming to all who gravitate towards him. His code of family really drives the film, and his accepting of Brian builds both Brian's character of being a good man and saving Dom, but also Dom's appreciation of Brian not leaving him behind build's up Dom. Family doesn't leave each other behind, and they watch each other's back. The film tries to make us think Brian's desire to help Dom is Mia-based, but I think he just really wants to be apart of that family, and Ted Levine even says he has to make a choice about which family he wants to be apart of. He kind of chooses the police in this film, but his actions here come back where he finally makes his choice in Fast and Furious.
Overall, if you can get past the horrible direction and how dated the film is now, there's actually a lot to like here from the above and beyond character work, to the heist gone wrong. I never cared for this film when it came out, but looking back it has the early shine of the elements I love of this series. It's flawed, but I still like it.
RIP the great Paul walker