
The Fast and the Furious
OK we’re gonna try and watch all ten of these in a month. First we rewind to 2001, a simpler time when all that mattered was fast cars and fast women. A time when Vin Diesel truly struggled to act on screen.
This one comes from the sex-pest director of xXx1 and you can see his trademark shit style evident here too.
It’s hard to believe this is the film that spawned 10 others. It’s not ‘terrible’ but it’s also not particularly remarkable. The colour grading, the clothes, the cars… they all take you back but so does every other film at the time. And in those other films people can act.
There is is a simplicity to the story though that sort of appeals. An undercover cop gets in too deep, and gets wrapped up in a world of street-racing criminals. It’s not particularly novel but at least there are some stakes. Especially since you know Vin is super dangerous - at the start he nicks a load of DVD players off a lorry.
Anyway there’s something absurd about the way people talk and behave in this film that does appeal to me, even though back in the day I thought it was incredibly stupid. So I suppose that bodes well for the next 9 films.