'' is a
2001 action film starring
Vin Diesel and
Paul Walker , and directed by
Rob Cohen .
Dominic (Diesel) is the leader of a
Street Racing gang that is under suspicion of hijacking trucks for their cargo of expensive electronic equipment. Undercover cop Brian O'Conner (Walker) attempts to find out who exactly is stealing the equipment by infiltrating the local racing community with the help of a local auto parts dealer, while falling for Dominic's younger sister Mia (
Jordana Brewster ).
After O'Conner loses his Mitsubishi Eclipse to Toretto in a race for "
Pink Slips ", a
1950s slang term for the registration documents for a car in the
United States , and then loses it again when they are confronted by Toretto's rival Johnny Tran (
Rick Yune ), O'Conner tries to gain the trust of Toretto by working on repairing and upgrading a burned out
Toyota Supra to hand over to him. While doing this, O'Conner is constantly pressured by his superiors in the
LAPD and the
FBI to bring the investigation to a satisfactory close, leading him to face a stark choice between the community he has embedded himself into and the woman he has become close to or discarding his cover and discovering who from the street gangs are carrying out the hijackings.
and
Paul Walker in ''The Fast and the Furious''.]]
The plot is somewhat similar to that of the
1991 film ''
Point Break ''. Both films feature an undercover cop infiltrating a gang of underground competition enthusiasts in order to gain information about who is pulling off a series of heists. In both films the protagonist falls for a significant female in the team leader's life, forcing him to ultimately choose whether to take up the life of those he was tasked to spy upon or do his job.
The races are undoubtedly the setpieces of the movie and unfortunately are—by necessity— somewhat formulaic; they are mostly won by one of the racers firing
Nitrous Oxide into the intake manifold at the last moment. The nitrous oxide systems, incorrectly referred to as NOS, play a big part in the movie, with O'Conner seeing it as vital that his car have more complex and powerful nitrous systems in an attempt to match or beat Toretto. NOS in the movie references nitrous oxide in general although Pennsylvania auto parts manufacturer Holley Motor Company's NOS (Nitrous Oxide System) is widely used in the film. Nitrous Express (NX)'s brand is also widely used.
The film was one of the biggest hits of the year and remains popular to this day. It was also reasonably well-received by critics as an enjoyable romp featuring some well-shot action scenes.
''The Fast and the Furious'' is also the movie that is credited with sparking the fascination of America's youth in "souping up" or "tricking out" Japanese imports when originally this was only popular with the actual hardcore street racers who inspired the movie. For this it has received a cult following. Some people looking for a scapegoat also blame the film for the increase in illegal street racing even though the film does show the dangers and glorification of illegal street racing. The movie is also looked down at by some, as they say that it is responsible with filling the streets up with
Rice Burner s despite the fact "Ricer Burners" have been around for 20 years. The film has also gained a bad reputation within some modified car commmunities, largely because of the "all show and no go" nature of the cars (the sound systems, loud paintwork etc) and the exaggeration of the effects of nitrous oxide. Some also highlight some of the wooden acting in the film of the main cast, and the fact some of the scenes are not well thought through.
Outside the US, TF&TF has helped to popularize the interests in performance Japanese cars, especially in the UK, assisted by the
SVA regulation, which saw a mass influx of imported second hand mid and large size sporting cars especially
Imprezas and
Supras . The movie also helped to change the image of Honda Civics in Europe, as modifications has recently became popular for the model.
It may also have been an influence, due to the "glamour" of the film's villain, Johnny Tran, on the sudden increase in sales of small, high-powered sportsbikes, commonly referred to as
Crotch Rocket s (a euphemism Toretto uses in the film).
Sportsbike s, typically produced by Japanese motor companies like
Suzuki ,
Honda ,
Kawasaki and
Yamaha Motor Company Ltd. , and the Italian company,
Ducati Motor Holding , provide a source of transportation that is cheaper (both in price and fuel cost) than an automobile and are popular among the late-teen, early 20s crowd, mainly for its low price.
Various modded and upgraded cars feature in the movie, including the following by color, character and year.
- Partly influenced by an article from ''Vibe'' by Journalist Ken Li —''Racer X''—about the import street racing scene, where mainly Japanese road-going sports cars are "modded", upgraded and tuned beyond belief, and then raced at night on the public streets.
- The director Rob Cohen went through the titles— "Nos", ''Redline'' and ''Street Wars''— before settling upon ''The Fast and the Furious''. To use this, they bought the rights for the title—but not the plot— to a 1954 movie Of The Same Name .
- Director Rob Cohen appears as the disgruntled "Pizza Boy" during the first streetrace sequence.
- A coin up game based on the movie named The Fast And The Furious Wild Speed was created in 2004 by Raw Thrills Inc. and released in Japan by Taito .
A sequel—''
2 Fast 2 Furious '' (
2003 ) found Walker reprising his role as Brian O'Conner, but Diesel, who had attained star status since the making of the first movie, did not return for the second film. This was reportedly due to Diesel's salary demands.
The follow-up to "2 Fast 2 Furious": currently titled '''' (also known as ''Fast and Furious 3'') will not feature either Vin Diesel or Paul Walker. Instead the film will be set in Japan & will feature a whole different set of characters, like
Bow Wow and
Keiko Kitagawa , who has become widely known in Japan and in the United States by
Anime and
Tokusatsu fans for her portrayal of
Sailor Mars in the live-action series
Pretty Guardian Sailor Moon . F&F3 will center around
Drifting &
JDM performance. Though the film was scheduled for release in Summer 2005, then originally pushed back to Summer 2007, it now has a tentative release date for Summer 2006. Some scenes were filmed in downtown Los Angeles in January 2006 on Wilshire Boulevard, where street signs and banners in Japanese have been added.
The movie will be directed by
Justin Lin , a rising indie movie director & actor.
