The Fast and The Furious

Movie Title--  The Fast and The Furious

Release Year--  2001

Running Time--  1 Hour and 46 Minutes

Director--  Rob Cohen

Cast--  Paul Walker, Vin Diesel, Michelle Rodriguez, Jordana Brewster, Rick Yune, Chad Lindberg, Johnny Strong, Matt Schulze, Ted Levine

Police officer Brian O'Connor is sent undercover to break up a series of street racing groups but soon must decide where his loyalties lie after going in too deep and becoming a member of Dominic Toretto's gang.

The Toretto gang, led by Dominic Toretto (Vin Diesel), is under suspicion of hijacking and robbing tractor trailers of the expensive electronic equipment.  Police officer Brian O'Connor (Paul Walker) is sent undercover to find out exactly who it is stealing the equipment before the truck drivers resort to their own brand of vigilante justice.

Brian becomes very fond of Dom's little sister Mia (Jordana Brewster) which gets him in hot water with Toretto's gang but wanting to prove himself, he shows up with his car at an illegal street race.  He doesn't have the money for the buy in, offers up the pink slip to his car.  Brian gets a boost toward the end of the race but in the last minutes he loses to Dom.  The police arrive, breaking up the race and causing everyone to run.  Toretto's gang leaves Dom behind but Brian finds him and picks him up before the cops do.  This gesture helps to bring Brian into Dom's gang, much to the disapproval of one of the members of the gang.

The closer that Brian gets to the gang, the more he doubts that Dom is involved and his superiors believe that he is too close to the situation to see Toretto's gang clearly and encourage him to get results fast.  They go to Race Wars in the desert and when Brian sees Dom and the gang leaving, he realizes that he has been wrong the entire time and confesses to Mia that he is a cop.  Together, the two of them race to find the gang and try to stop them before it is too late.

This is another film that I felt needed to be on this list.  In my opinion, this film is what started all of the modern day street racing films.  When a person thinks street racing film, this one is the first to come to mind.  

This is a pretty good film.  I am a fan of Vin Diesel and the late Paul Walker and I think they both did a great job in this film.  The story is a good story, the love stories are a little on the lame side but other than that it holds together well.

If you are feeling a little nostalgic, I say check this one out again and Don't Forget the Popcorn!