- Joined
- Jul 3, 1997
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- Real Name
- Ronald Epstein
The Fast and The Furious
Don't feel guilty about loving this movie!
Too often I pick up a DVD and judge its contents
by cover alone. When Universal sent me a screener
of The Fast and the Furious, I was dreading
the fact that I would have to watch yet another
mindless movie about car racing.
Mindless? Yes! But absolutely entertaining!
The police have a problem. Trucks are being
hijacked by turbo charged racecar thieves. Thousands
of dollars in electronic goods are being taken out
of the hands of truck drivers, and these drivers are
about to rebel.
Enter Brian O'Conner (Paul Walker), a speed demon
detective who goes undercover and gets caught up
in the underground of speed racing. Every night
streets of Los Angeles turn into drag strips. Ruling
the road is Dominic Toretto (Vin Diesel), a cool,
tough leader of the streets who befriends Brian and
brings him into a family that may ultimately be
betrayed.
Though this movie boasts some of the most unbelievable
car races and stunts ever filmed to date, it is
actually the performance of Vin Diesel that
makes this movie worth the watch. He becomes a
character full of surprises whom it becomes very
easy to like.
This DVD is reference quality. Presented in 2.35:1
anamorphic widescreen, this is certainly the best DVD
I have seen from Universal in terms of audio and
visual quality. Picture runs very hot with bold,
bright colors that leap out at you. Picture is
consistently crisp and clean. There is absolutely no
flaw in this transfer.
If picture quality doesn't make your jaw drop,
wait till you hear the DTS 5.1 mix. It is the
absolute best DTS surround I have heard on DVD.
Throughout the entire film, my audio system was
hurling sounds across the room. My brain almost
scrambled as effects whizzed from front to back
and side to side as the floor pounded from the
LFE bass response of my SV Subwoofer. In fact, the
soundtrack becomes such a vital part of this film
that you actually feel as if you are inside the
race car, feeling every bump of the ride.
Along with feature commentary by Director Rob
Cohen, this disc packs a nice assortment of
Bonus Material.
The Making of The Fast and The Furious
introduces us to the subculture of drag racing.
It was interesting to find out how these cars
become the identities of the youths that race them.
These are youths who congregate in an area, to
share the love of racing, only to disperse and
reunite later. The film makes good use of actual
people off the street whom with their cars, made
up all the extras in this film. Cohen has gone
to great lengths to be authentic about the world
he is creating on screen. The Fast and The
Furious is an accurate representation of the
legendary cars of our time.
Racer X is an article written by Kenneth Li,
that inspired the making of this film. Using your
remote, you thumb through the many text pages that
make up this article. It's an interesting read that
places you in the midst of a drag race on New York's
streets.
There are no less than eight Deleted Scenes
that can be played with or without the
Director's commentary. You'll find yourself watching these
very short clips twice: first without commentary
to hear the scene, and then with commentary to find
out why it was cut. As usual, we find out that it's
sometimes better to tell a story without going into
excessive depth. Also, remember the golden rule of
filmmaking: "don't fall in love with your shots".
Here is something you will have a lot of fun with.
The final stunt sequence was shot with 8 cameras
that Cohen had positioned in different locations.
Multiple Camera Angle Stunt Sequence allows
you to use your remote control to view each camera
angle as it was originally filmed. Watching the
sequence from the perspective of Camera F
was the most exciting, as it was the camera mounted
inside the black car that flips over on its back.
Movie Magic Interactive Special Effects
uses multiple shot angles to show us how the
final race across a dangerous railroad crossing
was done.
A Visual Effects Montage shows us clips
of scenes cut with either the conceptual drawings
that inspired them, the blue screen effect that was
used to create it, or the computer imagery used to
block the sequence.
Storyboards to final film comparison shows
us split windows. From the first race to the final
race, as these sequences are played, a window at the
top shows the scene as originally blocked out in
storyboard form. You can opt to have the scene
played out in storyboard only form, if you prefer.
Whether this turns out to be your thing or not,
there are three Music Videos included by RULE,
CADDILLAC TAH and SALIVA. 2 short promos also
hype the soundtrack release. Needless to say I
won't be playing these videos at any upcoming PTA
gatherings.
Music Highlights lets you immediately access
a scene in the movie that features a favorite song.
You know what I found to be the most interesting
of all the Bonus Features on this DVD? It's
the moment we go into the editing room in the
Featurette on editing for the Motion Picture
Association of America. In order for this film
to earn a PG-13 rating, the editors were advised to
tone down a bloody sequence during the final hijack
sequence. It's interesting to watch these editors
removing a mere 5 frames from the film in order to
tone down the intensity of the scene and earn the
PG-13 rating.
Final Thoughts
Once in a while one needs to supplement their
rigorous viewing habits with absolute mindless
entertainment. The Fast and The Furious
not only fits the bill as a film that is enormously
entertaining from start to finish, but also enables
you to look under the hood of your Home Theater
system, tweak it to its capacity, and let it
rumble as it never has before.
Release Date: January 2, 2002