Brian O'Conner is sent undercover to investigate Dominic Toretto and his crew of street racers (who are seemingly involved in numerous thefts of electronic goods from trucks). However, the glamour of street racing and being smitten with Toretto's sister Mia puts O'Conner in a quandary, meaning, at times, he's never quite sure with whom his loyalties truly lie...
I've lost touch with this franchise over the years I think the last one I watched may have been the 6th film in the franchise so I've decided to try and watch them one by one from the start and although this first film is touted as one of the best I have to admit to finding it slightly disappointing.
There is a story here, but its so thin and practically inconsequential that it really isn't worth discussing or expanding on in any further detail so I'll concentrate on other areas within the film...
The acting is hardly oscar worthy, but I felt that the cast did reasonably well with what little that they had to work with; Vin Diesel is hardly the best of actors, but his gruff persona suits the material well and he comes off as being surprisingly watchable here. The late Paul Walker has never been an amazing actor, but again did OK with what he was served up with here. Rodriguez was a ballsy girl and put on a fairly good show, but Brewster was a bit bland (then again hardly her fault when character development was so weak here). A few of the other performers were little more than weak ethnic stereotypes who I couldn't help but feel deserved better.
Still where the film works best is in the chase sequences and the racing; at least these scenes are entertaining and provide the film with that much needed injection of pace - TF&TF really suffers when any kind of narrative comes in to play.
I watched this film at the cinema when it was released as a very young 19 year old man. My 19 year old self was highly impressed with the film; the chases, the action, the high-octane stuff and the hot girls were enough to effectively blow me away the first time I watched this film. As a man in my early 40's now I need more than that; whilst I have no complaints with what impressed me as a 19 year old; heck these things are still good!! Nowadays I see these things as a compliment and a decent story is needed to flesh out what is otherwise a superficial and inconsequential film which is sadly what TF&TF is when you take away all the gloss and polish.
I don't regret watching it again and will persevere with the franchise, but it's fair to say that this is probably one of those franchises that is likely to appeal much more to the younger crowd and much less to those, who like me, are sadly now just about creeping in to middle age.
I've lost touch with this franchise over the years I think the last one I watched may have been the 6th film in the franchise so I've decided to try and watch them one by one from the start and although this first film is touted as one of the best I have to admit to finding it slightly disappointing.
There is a story here, but its so thin and practically inconsequential that it really isn't worth discussing or expanding on in any further detail so I'll concentrate on other areas within the film...
The acting is hardly oscar worthy, but I felt that the cast did reasonably well with what little that they had to work with; Vin Diesel is hardly the best of actors, but his gruff persona suits the material well and he comes off as being surprisingly watchable here. The late Paul Walker has never been an amazing actor, but again did OK with what he was served up with here. Rodriguez was a ballsy girl and put on a fairly good show, but Brewster was a bit bland (then again hardly her fault when character development was so weak here). A few of the other performers were little more than weak ethnic stereotypes who I couldn't help but feel deserved better.
Still where the film works best is in the chase sequences and the racing; at least these scenes are entertaining and provide the film with that much needed injection of pace - TF&TF really suffers when any kind of narrative comes in to play.
I watched this film at the cinema when it was released as a very young 19 year old man. My 19 year old self was highly impressed with the film; the chases, the action, the high-octane stuff and the hot girls were enough to effectively blow me away the first time I watched this film. As a man in my early 40's now I need more than that; whilst I have no complaints with what impressed me as a 19 year old; heck these things are still good!! Nowadays I see these things as a compliment and a decent story is needed to flesh out what is otherwise a superficial and inconsequential film which is sadly what TF&TF is when you take away all the gloss and polish.
I don't regret watching it again and will persevere with the franchise, but it's fair to say that this is probably one of those franchises that is likely to appeal much more to the younger crowd and much less to those, who like me, are sadly now just about creeping in to middle age.