Speaker #0hello everyone and welcome to movie goodness where we examine life through cinema here on the kb radio network i am your host kevin reed and ladies and gentlemen do you realize it's been 25 years since the release of the original the very first the fast and the furious 25 years i remember going to the theater seeing this movie i thought it was a little throwaway action movie with cars and racing and all that good stuff in the summer of 2001 it was it was a very interesting movie and never never would i have thought that it would become a global phenomenon like it is. Not in particular this film, but the entire franchise. This film, just this little old film, directed by Rob Cohen, and one of the writers was a very young David Ayer. Yes, who gave us Training Day and End of Watch and Suicide Squad, Fury, and, you know, all that. He wrote this. I think this was one of his... first films that he uh wrote or or contribute to writing i think they had three writers here but this little film spawned not one not two not even three but nine sequels with another one in the works and it's also a spin-off film with hops and shaw a tv series that is currently in development it. as well as several video games. This is a phenomenon. It's grossed billions of dollars, this franchise. Billions. And it's no sign of stopping. It's no sign of stopping the Fast and the Furious. I mean, it turned into a superhero franchise. It really did. These films, every single film, always outdoes the other way okay what can we do different let's jump off a mountain and swing a car like tarzan let's go into space you know let's outrun a 747 jet let's pull it down from the sky let's uh uh let's sink a submarine with these cars they've done so much with this franchise the most ridiculous this. i mean other ridiculous stuff that you would ever see on a tv or movie screen it is i mean in any other world it would be the stupidest thing you ever saw just dumb but for some unknown reason this franchise keeps people coming i feel that this movie after five after fast five i was pretty much out as far as looking for substance i was it was over because five was great five five was probably the best one in my eyes and then after that it just went completely ridiculous but every time they drop one i'm there it's something about it that keeps me coming back you know i i in in millions of others because every movie is a success every movie is a box office smash but before but before we got to all of that before we were going into outer space with a nissan ultima before we were jumping off of mountains before they would uh catapulting themselves from one building to the next and going back to the other building and going back to the other before we got to that ridiculous sticklessness of pulling the safe through the streets of brazil with two cars there was the fast and the furious that came out in 2001 like i said i think it was me and my cousin that went to go see this movie and we would we were like man this is pretty good you know a little popcorn summer movie you know i i was all for it to see cars to see the hot women you know to see a a little, uh... undercover cop story I was 8 it was fun for what it was it was truly a good time for 2001 uh in case you've been living under the rock not the rock he comes into this franchise much later but in case you were uh wondering what this film was about it's about an undercover cop named brian o'connell who was played by the late paul rocker and he infiltrates this street racing crew to investigate a series of hijacks And he finds himself developing a kind of a complex friendship with the leader of this group, Dominic Toretto, played by Vin Diesel. Starting alongside of these two actors, you also had Michelle Rodriguez, as well as Georgiana Brewster. Where the film comes from, it all spawned from this article. that was written in i think 1998 and the article was entitled uh racer x and it detailed about street racing in new york city nonetheless but it was illegal street racing and uh it was pretty prominent around that time in the late 90s and so this article was uh uh uh written became pretty popular and it fell into hollywood producers hands and they wanted to make a movie about it and so what did the hollywood producers do they moved the setting from new york city to la of course and the rest is history this this was i wasn't into cars like that i wasn't a car guy you know i i acknowledged them for what they were i'm more of a classic car guy a muscle car guy and so these street racing cars you know souped up with uh nice and all this other stuff i i didn't know i i wasn't into that it once once this movie came out i really started paying attention to it and i used to see these cars uh on the road more often after the release of this film it it became more prominent you know or i paid attention more one of the two Thank you. But it was something that was in my preview after this film was released. Before we get to the review of it, I wanted to run down some facts about The Fast and the Furious that came out in 2001. That maybe you didn't know. You know, maybe you didn't know. It might find hard to believe in some cases. So, for instance. Michelle Rodriguez and Georgiana Brewster didn't have a driver's license when they made this movie. They didn't have a driver's license or a learner's permit. They had no experience driving cars until the production of this movie. It's crazy to think that, but that's the truth. Speaking of Michelle Rodriguez, her and Vin Diesel, they were dating at the time of this film. They played a couple on screen as well as off screen. They end up breaking up, of course, but which probably led to her not being in the following sequels until when did she return in four, five? I don't even remember. There's so many now. But, yeah, she was killed off and, yeah, didn't return for a while after they broke up. Is it is it linked? I don't know. I'm not going to speculate, but I just found it kind of funny. The filmmakers, they had asked the owners of the house in the background where they were shooting at to paint their houses in muted colors. The reason they wanted them to paint their houses in muted colors, that way the cars can stand out. You know, the colorful cars that they had on set. And the people complied. Ain't that something? I'll say this much. i'm not painting my house if they're filming something on my they can paint it but they're gonna have to paint it back to what it was before and i'm still want my money as well uh during the street races real life drivers they brought their cars to participate in the scene and so that's that to give it uh i guess a more authentic feel uh during filming you actually had real authentic Street Race Drivers. Out there. you know in the scene when brian the first racing scene with brian and uh dom and uh was it ja rule yeah they uh the other participant was a actual street racer he he's a champion as it is if you want to call it that in a legal street racing but he was a champion at the time uh for that scene but all the cars that participated all the cars that came on the set there were over 1500 cars that were in that uh uh race war scene uh that is a lot 1500 cars for that scene the first race scene was supposed to be a quarter of a mile that's the race that's that's normally what the race is um a quarter of a mile and that takes about 10 seconds in reality. Well, that wouldn't translate well on... on the screen you know in in the film it's a 10 second race so for the film they scratched it out for a two minute scene like it wasn't a quarter of a mile it actually felt like 10 miles that they were racing but uh in the film they with them scratching it out the cars essentially went 150 miles per hour. And... To go that fast in a quarter of a mile is virtually impossible. It can be done. You know, they have vehicles that can do that, but not too often. So that's where it kind of bends reality. Speaking of bending reality, Dominic Toretto in the first film was 24 years old, whereas Vin Diesel at the time was 34 years old playing. a 24 year old on screen that isn't out of the norm you know they do that in movies all the time but i found that funny and i must say i never thought he was 24 years old at no point did i think dominic terretto was 24 years old in that movie but that's that's that's the lie they tell me i mean come on It... Vin Diesel never looked 24 years old. He never. And his counterpart, played by Paul Walker, he wasn't the first choice. Paul Walker wasn't the first choice to play Brian. It was actually three people. Three people they considered for the role. Mark Wahlberg, Christian Bale, and Slim Shady himself, Eminem. uh they all turned them turned it down of course but i i think i would have been i love paul walker and what role he is that role he is brian you know god rest his soul but i would have been curious to see eminem in this role you know he only did that one movie which he virtually played himself but i would have loved to seen eminem and more movies uh Because he's clearly talented. And he can act. He actually did a good job in 8 Mile. I want to say, this would have been a little different. But it didn't come to be. But we got the best thing. The best man did win in this regard. Paul Walker cast as Brian. Speaking of more consideration, more actresses or actors for different roles. Early on, the role of Mia Toretto, you know, Dom's sister, was originally written. It was written specifically for Alicia Dushku, but she turned it down. And so they held auditions. And this is who auditioned for the role of Mia. And I stress audition because they wanted the role. Crazy enough. Natalie Poitman, Cheryl Michelle Gellar, yes, Buffy. uh christian dunst jessica bill they all auditioned for the role but ultimately jordana uh brewster won the role of mia it and look looking in hindsight that probably was best that's probably for the best because all of those actresses went on to have story careers they it wasn't like that hurt them and at least bit but uh it's just weird that they The, uh... Because they were known around that time. It wasn't like these little unknown actresses at that time. You know, struggling young actresses trying to make it. No, they were established. And they didn't get that role. Before the film was called The Fast and the Furious, they went through a few working titles. It went through Racer X, Redline, Race Wars, and ultimately they settled on The Fast and the Furious. uh this goes to show you that the title of a film is crucial because i don't see too many sequels you know off of racer x it's so many iterations of the fast and the furious that they have made you know fate of the furious fast and furious too fast too furious you know all of this and fast x and all that it's so it you it wouldn't mesh with these other titles so it all worked out in the long run but i don't think they were like looking that far ahead when they came up with that decision but it's it's crazy how uh a title of a film makes all the difference in the world um speaking of uh i brought up earlier about other actors being considered and for certain roles paul walker not being the first choice for brian well believe it or not vin diesel wasn't the first choice for dom the first choice was timothy on the fan and he turned it down and he had a pretty legitimate reason for turning it down he had just i mean just a year prior just did uh gone in 60 with nicholas cage and angelina jolie and all them and he didn't want to be linked up with another car related movie back to back so he he turned the roll down i'm gonna tell you i'm gonna say this number one look i love vin diesel i'm not hating on vin diesel but when it comes to better i gotta lean towards timothy autofat timothy autofat elevates things to me he elevates whatever he's in i i justified is one of my favorite shows to come out over the last 30 years i can't even remember when justify came out on fx but it was phenomenal and he was phenomenal on that show uh uh santa clara diet with drew barrymore that was on netflix I think it ran for like two maybe three seasons no two seasons it was really good and he was really good on it you know showing his comedic side and everything it's just so I can go down I can go on and on about Timothy on the fan I'm a as you could tell I'm a big fan of him I love his his performances you know not all his movies you do But I don't blame him for that. He's really good. He was good in that Die Hard movie where he was the villain, even though that Die Hard movie wasn't that good. But he was good in it, you know, being opposite of Bruce Willis. And so it would have been cool to see him as Dom. And if the franchise would have continued the way it did with Timothy on the fat, you know, I don't know. I don't know because Vin Diesel was the spearhead. you know he was the the one leading the charge for all of these movies you know he later became a producer of all these films so he's the reason why we're still getting all of these fast and furious movies and you know for the fans of this franchise i'm pretty sure everybody is super happy that vin diesel got the role and i'm not mad that he got the role i just would have loved to see timothy on the fat in that role you know what he would have did with it but that's just that's just a personal preference personal preference here's another iteration of the cast that could have happened and this is this is a fact like i said to start this off you can believe it or not but this is a fact uh rob cohen who directed this film his original choices for the cast was mario lopez mark paul gallagher uh gallagher or gallister i could never get his name right but uh and dustin diamond if those names sound familiar that is the cast from saved by the bell but that was his initial choice uh mario was going to be dom mark was going to be brian and dustin diamond yes skeeter he was going to be jesse the role of jesse but the studio said no we're not gonna this people gonna think this is a continuation of saved by the bell so the studio x'd it and the rest is history but that was the initial vision of rob cohen for the fast and the furious interesting this um this movie once again believe it or not was envisioned as a sequel you to the 1991 film point break and if you ever seen point break with keanu reeves and the late great patrick swayze similar concept is basically the same movie you know and i can see where this could have been a sequel to that but instead of having johnny utah we had brian o'connell and the rest is history but uh this is kind of a spiritual secret Well, I guess you could say to point break, which is pretty much a classic in a lot of people's eyes. Going back to the role of Dominic Toretto, the studio at one point was trying to get Colin Farrell in the role of Dominic. Colin Farrell is an amazing actor, amazing actor. I'm going to sit here and tell you that wouldn't have worked. That wouldn't work. Not to say he wouldn't have did a good job. Not to say the movie wouldn't have been good with him. But I don't think it would have worked like this. In this, I don't know, version of the movie that we saw. I think it would have been a different movie with Colin Farrell. But that's just my thoughts. But those are some of my little tidbits about the film. So let's get into the review of the one that started it all. the one that spearhead a global phenomenon box office giant franchise that financially rivals marvel studios the mcu dcu whatever whatever cinematic universe that there is the fast and the furious franchise is neck and neck with them all you know uh financially i'm I'm not saying quality, but. financially it's up there with the avengers films and all that so that is crazy and it all started with this film in 2001 i i love this movie this this movie what i love about the fast and the furious is the fact that is simple it is a a simple linear story an undercover cop played by paul walker he infiltrates this gang or this street racing team crew whatever who hijacks oil trucks or gas trucks whatever you know it's like it's like a western in a lot of ways the way it does uh uh you know the story structure is and it's led by Dominic Toretto, played by Vin Diesel, this leader in... uh this is what separates this film from the rest of the movies what this is true acting and storytelling and uh character development and all that a real movie you know a real structured film which makes it perfect now it's not a perfect movie i'm talking perfection in the in the standards of fast and furious movies you know It's not, it's nowhere near Citizen Kane here. I'm just saying how the story is told with Dominic Toretto being this leader, being this game member, and he's doing this for family, you know, which has become a motif throughout the entire franchise. And how Brian infiltrates this crew and instead of... coming after them just similar similar to johnny utah in um uh point break you know with uh keanu reeves how he grew this relationship with patrick swayze and the crew that was robbing the banks and all this here it's very similar it's not done as well as it's done in point break but i i do appreciate the effort that was put in and uh the uh the way the characters grow into loving and caring for one another you know the romance between uh uh brian and mia it's earned it's believable the friendship the brotherhood that we know and love now between brian and dom it was earned you know you respected it the the moment at the end when uh brian lets dom drive off earned moment very earned you know i thought this film really took the core of these characters the essence of these characters and made the best film they could actually make as opposed to the films to follow whereas it didn't matter you know it was all about exciting action sequences and stunts and uh just ridiculousness and all this other stuff which has its place don't get me wrong it it i did enjoy those but i do enjoy those movies for what they are like i said fast five is my favorite out of all of them as far as entertaining and acting and story you know i i thought it was well super well made but this was such a smaller film and so focused on the character building it just gives you a greater appreciation you know it is it is not your standard early 2000s action film where you know stuff just happened you know it really wasn't much character development or story elements to go by it was more shooty shooty punchy punchy blowy blowy up and then and that was the move those were the movies and you know you enjoyed it for what it was you know i don't hold nothing against them at the time that's that's just what the trope was but this movie really it really felt like an old school western at times it felt like a a heist film at times it felt like a a race car film at times you know you can blend it with like donnie brasco uh days of thunder and what's the other one i will compare it well point break i guess you could say you can you can put all that together and you get the fast and the furious. As far as the actors, I stated before paul walker this was the role he was born to play and he played it until unfortunately his untimely passing um he would he is brian o'connell that i mean he is so great in this role you know as much as we all love and miss him let's be honest he he he was limited he wasn't he wasn't uh i never saw him uh if he if he had uh Not perished in that crash, car crash, ironically. But if he wouldn't have passed away, I never saw him as being a potential Academy Award winner down the line. Could that have happened? Sure. But I just didn't foresee it because he just was limited in roles outside of this franchise. But this role, he just embodied it. It just felt like him. if he felt so comfortable in this role for instance if you want to put his performances side by side let's look at the fast and the furious and um oh that time travel movie he did with richard donner and uh gerard butler i can't remember the name of it right now i am blanking but anyways he looks so bored in that movie he just looked like he didn't want to be there. In another film he did, Brick Brick Mansions, which was like this action parkour movie, it was not good. And he wasn't good at it, you know? He just didn't look comfortable in the roles, you know? This is the only franchise or film I can actually say he just looked comfortable. He looked at home, you know? he had great chemistry with everybody on screen him and vin diesel had great chemistry down the line him and tyrese gibson had amazing chemistry they end up being best friends after that they they were legit friends you know it wasn't just for the movie they were legit friends and uh i felt that was that was awesome but he just felt at home and it radiated on the screen uh Vin Diesel, Vin Diesel, this is his franchise, you know, what more can I say? It's fair to say that he's limited as well. And we all love Vin Diesel, but he's limited. So him in this franchise, him in this role, why else do you think he's constantly pushing for this franchise to keep going? Because he's limited, you know, and God bless him, he found his niche. This is it, this is it. And he is rolling in it. You know, I did like him. I did like him in Triple X. You know, the first one. Ironically, which was directed by the director of this film, Rob Cohen. But aside from that, he wasn't all that. Even in Riddick films, Pitch Black and all that. Chronicles of Riddick. I didn't care for his performance. I like those movies. But it wasn't because of his performances. he is dumb you know uh michelle rodriguez she is letty you know they are these they are literally typecast in my mind because all of these actors fit their roles perfectly this this this movie was perfectly cast uh the direction here was was awesome i thought rob corn was in his bag in this film the race sequences were exciting they were adrenaline filled uh the high scenes with the cars driving underneath the tanker trucks and all that was just phenomenal the stunt work and all that i thought it was shot well as well uh really cool really cool that's that's where i feel rob corn was kind of pulling from the western genre from back in the day it just felt like a train heist from a western and i i really uh uh enjoyed that element of the film um this was the best written film in the franchise and i'm not saying that because david ayers wrote it because i i felt that way before i found out david ayers wrote it uh it was a couple of years after this movie came i think it was around it probably was around when uh uh not training day it was another movie that he did and they said that he wrote uh the fast and the furious as well and i was like oh okay that makes sense and that's when i kind of jumped on the david air train his writing i love his movies i love i love how he writes because it feels grounded and real and gritty and urban and he really captured that in every movie that he writes and he captured that in this film because this could have easily came off as a whitewashed version of the article that was written in vibe magazine back in the day that's but he he twisted it up and gave it some urban flair and it's i mean it just it just related to everyone in that generation in my generation and that's why this franchise took off the way it did it it was because of their first film. If the first film don't work, we're not here. We're not talking about the 25 year anniversary. We're not talking about 9... films or 10 films in total or in a tv show in the video games and probably comic books i don't know it's just it's just a big media storm of fast and furious propaganda here but i i think the writing is what makes this film tick the acting and the direction and the action sequences were all good but that's what set this film apart from any other action film that came out around that era and to be quite frank the rest of this franchise and so kudos to david air for that as far as my knocks on the movie i mean it's your typical knocks that i have about it it some of the action sequences are Unbelievable. You know, it's not as egregious as... the films to follow this but it is some unbelievable stuff that takes place in this movie that you're like really it's like no no that's that's impossible what one being the quarter mile race i think that's the biggest standout and i noticed that the first time i watched it because it bothered me it really bugged me when i was sitting in that theater like this isn't a quarter mile they're going there's got to be at minimum two miles that they're racing and and they made it feel like or or try to pass it off as a quarter mile race you know with all of that going on and i i just couldn't i couldn't logically let that make sense you know it just throw that away or look the other way you know or suspend this belief that really bothered me and it still bothers me to this day unfortunately but you know aside from all that i loved the fast and the furious i i think it is a phenomenal early 2000s action film that is more than an action film it actually has a deeper story and it it really does um tell that family element that is kind of a running joke now throughout the franchise, but... you really felt it in this movie with dom and what he's doing to ensure that his family is taken care of and all this here i commend all the filmmakers on the fast and the furious the fast in the furious 25 years uh in commem uh commemoration of the 25 year anniversary depending on when you listen to this episode uh i think they're re-releasing it in theaters on August 21st. And that's that's like a week from when I'm recording this as a week away. But it by the time I drop this, it'll probably be a couple of days from now. But I I'm strongly considering going to the theater and watch it again just to see it in the theater again because I had a good time. I do remember that. I remember having a good time watching it in the theater back in 2001. But, yeah, 25 years, man. 25 years. The Fast and the Furious gets a letter grade of a B+. Awesome movie, which spawned an awesome franchise and made a lot of people awesomely rich. Oh man, never would have thought, never in a million years, that we would get 10 movies from this. Never. And we could get... It's just amazing what we get multiple sequels to. And movies that you thought would spawn a lot of sequels don't. they don't and and honestly not every movie needs to have sequels i never saw this movie having a sequel i didn't feel the need to have a sequel to the fast and furious i thought that it was wrapped up nice and neat with a shiny little bow on it but hey they definitely proved proved me wrong but uh yeah man uh kudos man 25 years and still going strong i would like to know uh which one was your favorite fast and furious film uh like i said mine was fast five i think that was that was a combination of all the good elements from this entire franchise put in one film uh you can make an argument for this one you can make an argument for i don't think anybody talks about tokyo drift and for good reason but It's whichever one you think is... the best out of them all let me know uh subscribe to the kbradionetwork.com website where you can be notified of new episodes dropping and you can listen to previous episodes here on the network don't forget about youtube subscribe to the kb radio network channel and like this video while you're there don't forget about the five stars the reviews and sharing this show if you're listening on apple podcast spotify iheart radio wherever you are currently listening to movie goodness here on the kb radio network everybody thank you for joining me for this look back at the 25 year anniversary of the fast and the furious want you all to know that i love you continue to love everyone and until we speak again You all be blessed.
