Fast and the Furious, The (UK)

This is one hell of a cool movie. It has everything that any movie should have; fast cars and great women. The occasional use of CGI to enhance the action by showing the insides of the cars, is refreshing after the suffocating CGI-based movies from 2001. Bring on the sequel...

This film in my opinion is a modern version of a classic cops and robbers movie. Don`t get me wrong enough to entertain and plenty of good looking cars to be seen here.
Not as good as "Gone In Sixty Seconds" starring John Travolta but a good solid film.
The disc should really have more extras but at least it has some.

This film is definitely a must have for petrol heads and fills all the holes that Gone in 60 Seconds failed to plug. The action throws you back in your seat from the start and pretty much doesn`t let up for the entirety of the film. The storyline isn`t one of the best and as mentioned before is much aligned to that of Point Break. The acting is quite weak on the whole although Vin Diesel portrays the role of anti-hero very well.

The video transfer as you`d expect from a recent cinematic release is excellent. The rich colours have lots of depth and vibrancy to them. The cars and all the action sequences stand out in great detail and clarity. Overall the video is of a high standard.

The audio is something else. I opted for the DTS soundtrack and was blown away by the sheer power it delivers. It is by far the loudest soundtrack I have ever heard in a film and it never lets up throughout. The loudness of the engines and the tyres screeching is captured brilliantly and it has an engaging and thumping soundtrack to supplement the action as well.

The disc comes with a good selection of extras although some are a bit pointless and don`t have too much bearing on the film itself. The extras on the disc are let down by a badly designed menu, that initially had me cursing the disc that all the extras listed on the back of the box weren`t on there.

On the whole this is a very good DVD and the DTS track will really test your home cinema setup, and probably upset the neighbours at the same time. This is a must have disc if you like action movies and fast cars. Probably not everybody`s cup of tea though but certainly worth checking out on rental.

Film is great. A lot of extras, but most are not that interesting. For example making of is short and is just a promo from when it hit the cinema`s. Haven`t listened to the commentry yet, but am not optimistic as Rob Cohen`s commentry on the deleted scenes was pretty dull. Also, it is not immediately obvious how to move between menus as the arrows don`t look like arrows!

Fantastic film if you like the whole fast-car-movie-thing… however if you're not into that, this movie really will not be for you. The film itself is nothing special without the fast cars, but as I rather like the fast car thing, I enjoyed the film much more than might be expected of a non-fast-car-fan.

The picture is excellent, and we get a fantastic audio soundtrack as well. The extras are numerous, if a little on the self-promotional side. Basically if you liked this film, it's a great disc. if you haven't seen the film yet, maybe this is one to rent first, because it will not be enjoyed by everyone.

Features:
Multiple Camera Angle For Stunt- Quite a nice little extra which lets you have a look at different angles for the stunt in which Toretto`s car flips after hitting the truck.
Commentary by Rob Cohen- Not bad, but it`s your average backslapping affair and boring at times when he can`t think of much to say.
3 Music Videos- Some great music videos apart from the swearing being edited out. It`s a 15 so what`s the need.
Making Of- Not a bad attempt as we get some insightful views from the cast and crew about the movie.
Trailers- Average. Let`s you know what happens in the film without giving to much away.
Racer X Article- This is the article that the film was inspired from. Only of interest to petrolheads.
Deleted Scenes- Let`s just say you can see why they were deleted.
Editing Featurette- Quite a good featurette showing how the editor`s worked to bring the film into the correct order of sequences.
Visual Effects Montage- Just another trailer really.
Storyboard Comparison- Quite interesting for budding storyboard artists, otherwise this may bore you.
Biographies- A few pages about the cast and crew. Quite good.
Production Notes- Interesting though rather short.

Overview:
An undercover cop (Paul Walker) must infiltrate a group of street racers to find out who`s been hijacking lorries.

Review:
Let`s start off by saying that if you see this movie, leave your brain at the door. One of the sleeper hits of 2001, The Fast And The Furious is an above average film. It`s about a cop who infiltrates a group of street racers, yet builds up relationships with them that he finds hard to grass them up. There is a fair whack of car racing with some great CGI camera work going through the engines of the cars as they start on their 10 second races (which really last 3 minutes). The acting is mainly average with only the bloke who plays Jesse shining through as a star to look at in the future. The races will keep you glued to your seat but there are moments in the film that you wish would just hurry up (mainly the scenes where Paul Walker is with the other police). All in all a good movie. I enjoyed it.

Picture:
In a 2.35:1 anamorphic picture, the film is a treat to watch.

Sound:
With both 5.1 Dolby Digital and DTS soundtracks, you can really hear those engines roar.

Overall:
A good film, with good extras. Goody good good.

"The Fast and the Furious" may very well be the celluloid definition of the word, "dumb". It is a truly horrid, rancid torture of 2hrs. Obviously targeted at people too young to remember "Point Break" or a film over six months old. As such we get truly awful stuff in the film. A soundtrack and score full of rap and "nu-metal" that is the audio equivalent of an pneumonic drill going through your head. Rappers do inane cameos. Horrendous dialogue and action scenes that lack choreography, coherency and frames that last longer than a microsecond. Let's not start with the moral indignities of having people who drive 100mph+ on major roads (something kills hundred per year) as heroes.

Video: "The Fast and the Furious" sports a 2.35:1 anamorphic transfer. The colourful cars burst of the screen with sheer vibrancy. Sharpness is very good as well. There are no starches or blemishes. However, there is quite a bit of edge enhancements and a small bit of grain, particularly in night scenes. Nonetheless this is a very good transfer.

Rob Cohen is a hack (argue all you want, when a director's best film is "Daylight" you know there's something wrong), a 50-year-old "hipster" and a director who seems to have no concern able filmmaking talents. The visual look of "The Fast and the Furious" is liable to blind you. Brighter than the sun cars, countless cuts and edits. It's ad nausea.

Audio: The 5.1 soundtrack is an excellent track. Something I would have mark higher for if not for the torture that is the film's dialogue and music. The racing scenes spring to life with thunderous engines. When the camera is in the car, you are engulfed into a 360 degrees "in-car" soundstage. Bass is frequent and very deep. If you can get past the mind-numbing music and dialogue, turn this up LOUD and it is a great experience.

Extras: Up first is a Rob Cohen audio commentary. A fairly technical track, which also provides history and trivia about the film. Where the old guy falls is failing to see the film for anything but the action masterpiece he thinks it is. Cohen also lends his voice to the deleted scenes. If you thought Fast/Furious couldn't get any worse, you'd be wrong. Some of these scenes are painful to watch and were rightly left on the cutting room floor. The image quality of the scenes is quite bad also.

Next up are three featurettes on the SFX. They include a mutli-angle deconstruction of the final race. "A Movie Magic Special Effects Reel" and a "Visual Effects Montage". None offer any great insight and the montage is a complete waste of space, but the multi-angles are fun for a few minuets.

The "Featurette on Editing For the Motion Picture Association of America" is probably the best feature on the disc, despite lasting a wimpy five minutes. It just shows how stupid censors can be at times. Tell me, they wanted this cut from the film BUT it is now allowed to be shown on a DVD uncut with the same rating, played over and over again. I laugh.

Rounding off the package are storyboards, trailer, a newspaper article and some truly awful music videos.
Overall: According to DVD Reviewer, the "1" rating should be dished out if a film is "Terrible, offensive even when on in the background". Well this film is offensive at anytime. But am I so heartless to dish it a "1"? Hmmm… Disc wise you get a great presentation and basic extras. A good buy, if you're in to this sort of thing.