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Great film and DVD.
Verified purchase: Yes | Condition: Pre-owned
Verified purchase: Yes | Condition: New
It's great and I'm well pleased. I brought this product because it was cheap and I was Not disappointed its great
Faster than Gone in Sixty Seconds and more furious than Driven, The Fast and the Furious is a racing film aimed at a younger audience more concerned with tricked-out cars than stories of old-man redemption. Based in the world of illegal street racing, it tells the story of an undercover agent (Paul Walker) who must infiltrate this hip underworld of fast wheels and fast women in order to bust a hijacking ring. To these ends, he befriends a gang led by Vin Diesel and eventually earns their respect as a smart and savvy racer. Of course, this setup leads to the typical "honor among thieves" story you'd expect: Walker gets too personally attached to the gang he will eventually have to betray, his chief busts his balls over it, and he falls in love with Diesel's sister (played by Jordana Brewster). By the end of the whole sordid affair, he will have to choose between duty and loyalty--and you can probably guess how he reconciles everything. This builds up to a rather boring ending, and the climax of the movie is an idiotic game of chicken between Diesel and Walker, who gun their cars and head for an oncoming train. It doesn't make much sense and comes out of the blue, making one wonder what is worse: the random acts of machismo, or the sappy soap opera garbage that develops between Walker and Brewster (when she finds out he's really a cop, he naturally gives her the "Yes, it was all a lie, but my feelings for you were real" speech). Meanwhile, some of the action sequences are anticlimactic. For example, when a rival gang kills one of Diesel's friends, he goes on a vigilante spree of vengeance by chasing them in his car. But when he finally catches them, what does he do? He simply knocks them off their motorcycles, then considers his work done. Somehow I expected more from a character who is an ex-con and enraged at the death of a close friend. The Crow would have been disappointed. Also serving as a buzzkill is the formula some of the races fall into: two cars are going neck and neck, someone pushes a nitro button, and BAM--they suddenly pull ahead and win. These faults aside, there's a lot that makes The Fast and the Furious an engaging movie that can be enjoyed on a pure adrenaline level. The racing lives up to the film's title despite the cheesiness of the nitro scenes, and when the cars come to life, special effects let us follow the camera's rollercoaster perspective at it surfs through the internal mechanics of the vehicles. The sheer speed depicted is enough to get audiences going, and a well-matched soundtrack and slinking women on the sidelines add to the overall atmosphere. The scenes in which modified Hondas are used to hijack big rigs are particularly good, with the cars swerving beneath the trucks at insane speeds. While the characters are mostly one-dimensional, the actors are adequate. Michelle Rodriguez (Girlfight) has a modest role as Diesel's girlfriend, but she brings a lot of cool attitude to the group as the gang's most showoff driver. She talks smack to all the guys, and when she thinks another woman is putting the moves on her man, she goes the catfight route, sniffing near the other girl and asking, "Is that skank I smell?" Vin Diesel gives the only other noteworthy performance. This is an actor who can make just about any character interesting, no matter how formulaic they may seem on paper. In Pitch Black, he played convicted killer Riddick with a compelling mix of cruelty and compassion--twisted, butRead full review
I bougth this DVD for my son.It enjoyed him so much.Having converted most of my old video collection to DVD I was thrilled to find this film gem in digital format. If you watch this in widescreen format, it really does the battle scene great justice; coupled with surround sound, you'll be gripped by the amazing cinematography. I would recommend the director's cut that includes scenes about the relationship between the lead character and his estranged wife and helps you to understand the motivation behind his decision. The run time is 183 minutes for the directors cut and 120 minutes for the cinema version. I was, however, disappointed by the lack of extras, which any fan of this classic would expect to be included. There's only a 20-minute interview with the director and other shot "making-of" vignettes.Read full review
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