The Fast and the Furious
The Fast and the Furious (2001) is the first movie in the Fast Franchise. This is a quick plot summary for those of you who want to know what is going on, but don’t want to watch the movie.
Before we begin with the plot summary, here are the main characters in the movie:
The Fast and the Furious franchise begins with a team stealing a truck full of cash. The money is hidden inside DVD player boxes. The team’s identity is kept secret.
The next scene moves to Toretto’s restaurant. Here we meet Brian and Mia. Brian is flirting with Mia. Vince gets angry at Brian and starts a fight. Because Mia and Letty ask him to, Dominic (or Dom) steps in and stops the fighting. Dom is not pleased with either of the men, and he “bans” Brian from his restaurant. Brian, on the other hand, challenges Dom to a race. He hopes to gain Dom’s respect if he wins.
They race that evening. Brian’s car and money are up for grabs as the prize. Brian is last in the drag race at the start, but he quickly catches up by using nitro. However, he uses his nitro too soon, allowing Dom to win the race. In most cases, Brian would have to hand over his car to Dom, but not this evening. As they finish racing, the police shows up. Because they are street racers, this is a problem for them. They race on public streets, illegally. So, when the police shows up, they need to scatter quickly.
Brian gets in his car, while Dom drives to a parking garage. He is seen by the police as he walks home from the garage and is then pursued. Saving Dom, Brian pulls up beside him in his car and tells him to get in. They escape the police together. While Brian is still driving, someone points a gun at him. That man is Johnny Tran. He tells Brian and Dom to follow his team. As we find out, Johnny has a quarrel with Dom and decides to explode his car. Dom tells Brian he owes him a ten-second car.
The next scene surprises most viewers. Brian gets captured for no reason by police officers for no apparent reason, but it is later revealed that he is one of them! The police only “captured” him to avoid suspicion. They ask him how is case is going: Who stole the truck full of money? He tells them he needs a couple more days to find out.
Later, Dom hires Brian to work at his garage and also invites Brian to race at at a place called Race Wars. Brian accepts. He also takes Mia out on a date.
Before the tournament, Vince notices Brian sneaking around Dom’s garage. Dom and Vince question Brian. They wants to know what Brian was doing. Vince is convinced that Brian is a cop, but Brian talks himself out of the situation and says he was only trying to figure what cars will be racing at Race Wars. Dom thinks this is a good idea and decides to help him. Dom, Vince, and Brian snoop around Johnny Tran’s garage. There they see his cars, but also stacks and stacks of dvd player boxes.
Brian reports this to his superiors. They dispatch S.W.A.T. to Johnny’s house and imprison him. However, as he discovers, Johnny did not steal the money and the DVD players were legally purchased. Not having finished his job, Brian goes to Race Wars.
Race Wars is a large drag-race competition. The races are always one-on-one. Letty and Jesse are among those competing. Letty was clearly victorious, but Jesse was not. He bet his father’s car and lost it to Johnny. Disappointed, he quickly drove away with the car.
At the end of the day, Dom and his crew (minus Jesse) drive away to do something. Brian gets suspicious and reveals to Mia that he is a cop. Even though she is angry and heartbroken, she still helps Brian find Dom.
Dom’s crew is up to something- and that thing is stealing a truck! Better said, he and his crew attempt to steal a truck, but their plan fails miserably! They didn’t think about what they would do if the truck driver had a shotgun, which did. Letty’s car is turned upside down, and Vince is almost fatally wounded.
Brian catches up to Dom’s crew and saves Vince’s life by calling an ambulance helicopter. He also reveals to Dom that he is a police officer.
After they return to Dom’s home, Jesse comes. He tells Dom that he is sorry and that he needs his help. A few seconds later someone in a motorcycle drives by and fatally shoots Jesse. Rushing into their cars, Brian and Dom chase the motorcycle. The driver on the motorcycle is Johnny. Brian kills him.
Dom and Brian decide to race again in the film’s final scene. Because they both narrowly avoided a train at an intersection and Dom’s car is flipped, there is no clear winner. Then they hear police sirens. Brian knew Dom had previously been in jail and had no intention of returning, so he gave him his car with the words “I still owe you a ten-second car.”
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