The Fast and the Furious (25th Anniversary Edition) (2001) (4K Ultra HD Review)
DIRECTED BY: Rob Cohen
STARRING: Paul Walker, Vin Diesel, Michelle Rodriguez,
RATED: UR/Region: 0/1:85/1080P/NUMBER OF DISCS 2
AVAILABLE FROM Universal Studios
It’s hard to believe The Fast and the Furious is now 25 years old.
Twenty-five fucking years.
That means there are probably people watching this movie today who weren’t even alive when Dominic Toretto first started explaining the importance of family while standing next to a car worth more than the house he apparently lives in.
For the 25th anniversary, Universal is giving the original The Fast and the Furious the 4K treatment, which seems appropriate because if there’s one movie that deserves to have its cars looking shiny enough to blind somebody, it’s this one.
And thankfully, the 4K looks really damn good.
I’d say about 90% of the movie looks fantastic. The cars have plenty of detail, the night scenes generally benefit nicely from the upgrade, and all those ridiculous neon-lit street-racing sequences look better than they have any business looking. Seeing these cars cleaned up in 4K is almost enough to make me forget that the movie’s idea of undercover police work is apparently putting Paul Walker in a white tank top and hoping nobody notices he’s a cop.
There are some inconsistencies, though.
The biggest thing I noticed is skin tones. Every now and then people can look a little… odd. Faces can take on strange colors, and there are moments where the image doesn’t look quite as natural as you’d expect from a modern 4K presentation.
But honestly, I don’t think that’s entirely the fault of the new transfer.
This movie was very much a product of its time, when filmmakers were having a lot of fun with aggressive color grading, stylized photography, weird lighting, and the general philosophy that apparently every movie needed to look like it had been dipped in a specific color.
So while the 4K doesn’t completely eliminate those quirks, I’d argue that we’re seeing some of the movie’s original visual style come through rather than Universal simply screwing everything up.
And honestly?
I’m okay with that.
Because The Fast and the Furious isn’t supposed to look like a nature documentary.
It’s supposed to look like a 2001 movie where everyone owns a modified Honda and somehow has access to enough disposable income to turn a grocery-getter into a street-racing missile.
And goddammit, this movie is still fun.
Watching it 25 years later is almost like visiting a time capsule from when the biggest concern in Hollywood was apparently “How many cars can we put in one movie before the audience gets bored?”
The answer, as it turns out, is more.
You have street races, drag races, cops, undercover cops, gangs, heists, explosions, muscle cars, imports, NOS, barbecue, Corona, arguments about tuna sandwiches, and enough car jargon to make somebody who doesn’t know what they’re talking about start nodding along like they suddenly became an automotive expert.
And then there’s Vin Diesel.
Dominic Toretto enters this movie like he has been personally appointed by God to explain horsepower to the world.
And Paul Walker’s Brian is basically the audience surrogate: a guy who shows up pretending to know everything about cars while desperately trying to keep up with people who apparently speak fluent transmission.
The movie is ridiculous.
But it’s lovably ridiculous.
This is before the franchise decided that every movie needed to become a $300 million international action spectacular where people launch cars into space. Back here, the stakes are comparatively small.
People race cars.
People steal DVD players.
People get into fights.
Someone probably says “family” at some point.
And somehow this little movie became one of the biggest action franchises on the planet.
Looking at it now, it’s almost hilarious how relatively grounded it feels compared to what came later. The biggest stunt in this movie isn’t somebody driving a car through a skyscraper.
It’s a fucking Honda jumping a train crossing.
And at the time, that seemed completely insane.
Now it’s basically an episode of Fast & Furious: Preschool Edition.
But that’s also why the original remains so damn charming.
There’s an innocence to it.
It’s cheesy.
It’s dated.
Some of the dialogue is gloriously terrible.
The fashion is questionable.
The CGI is very early-2000s CGI.
The characters treat street racing like it’s a religion.
And somehow, all of that comes together into a movie that’s still incredibly entertaining.
The 4K upgrade isn’t flawless, particularly when it comes to those occasionally funky skin tones and the heavily stylized color choices, but 90% of the time this thing looks great, and seeing the cars in this kind of detail is exactly what you’d want from the upgrade.
More importantly, the movie itself still works.
It’s dumb.
It’s loud.
It’s occasionally hilarious when it isn’t trying to be.
And it has enough personality that you can forgive almost everything that hasn’t aged particularly well.
Plus, let’s be honest, if you don’t smile a little when that final race starts, you might want to check your pulse.
Because underneath all the cheesy dialogue, questionable fashion choices, and automotive nonsense, The Fast and the Furious is just a ridiculously entertaining movie about people who take their cars way too seriously.
Twenty-five years later, it’s still fast.
It’s still furious.
And it’s still completely impossible to believe that these people ever stopped to pay their fucking insurance.
Universal’s 25th anniversary 4K looks great about 90% of the time, and the movie itself remains one hell of a fun ride.
Just don’t ask me how Dom affords any of this.
It’s probably family.
Extras
- NEW 4K MASTER OF THE FILM
- DOLBY VISION/HDR PRESENTATION OF THE FILM
- DOLBY ATMOS AUDIO TRACK
- NEW RIDING A LEGACY: 25 YEARS OF FAST – Vin Diesel, Michelle Rodrigez, Jordana Brewster, producer Neal Moritz and Meadow Walker reflect on 25 years of The Fast and The Furious in Cannes.
- DELETED SCENES
- Brian and Mia Walk to her Car
- Tanner and Brian in Police House
- Brian and Jesse Outside Toretto’s Garage
- Trading Driving Stories
- Hector and Brian at the Racer’s Edge
- Brian and Mia at the Beach
- Original Edit of the Ferrari Scene (Extended Scene)
- Extension of Race Wars Fight Scene (Extended Scene)
- Hot Off The Street
- THE MAKING OF THE FAST AND THE FURIOUS – Delve deeper into the world of THE FAST AND THE FURIOUS with inside info on cast, crew and cars.
- MORE THAN FURIOUS – Alternate ending for THE FAST AND THE FURIOUS
- HOT OFF THE STREET
- Brian and Mia at Lunch Counter
- Leon, Jesse and Dom at Toretto’s House
- Toretto House BBQ
- Toretto’s Garage Post Race Raid (Alternate Version)
- Ferrari and Supra Race
- DOM’S CHARGER – Take a look at the role that Dom’s Charger played in FAST 1 and tease its rebirth in FAST 4
- QUARTER MILE AT A TIME – Look at the phenomenon of street racing, from its birth in the 20’s into a global phenomenon
- TRICKING OUT A HOT IMPORT CAR – Join Craig Lieberman, technical advisor on THE FAST AND THE FURIOUS, as he tricks out a Mitsubishi Lancer, Evolution addressing the three main areas: speed, style and sound.
- MULTIPLE CAMERA ANGLE – STUNT SEQUENCE
- MOVIE MAGIC INTERACTIVE – SPECIAL EFFECTS
- FEATURETTE ON EDITING FOR THE MOTION PICTURE ASSOCIATION OF AMERICA – See how to edit for graphic content while maintaining the integrity of the scene.
- VISUAL EFFECTS MONTAGE – From hand drawn and computer story boarding to green screen effects, this montage gives you a 360 degree look at the production of an epic racing scene
- STORYBOARDS-TO-FINAL FEATURE COMPARISON – Choose to view storyboards in real time as the scenes play from “The First Race” and the “Final Crash Stunt” or view separately
- JA RULE “FURIOUS” MUSIC VIDEO
- SPEED NEWS WRAP
- FEATURE COMMENTARY WITH DIRECTOR ROB COHEN
