The Fast and the Furious (2001)

DVD Movie Store Collection





There's a refreshing modesty to Rob Cohen's matter-of-fact commentary track, which contains one of the more practical dissections of direction voiced on DVD as it covers a mix of nuts-and-bolts filmmaking and cinematic thrill making. And why not? The Fast and the Furious is a sleek, unapologetic speed-demon buddy film, and the collector's-edition disc gleefully revels in the rush. Skip the "making of" featurette puff piece and cut to the visual-effects montage of the film's opening race: behind-the-scenes footage, raw photography, rough computer effects, and storyboards are intercut with the finished scene to give a whirlwind production overview. Other revealing supplements include an eight-camera multi-angle look at the climactic 360-degree flip stunt and an enlightening five-minute featurette about the film's editors shaving the film down to a PG-13 frame by frame, which says more about the MPAA than any danger this film poses to our unprotected youth. --Sean Axmaker