YMMV / The Fast and the Furious (2001)

• Harsher in Hindsight:
  • Eerily enough, TNT broadcast the film on the day it was announced Paul Walker was killed. No, it wasn't a tribute. The broadcast was scheduled weeks in advance.
  • Dom's explanation of his father's death (which would be depicted in F9) is eerily similar to how Walker's fatal accident played out.
  • On the first DVD release, there was a PSA done by Walker about the races in the film being done by professionals and to follow driving laws can come off like this. This PSA and his death also eerily parallels the PSA and death of James Dean.
• Hilarious in Hindsight:
  • Dom losing a fight to an unnamed truck driver is laughable when the franchise's eventual Sequel Escalation made him into an unstoppable badass going up against rogue mercenaries and international terrorists, and winning each time.
  • For that matter, this movie's incredibly low stakes compared to the rest of the franchise is pretty jarring to experience nowadays.
  • When at the party after the first race, the song "Area Codes" by Ludacris can clearly be heard. Ludacris would go on to play Tej in numerous sequels in the franchise.
• Ho Yay: Does Brian throwing away his career and willingly facing the possibility of criminal charges of aiding and abetting just to save Dom count? Or does it go without saying by this point?
• Memetic Badass: Given the Beyond the Impossible levels of badassery Toretto achieves later in the series, the fact that he still has an unavenged loss to some random truck driver with a shotgun on his record has led to a lot of jokes about how that guy is the true coolest character in the series.
• Memetic Mutation: I'M IN YOUR FACE.
• One-Scene Wonder: The shotgun-toting truck driver who successfully fights off the gang. Especially considering that even after the series' turn towards pure Rule of Cool badassery, Dom still has this straight-up loss on his record that he has yet to redeem.
• Spiritual Licensee: The first film follows many of the same beats as Point Break (1991), with the main differences being extreme sports replaced with street racing and Dom surviving at the end.
• So Okay, It's Average: Many people's opinion of the first film, especially those coming into it after the more over-the-top and wildly popular sequels.

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