Last Saturday night, around 9 PM, Brother Sheng and I rushed to the Golden Horse Theater and managed to buy the last two returned tickets for “Fast & Furious 5,” and coincidentally, they were in the very center of the theater.

I had only heard of the fame of the “Fast & Furious” series before, but actually watching it might have been something I did after my freshman year. During my freshman year, aside from playing CS, I mainly focused on one game: TMNF (TrackMania Nations Forever), which translates to “TrackMania Nations Forever” in Chinese.

This game has very few players in China, but that doesn’t diminish its status in my mind—second only to CS. Like most racing games, speed and passion are the ultimate goals pursued by this game. However, what’s interesting is that unlike the Need for Speed series with its dazzling special effects and a wide variety of luxury cars, in TMNF, all cars have the same design and performance (the default color is based on the player’s national flag), ensuring a basic balance as a competitive game. The physics laws of acceleration, inertia, and collision throughout the game are the biggest obstacles for new players. Without a high-speed guarantee and an understanding of physical laws like inertia, many flips, jumps, and maneuvers in the game are impossible to execute, making it hard to complete the race. The game’s “pure individual mode” means that although you can see the positions of your competitors, you cannot collide with them. In fact, you can even hide the display of competitors, challenging only your own limits throughout the game. Others’ results merely serve as a reference for your own efforts, which is consistent with our daily lives.

There are now five “Fast & Furious” movies. Since I watched the first four in a concentrated BT download during my sophomore year, I don’t retain many detailed impressions, and the inclusion of a comedy titled “Fast & Furious: A2 Drift” in between has also somewhat affected my overall impression.

Looking across the entire film market, it’s extremely rare to find movies that purely focus on “cars” as their theme. Movies filled with various beautiful cars, muscles, and women, featuring explosive action, breathtaking scenes, the constant low roar of engines, and gatherings of various luxury cars, are the main attractions of this series. As for the storyline, can we ask for more? It seems difficult.

A mix of Fast & Furious (1-5)

Regarding the plot, it’s worth mentioning that the Dodge (Monster) car, a symbol of Dominic and the vehicle he used to win countless races in the series, left to him by his father, was actually smashed by the FBI boss using a military vehicle in this installment… What a pity!

The first Vin Diesel movie I watched was probably “The Chronicles of Riddick 2” on a pirated DVD during middle school. The dark, eerie background, combined with the terrifying masks of the villains, left an indelible shadow in my heart. Later, I also watched “The Pacifier,” but I didn’t feel much at the time, just thought it was good. Now, I hardly remember the details of the movie, so I need to find time to watch it again.

Finally, the film is filled with various rhythmically strong soundtracks everywhere. In a good movie, music accounts for half of the experience!

Fast & Furious 5 - Movie Soundtrack