The Fast and the Furious (2001)

The film is based on an article, titled "Racer X", about New York street clubs that race Japanese cars late at night, although the film is set primarily in Los Angeles. While elite street racer and ex-convict Dominic Toretto (Vin Diesel) and his crew: Jesse (Chad Lindberg), Leon (Johnny Strong), Vince (Matt Schulze) and Letty Ortiz (Michelle Rodriguez), are under suspicion of stealing expensive electronic equipment by hijacking moving trucks, Brian O'Conner (Paul Walker) is an undercover police officer who attempts to find out who exactly is stealing the equipment. He works for FBI agent Bilkins (Thom Barry) and LAPD Sgt. Tanner (Ted Levine).

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Falling for Dominic's younger sister, Mia Toretto (Jordana Brewster), Brian later confesses to her his status as an undercover police officer and convinces her to come with him to save her brother and his friends from the truck drivers, who have now armed themselves to combat the robberies. He tracks Dominic's location by triangulating his cell phone signal and they arrive at the hijacking in-progress to find Letty, badly injured at the car accident, and Vince critically wounded, having lacerated his arm and been shot by the truck driver. Brian and Mia work together with Dominic, Leon and Letty to rescue Vince. Brian then makes the difficult decision to blow his cover to the crew by phoning in for a medivac. The revelation enrages Dominic, fleeing with Leon, Letty, and Mia as the medivac arrives for Vince.

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Brian soon follows Dominic to his house and holds him at gunpoint to prevent him from fleeing further. Jesse arrives shortly afterwards, apologizing for his actions at Race Wars and pleading for Dominic's help with Johnny Tran (Rick Yune). Moments later, Tran and his cousin Lance Nguyen (Reggie Lee) perform a drive-by shooting, killing Jesse. Brian and Dominic chase them, with Dominic driving his late father's modified 1970 Dodge Charger. Dominic forces Lance's motorcycle off the road, severely injuring him, while Brian shoots and kills Tran. Afterwards, Brian and Dominic engage in an impromptu street race, narrowly avoiding a passing train. However, Dominic collides with a semitruck and rolls his car twice, injuring himself, and rendering the Charger undrivable. Instead of arresting him, Brian hands over the keys to his Supra and lets Dominic escape, using the line "I owe you a ten-second car".

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Fast & Furious (2009)

About five years after the events of the first film, Dominic and his new crew (Letty, Han, Leo, Santos and Cara) have been hijacking fuel tankers in the Dominican Republic. When their trail gets too hot, Dominic disbands the crew. However, he is later informed that Letty has been murdered. Dominic returns to Los Angeles where he finds traces of nitro-methane at the crash site, and tracks the buyer of the gas to David Park. Meanwhile, Brian O'Conner, who has been working as an FBI agent, is tracking down a drug trafficker named Arturo Braga. When Brian and Dominic cross paths at David Park's apartment, Dominic is about to drop David out the window. But Brian intervenes, and works a scheme where he enters a street race where the winner would join Braga's team of drivers. Although Dominic wins the four-car race by bumping Brian's car, Brian later joins the team by replacing one of Braga's other drivers.

The team meets Fenix Calderon (Laz Alonso) who directs them to drive the heroin across the border using underground tunnels to avoid detection. Brian realizes that the drivers are to be killed following the mission, and when Fenix reveals to Dominic that he killed Letty, Dominic detonates the nitrous in his car, blowing up a bunch of vehicles. In the chaos, Brian hijacks the Hummer that is carrying the heroin. Dominic and Brian drive back to Los Angeles, hiding the heroin in an impound lot. When Dominic learns Brian was the last person to contact Letty, he attacks him until Brian reveals that Letty was working undercover for Brian, tracking down Braga in exchange for clearing Dominic's name. Brian negotiates with the agency to free Dominic if they can lure Braga into personally coming to exchange the heroin for cash. However, at the drop site, it is revealed that the Braga they arrested was a decoy, and that the real Braga (John Ortiz) has escaped, fleeing to Mexico.

Suspended from duty, Brian joins Dominic to go to Mexico and in hopes of catching Braga. Although Braga agreeably surrenders, they are pursued by Braga's men through town and then the tunnels. Fenix T-bones Brian's car right outside the tunnel exit, but before he can kill Brian, Dominic drives into Fenix. As the police arrive, Dominic refuses to escape, saying he is tired of running. Despite Brian's request for clemency, the judge sentences Dominic to 25 years to life. During the prison bus ride to Lompoc penitentiary, Brian and Mia, along with Leo and Santos, arrive in their cars and intercept the bus.