Synopsis with spoilers and things I thought were interesting

--Opening credits. Nighttime, a large parking lot. Lots of imports are parked across the aisle from each other with their headlights on. Some cars have funky LED marker lights. (Like a new 911 or Audi)

Sportbikes ride back and forth down the aisle riding wheelies. Some 'hip' music plays. Hot girls play with their shirts. Young guys try to look cool standing next to the cars and ladies. Yet another fast car movie intro.


--Soon after the opening credits end, we see that it is still night and 'Rick Merchant' (a young man of about 20 yrs) is in his suburban home's driveway working on his 2nd generation white Mazda RX-7 FC, the black (carbon fiber!) hood is up. The car has orange rims. Very hip.

Rick's brother Tom (Tommy) pulls into the driveway. Rick greets his brother and admires Tommy's car, a silver Nissan 370Z. Rick says it costs $80,000 dollars, goes from 0-60 mph in 3.5 seconds, runs the 1/4 mile in 11.5 seconds, and has a top speed of 193 mph 'right out the box'.

The scriptwriters may have planned on using a year-old Dodge Viper or Corvette Z06 here, for which those statements make some sense. Car and Driver posts specs for a 370Z of 0-60 in 4.8-4.9 secs, 1/4 mile in 13.5 seconds, and a top speed of 157 mph. Surely it is a quick car, but for around 35,000 dollars, no way will it go as fast as 'Rick' says it will.

--Tommy tells Rick that he just got a promotion at a car dealership and getting a good deal on the 370Z was a bonus. The brothers talk about getting an email blast with details of tonight's race,at the '78' and Tommy is pumped up to race some guy named Kasey, a drug dealer of some sort.

--The brother's mom comes outside and makes a comment about Tommy's youthful clashes with the law, how Mom hopes the 370Z is a slow four-banger, and how Rick just got accepted to cillege. Mom heads to work at a strip club, as an 'exotic dancer'.

--During the drive to the '78' race, the back of the RX-7 is shown, along with a dark gray or black car car with 4 round LED taillights. This appears to be an RX-8. (look at the front fender bulges of the dark car) The two brothers stop and talk through their windows, and again Tom is driving the silver 370Z. An RX-8 has less power than a 370Z (or even a 350Z) as most readers of this will know. Why use one, aside from that they couldn't use the 370 for this shot.

--Rick is up first, against a red Mazda RX-8. Rick has some mods on his car, so I should be a go match. And it's a straight run to a two-lane road, both cars speeding around some fast corners around some buildings and they head back to the lot.

--When Rick wins the race with his white RX-7 FC, his headlights are off. During the race with the red RX-8, his lights are on. Why did he turn them off at the finish line? This is odd, since every other car there has lights on. It's not like he's blind anyone.

--Also, the RX-8 never appears after Rick 'won' the race.

--Also Also, Rick slides sideways at the finish line. If the RX-8 was racing behind Rick, it may have rammed into the RX-7's passenger side. A bit foolish of a move. (not that street racing is the most sane thing to do, but I'm just saying...)

--People cheer for Rick, he goes to BS with his brother, girlfriend and speed freak buddies.

--Kasey pulls up in a black GT-R R35 to talk trash with the brothers after Rick's race. Tommy is ready and Kasey sees the silver 370Z.

The director artfully hides the primer gray front bumper. Kasey comments on Tommy's new toy, 'not bad', but that his jalopy can F... with his S..t. Kasey points to his own car and says "This s..t right here, is an $80,000 dollar Skyline GT-R. You know what that means?"

It means Kasey has read a few car magazines, but not where they say that Nissan stopped calling the GT-R a 'Skyline' with the R35 model, the one that he's pointing to.

--As Tom prepares to race Kasey, the characters and we, the audience, are to believe he has a chance in hell of beating a GT-R with a 370Z. "The cars are about evenly matched, he has a bit more top end than you, but on these streets, he won't be able to use it." The filmmakers either screwed up the script by not using a supercar for Tommy, or forgot to tell us his 370Z has a twin turbo or something.

--At the launch of the second race, Kasey is ahead by about 3/4 of a car length within about 300 feet. Immediately after, they show Tommy in the lead with the 370Z. Did Kasey lift off to let him get ahead?

-- Kasey looks in his mirror as he follows Tommy. Who's he looking for, or is he just checking to see that his bandana is on straight?

--Kasey is behind Tommy. No, he's in front! No, he's behind again Tommy. Wormholes?

--Tommy shakes the wheel while driving straight, screams, and the car turns and slides to the right. Umm, why didn't Tommy just keep driving straight ahead?

--Tommy's Z clips a curb, flips and rolls with neeto sparks, and crashes sideways against a lightpole. And the right rear wheel is magically embedded into the pavement. And the front and rear lights are off. And the windows aren't broken. It seems that the guy who did the CGI between college exams screwed up a bit.

--Kasey rolls down the window as he tries to pull off a Paul Walker victory slide-stop in the GT-R. We see that the front bumper is primer gray. We see no damage evident on the bumper. I think he planned on bumping the read of Tommy's Z in order to make him crash, and when he saw how crappy a driver Tommy was (having crashed for no apparent reason) he smiled and drove away. And he accelerated with the brakes on. Nice.

--As Rick and his friends grieve at the side of the crash, no one yells out "NOS!!!" and the characters do not run away as the car fails to explode.

--Somehow Mom didn't know that Rick was there. Rick tries to tell her but, here comes Kasey. Mom still hasn't figured it out yet that Rick was there. She's a disgrace to all of the exotic dancers out there.

--Kasey tells Rick that Tommy took the hairpin way too fast and couldn't handle it. But, it was a 90 degree left turn before the straightaway, then it was a straightaway. Wait, what happened again?

--OK, the 'pigs', cops, work for Kasey. How did he even get caught to be let go, since he was the first to drive away from the area?

--I understand that Rick isn't happy with Kasey being there at the wake, but what does he think Kasey did to cause the crash?

--Mom is a little slow in the uptake, but finally realizes Rick was there when Tom crashed.

--There are several scenes where the plot isn't messed up. Very strange.

--Rick and Phong go to the junkyard to look for an MX-7. What exactly is an MX-7? If it is an MX-5 Miata with an RX-7 rotary motor, that could be really nice to have. Or maybe the actors are just idiots.

--We see Rick talking to Kelly while a blue car sits on a lift behind them. It could be a 195 Mustang, or maybe a G35. I'm not sure, it sure isn't an RX-7. Anyway... Kelly lays some 9th grader drawings on the hood of a red RX-7 twin turbo FD, and they comment on how nice the pictures look. A bit of green is evident behind the RX-7.

No where is any alcohol or drug paraphernalia present to help convince the audience that (A) the two of them should think the drawings look good, and (B) that there is a good reason he isn't driving the unblemished red RX-7 FD twin turbo in the race against Kasey's GT-R. I mean, didn't Keisuke beat 'God Foot' Hoshino when he drove his own RX-7 FD against the R34 GT-R?

--Umm, where are they getting money to buy the parts to fix up the FC?

--Who's green S14 240SX is he driving to see Claudia? Why doesn't he ask the owner if he can race with that?

--Why doesn't Rick just sell his FC and use the money to beef up one of the other cars that are hanging around?

--I guess the girls in the dressing room know his Mom and girlfriend are strippers, since both he and they are comfortable seeing them 1/2 naked.

--Gold rims and tires. White rims and tires. So... they're gathering parts to make swaps for newer parts?

--Hold up a sec... Rick's girlfriend AND mother are both strippers and work at the same place? And it's called 'the Candy Cat one'? At least they don't work at 'the Donut Dog one'.

--I wonder if they salvaged any parts from Rick's white RX-7, which is seen in the background as they work on grinding parts for the blue-green (bleen?) MX-7.

--Wow, check out the cool white graphics they put on the passenger side of the rear hatch glass! Neeto!

--Rick installs seat harness belts into the passenger side of the MX-7. Let's hope he is as careful with the driver's side belts.

--As pointed out by another reader, the hoodpins on the blue under green "MX-7" will hold down the hood. Very useful so that the hood doesn't open while driving. Good thinking! It's nice that Kelly reassures Rick of this important safety feature. The filmmakers are really going out of their way to emphasize safety here!

--Oh, wait, I guess the scriptwriters (or actors) did screw up, since the project car is in fact a green-blue 'grue' FC RX-7.

--Uh, didn't they just install the front bumper? Why did they take it off again when they closed the hood with the hoodpins?

--During the sad striptease scenes, Rick is driving yet another car, or they took off the white hatchback graphics.

--Is it me, or do those hoodpins look like they aren't working good enough?

--Ahh, they put them back on. and DAMN that rear wing is wide!

--hey, i wonder if the dude driving the green S14 240SX will also race against Rick and Kasey? He/she sure is going fast!

--What car is Kelly quoting performance numbers from? The grue RX-7 or the other person's green 240SX?

--Oh noes! It's da cops!

--Da cops have a choppa!

--Holy smoke, Rick almost crashed into a silver 350Z! that would have been a bit ironic, since his brother died in a silver 370Z!

--Rut roh, the green 240SX is also being chased by da cops! Maybe the police will confuse the two cars and arrest the other guy! Ha ha ha!

--HA HA, it seems that BOTH gray Crown Victorias lost the 240SX AND the RX-7! And how fortunate that Kelly forgot to put the plates on the car! Now the cops will never find them! I mean, there must be tons of bright green sports cars with goofy rear wings and white wheels running around town! I bet I'll see a green Starion, Probe, Tiburon, Corrado and Isuzu Impulse in the film that look just like Rick's car! The police have no chance of catching them!

--Rut roh, the cop found em! They should have said, it wasn't us, it was one of the other green 2-door hatchbacks with goofy wings and white wheels running around town! They're a dime a dozen around L.A.!

--NOOOO! NOT NITROUS!!! Hasn't Rick seen Fast and the Furious? First Brian blows out the floorpan in his GREEN Eclipse turbo, but then it blew up, because of NITROUS! Rick is so stupid! I smell bad karma coming! (and Karma is a color on the Holden Commodore, and guess what, the color is BLUE-GREEN! I don't know if I can watch any more, it will only get ugly.

--I think Miatas are pretty cool, but Domingo Flores, the gang leader, 'the baddest esse in L.A.' drives a MX-5 Miata? The plausibility factor just flew out the window for me here. What self-respecting gang leader would drive a Miata, no matter how souped up with nitrous it was? Sheesh, at least they didn't say he drove an early 90's front wheel drive Mercury Capri roadster! I'd have to turn off the movie here and now if they said that!

--Now, if Rick could drop in a two rotor Wankel into an MX-5, as Kelly says he seems to drive alot, then he'd have something. Then again, dropping in a 5.0 from an older Mustang would probably be easier. And I would definitely see 'Domingo Flores' driving something like an early 90's 5.0 LX! And it'd probably be green too!

--Is Rick going to look for Flores at the strip club?

--Rick has a 160 mph sports car, and Claudia just pulled off on an old Suzuki. Why didn't he flip a 180 and chase after her? He should have been able to catch up to her in a few blocks, and we'd get to see some cool scenes of the car catching air as he raced up the hill after her. FAIL!

--It was smart to add the yellow P-Touch label to the GPS so he didn't accidentally try navigating with his air conditioner.

--I can't figure out if the scene with Rick pulling up to the house with the GREEN) Challenger in the driveway is supposed to remind me of Dominic's house in Fast and the Furious, or the vatos house from Training Day.

--Wait, where did Rick hear that Flores had a NOS system for an RX-&? They were talking about an MX-5 earlier. I am so confused.

--That's right, my mechanic is Kelly Garcia, my suspension guru is Gunter Phong, and my painter is Albert Watanabe. And by the way you blend in and out of a goofy white boy accent, I take it that Domingo is a nickname, and your parents really named you Logan, Brad or Cody. Am I right?

--So, your seatbelt broke. Did you install it yourself? Because, uh, I installed mine, and I'm thinking maybe I should have gotten someone who actually knows how to spin a wrench to put them in.

--They sure do like taking off the front bumper. But I guess it's a good time for Kelly to come up with that slant-nose front end.

--Why is the cop (A) using thugs to take pictures of Ricks car, (B) wearing a shoulder holster, and (C) NOT wearing a police uniform, or a suit, (D) driving a car with the passenger-rear 1/4 window un-tinted?

--It still freaks me out that Rick's mom AND girlfriend work at the same strip club.

--Ahh... it was one of Kasey's goons that took the pictures of Rick's car!

--Honestly, I think the guy playing Kasey is the best actor in this film.

--If they're looking for aerodynamics, why don't they plexiglass over the spots under the headlights and put the front turn-signals back in.

--Did they install one of those super-wide rear-view mirrors in the RX-7?

--I hope it doesn't rain before the race, since the wiper dial is now the nitrous boost. Not to mention that there is no glass in the sunroof.

--Who's got some WD-40 for that squeaky door hinge?

--"You gotta be kidding me" What, did the other guy in the 240SX just race by and blow his doors off or something?

--Kasey had better have a bloody nose in the next scene he's in.

--Did Rick run out of gas? Oh goody, the nice police officer is there to help him push!

--Rick's car has some negative camber issues.

--How stupid is the cop, doesn't he know that the white boy always wins these races?

--No bloody nose. Continuity fail. At least the bumper is still gray.

--For a second there, I thought Rick was behind the wheel of a first gen 300ZX.

--Claudia crashes into the Trailblazer. Why didn't she just lay there and scream bloody murder? The funky rims on the SUV obviously let us know the owner was gang-related and therefore armed. The fact that it was not painted in a pimped out color shows us that it was not driven by a pimp, and therefore the gang member would have interjected himself into the situation to ascertain the reason of the accident. That the vehicle was in good condition shows us that he would not have been bullied by Kasey's threats, and if pressed, would defend the woman. Tsk tsk.

--That's three hits to the nose. I want blood or my money back.

--Four hits, no bloody nose. I'm really getting upset with the continuity director.

--If Claudia dialed 911, who was it that sent the message to Rick? And what did it say?

--OMG, Lou from the Candy Cat is Rick and Tommy's FATHER?

--Emotion. Kind-of.

--Again with the bumper off. And where's the slope-nose?

--Why can't Phong and Albert sleep in one of the cars? It'd be alot more comfortable than using traffic cones as pillows.

--Who's the c..t that set up Claudia, and why isn't Kasey talking through a broken nose as if he's a old woman from 'New Yoak'? I take back what I said about his acting.

Then again, no one else in the film is any better...

--Why is the 240SX chasing Rick? And will Kasey get past the 240 to catch up with Rick's RX-7? And who IS that in the 240SX anyway?

--What is that gray thing in the middle of the road next to the orange bus?

--Either there are serious potholes in L.A. or Kasey is finally using the primer-gray front bumper for what he planned with Tom.

--Note to self. If I am getting pushed from behind into traffic, I turn the car with the direction of traffic and floor it. Or I put it in reverse and see what happens.

--Spleen removed, cracked ribs and collarbone, cuts and contusions. She'll be here for observation for a few days. Thank goodness they aren't kicking her out this afternoon.

--Sure, lets take a smashed up 370Z instead of my WHITE RX-7 THAT WAS SITTING IN THE SHOP EARLIER. Smooth move, Ex Lax.

--Or, how about borrowing that red RX-7 that they are planning the snatch with?

--And wasn't that thing on the lift supposed to be the donor car that they built up?

--Did they really make a getaway in a Honda Insight?

--Impressive acting, staring as a CGI wreck. Especially one that wasn't chopped up with the jaws-of-life.

--Finally they admit it's a 370Z. Though I still don't know how Rick would think it was worth $80 grand just by staring at the outside of it at night.

--Impressive repair job on the 370Z.

--I like how they say that the race won't get near 200 mph, even though the film is called 200 MPH!

--Claudia must have a lot of pain medication in her system, since she just told Rick to 'kick some ass' in the race, with his dead brother's car that was fixed in a day.

--Surprise, the race organizer doesn't trust the cops.

--Why would the cops, specifically Officer Flynn, want the race stopped? Didn't he bet a fat bankroll on the kid losing? CONFUSION!

--How thick can the back of one's neck get? Just ask Cleo Berry.

--Again with the brake lights on the GT-R at the launch. I think the brake light switch in the car is loose.

--I see that Kasey fixed the front of the GT-R after the bump and grind with the green RX-7.

--I also see that drifting the 370Z around that second corner is a sure fire way to get left behind.

--It really seems to me that Kasey is trying not to win as he takes the turns against Rick in the 370Z.

--Hey, why haven't I seen an old late 70's 200SX used as a drift car before? They're rear wheel drive, not too heavy, and funky looking. Might be an interesting project for someone.

--Oh snap! They almost took out the most maneuverable Chevy Volt on earth!

--In all of L.A. county, don't they have more than one police car they can use in a chase? And I thought the dumb cop was betting that Rick would lose? Is he racing to see the finish? He can't possibly be trying to stop the race, can he?

--Right turn at stop sign. Didn't stop, not even a 'California' stop, and no signal. Ticket that SOB!

--Kasey nailed a curb. With all of those side airbags they have in cars nowadays? And what with hitting on the passenger side of the car? AND after taking all of those hits from Claudia? He should have been able to step out of the car and bitch-slap Rick to death.

--Hey look, a Droid X!

--Hey look, no passenger side damage! I guess Rick gets a pristine GT-R to drive. Or sell for tuition.

--Oh snap, the vatos are here to get their NOS back.

--Uh, Jeff Gordpn of Westchester? Nascar? On the street they make right AND left turns.

--Is there a Westchester in L.A.? I only know the county north of Manhattan. (White Plains)

--Kelly doesn't work for drug dealers, but she'll work for a drug USER. Nice morals there kiddo.

--Where did the $400,000 for the race come from? I thought it was a race for pink slips? A GT-R is worth 80, maybe 90 thousand, plus a few more thousand added in for mods.

--Ahh, I guess the GT-R was impounded. Maybe Rick can buy it che