In my high school days (as I tap my old-man cane on the ground) we raced old American muscle cars that were made in the sixties, and souped up with parts from junkyards. I'm not that old! I mean, I'm only talking about 1986 here folks just as most cars were being made smaller, slower, and more gas efficient, there was a certain exuberance made by driving around loud, uncomfortable cars that maybe got 10 miles to the gallon.

According to "The Fast and Furious" this has all changed. Now everyone races souped up Japanese cars running with Nitrous, and with custom engines costing upwards of $80,000. These racers run their quarter mile laps not out in the middle of nowhere, but through downtown Los Angeles streets in semi-organized events. The people running these races clearly don't seem to be able to afford these specialized cars, and in truth, they wouldn't if they weren't committing crimes on the side.

When the movie begins, we see three identical cars surround an 18-wheel truck. The one in front shoots a crossbow type device through the passenger window, and then the person jumps onto the hood of the truck, and then inside it, hijacking the vehicle. This method of hijacking trucks seems like a lot of excessive and dangerous work. Couldn't they just threaten the driver and make him pull over rather than using a spear gun and jumping through the windshield?

We actually see two scenes with drivers who don't seem to understand the principle of physics involving objects of large mass hitting a smaller mass object. If I'm a truck driver, and a bunch of cars surround me, I'm not that concerned with being pinned in by them. I've seen "The Road Warrior". I know how easily a truck can move a car. The same type of thing happens later when a guy in a car is surrounded by a bunch of hoods on motorcycles. I'm not that concerned for my safety when a quick jerk of the wheel can send them all bouncing down the street.

The movie is filled with flaws, but I have to admit a fondness for it. This isn't an original story, but it is one I've liked in the past, and still do here. This is definitely a formula film. I've seen it all before, and not just pieces of it from other films, but I mean the whole film. A TV reviewer mentioned that "Stone Cold" had pretty much the same plot. I have to admit that I liked that film, and maybe I'll write a review of it some day. An even better film, perhaps deserving of even more obvious comparisons, is "Point Break".

A cop is sent undercover into a world few are easily invited to participate in, to try to determine if a small gang of adventure seekers is also committing crimes. They know the crooks are precision racers with souped up Nitrous cars, so they suspect that someone heavily involved in street racing must be the crooks, or else know who is committing the crimes. Of course the cop becomes friends with the potential criminals, and even falls for the sister of one of the more dangerous members.

Apparently a lot of other people liked it too. It made an unbelievable amount of money, I thought, for its opening weekend. Almost $41 million dollars! This was especially impressive to me, not just that it competed with "Dr. Dolittle 2" with Eddie Murphy. The advertisements feature a lot of racing and crashes, but so did "Driven", and that did very poorly. And "Driven" had a handful of well known people. "The Fast and the Furious" has no real big name stars, and most of the actors have made their names from low budget independent films

There were some interesting performances in the film, by interesting actors, but none were that impressive. Vin Diesel seems to have taken a step back with his acting talent. I thought he was much better in both "Pitch Black" and "Boiler Room". He has a good presence, and even better voice, but isn't quite good enough to play emotional roles yet. He fails to earn our sympathy in a scene describing the death of his father, where he really needed to.

Michelle Rodriguez was much better in her debut "Girlfight", but in all fairness she had very little to do here. Actually, what little she had to do here was exactly what she had a lot to do in that low budget film. She sneers a lot, gives mean looks, and even gets to knock down one guy.

Jordana Brewster, whom I haven't seen since her good (debut?) performance in "The Faculty", has to probably go through the largest range of emotions. She was almost up to the task. She was so close, that I'm willing to accuse the script of failing her. She plays Diesel's sister who has to want to defend her brother's actions, while falling for the lead.

Ted Levine, the serial killer 'Buffalo Bob' from "Silence of the Lambs" actually gives us the best performance in the film, as a friendly, almost father-figure to the lead role. His performance reminded me just a little of his work on the cancelled way-too-fast television show "Wonderland". He seems to alternate playing either the nicest or the meanest characters in each film.

And then there is the 'star', Paul Walker. He has played small roles in okay films like "Pleasantville" and "Varsity Blues". But, he certainly shouldn't be carrying a movie like this, when his only other leading role was in what was one of the worst films of last year, "The Skulls". He was neither believable as a racer, or as a cop. The movie could only have been made better if they found an actor who could match Vin Diesel's charisma.

The director is Rob Cohen, who also directed the "The Skulls", and he should have learned not to use the same actor after he failed to impress anyone in that film. His best movie to date may have been "Dragon: The Bruce Lee Story", which in one scene, some of the characters are watching on video. There were some clever shots, but they really stood out, even more so because he kept repeating them. I'm talking about the shots of day turning to night, and the computer generated shots of travelling through the engine before a race starts. The movie wasn't poorly directed, but a better director may have been able to make some of the non-action scenes work better. The romance never seemed believable, and we were never given any reason to feel that the 'gang' had any true devotion for one another.

There are some noticeably exciting action scenes. I haven't seen a car drive under a truck in many years. And a character being swung around the side of the truck while on a hook looked pretty cool. An interesting camera effect started outside the car during a race, went inside the car, and then backs out. This didn't help make the straight line race any more exciting, but it was jarring enough to give the impression of the type of speed they were travelling at.

I don't think that many people race like this, but certainly the movie isn't aimed for street racers anyway. There were too many obvious flaws to me. Characters say numerous times stuff like "This is a nine second car", or "a ten second car", yet each quarter mile race takes about 40 - 50 seconds to run. My understanding is that nitrous is used the whole race, and not in little stages. Isn't that the point of a 10 second race?

I also don't think the dollar amounts mentioned when discussing the vehicles are quite right either. Early on we see everyone impressed with an engine that is said to cost around $10,000. Later, comments are made about the people who were impressed with that engine that they have $80,000 and $100,000 under their hoods. Why would the $10,000 engine impress any of those people? Could they even cost that much? Another humorous scene shows a vehicle that looks completely burned and mangled, and their repair guy says "Put $15,000 into this baby and she could fly!".

I also thought it was a little strange that all the race cars seemed to have excessive logos on them. It was as if they came straight from a professional race track or something. Who exactly would sponsor illegal street racing? Another funny moment happens with a race at the very end when two guys are screaming towards a railroad track crossing. A train is coming, but the signal gates don't drop down until the trains are about ten yards in front of it. Dramatic, maybe. But my audience laughed a bit.

Other questions about the robberies had me wondering as well. Where exactly are these guys storing truckloads of illegal electronics? And you know why the cops are so worried about catching these guys fast? Because the trucking union is threatening to take matters into their own hands. Is the FBI really afraid of the trucking union so much that they are answering to them over four trucks being hijacked? Didn't the FBI do a pretty good job making Jimmy Hoffa's life miserable? Why would the FBI care if the truckers capture the crooks for them? And why would the trucking union care about such a relatively small amount of insured theft anyway?

Although not all of it was bad, a lot of the dialogue in the film was absolutely atrocious.

Which one of these quotes was in the movie:
A: "I live my life a quarter mile at a time."
B: "It's not how you stand by the car, but how you drive the car."
C: "He has Nitrous in his blood, and a gas tank in his head."

Unfortunately, the correct answer is D: All of them. Amazingly, my audience didn't laugh at these lines, but I doubt they will be quoting them either.

The end credits said that the movie was based on a magazine article in 'Vibe" magazine. Well, the movie is about as thin as you would think a film based on that would be. However, I did actually enjoy myself through many of the chase scenes. They must have been well filmed, because it is hard to imagine on paper how exciting two guys racing in a short straight line could be.

The editing felt just right. It seemed a little slower than the recent summer blockbusters. Then again, I may just be getting used to the 'faster than the trailers' editing of films like "Mummy Returns" and "Tomb Raider". Regardless, here I can actually tell what is going on, and that hasn't always been that easy in action movies recently released.

And like "Driven", there are some amazing crashes in the film. One in particular is one of the best I've ever seen. We see what looks like one car, with a driver, flip and spin over another car that was racing along side of him. I was really impressed since it seemed to be filmed with real cars instead of an obvious computer animation.

The film isn't high art, but it really isn't trying to be. I wish it had a better script, and maybe a more detailed story, but for what it is, I enjoyed myself while watching it.

Note: On my own review page I only gave the film 3 1/2 stars.


Recommended:
Yes

Suitability For Children: Suitable for Children Age 13 and Older