A Superior 21st Century B Movie

Rating: 6/10 (27 March 2002)

In terms of the profile of the performers involved and the money spent on its production, this film seems to be a minor picture in comparison to the megabucks blockbusters the studios release. However, considering it was made by a major studio and apes the style of the blockbusters, you can't really call this an Independent picture either. It seems the best way to define this movie is as a B-Movie, changes in film convention and monetary inflation notwithstanding.
This is not intended to devalue the film - Assault on Precinct 13, New Jack City and some of the best movies of the 1940s were B-movies. All it means is it doesn't have stars and doesn't pretend to be a particularly original work of art, and would consider itself a success if enough people buy tickets for it to make its money back. Many such films are forgettable, some are patently awful, some are entertaining on some level, while a few manage to hit the right mixture and make for very good cinema. They also used to provide a great breeding ground for new talent to try their luck with limited resources and less risk than the big leagues, and the cinema could do with more such opportunities for new film-makers to try out. "The Fast
And The Furious" doesn't quite hit the heights achieved by John Carpenter's early work or the golden age of Noir but I'm certainly not sorry I watched it.
Paul Walker comes across as a blond Keanu but is engaging as the undercover cop investigating high-speed robberies whose culprits seem to hang around the illegal street racing scene in LA. Vin Diesel (who was superb as the convict in Pitch Black) is charismatic in the more interesting "guy on the edge" role, and everyone else does their job effectively. The familiar story follows of an undercover mission becoming complicated by loyalty, emotions, and things not being as simple as they look, with some good high speed driving sequences along the way. The performances, direction, characterisation and dialogue are not exactly Oscar-winning but to use the racing analogies used by all the papers who reviewed this movie, it is flashy, has a good engine and overcomes a slight lack of finesse through pace and energy. Better still, you can tell from the opening titles and delirious first race that this is not intended as anything more than fun entertainment, so you forgive the cliches and occasional false move from the script. It certainly stands comparison with any of the $100m mega productions against which it was competing.
The whole thing plays out nicely to a big action finale, and it chooses one of the handful of recognised ways for a story like this to end. Overall, it was a fun movie and worth watching once for anyone who likes a bit of unpretentious high speed fun. Rent the video, relax and enjoy.