Plodding and silly action thriller.

Rating: Null/10 (12 December 2002)

2.5 out of 10
In The Fast and the Furious, Paul Walker stars as an undercover cop who's seduced by the underground world of drag racing. Vin Diesel is the head of one particular racing gang that enjoys stealing DVD players off trucks, preferring to do so while the truck is moving at high speeds, perhap for the sheer thrill of it (and spending countless money on NOS, no less). That's just one of the movie's many idiocies, which would be forgivable if the movie was consistently entertaining. It's not.
Instead of high-octance action, we get too much focus on a plot that's sleep-inducing and actors who look more comfortable posing for a magazine than enunciating dialogue. Only Vin Diesel makes an impression, though he's certainly not aided by the giggle-inducing dialogue ("You break her heart, I break your neck"). As for the story, it can be summed up as Point Break with fast cars and the idiots who drive them. Lead Paul Walker is thoroughly unconvincing as the undercover cop and he shares zero chemistry with Jordana Brewster, the girl whose only purpose in the film is to make him lose his edge. There are a couple of chase scenes near the end that are reasonably fun, but it's too little too late by then. For truly thrilling, mindlessly enjoyable car chase mayhem, watch The Transporter instead.