Improbably cool.

Rating: 7/10 (9 March 2006)

On one level, "The Fast and the Furious" is two hours of machismo. But on another level, it does show the subculture of street racing. Before it came out, I'd never known that people soup their cars up with nitrous oxide to increase speed. Vin Diesel plays his typical role, and Paul Walker almost seems like a side character.
I should identify that much of the movie looks pretty improbable. I won't divulge the scenes right here for risk of spoiling the movie, but trust me: you'll know these scenes when you see them. But like I said, the movie does give one an insight into the world of street racing. I never saw the sequel; I heard that it was the average kind of sequel (and summer 2003 saw a slew of lousy sequels).