Great movie, but...

Rating: 8/10 (24 June 2001)

I went in wanting to see this movie, and it delivered on everything I had hoped for. It did have a reasonable plot, and what it was lacking for in plot it made up for in character development. It had style and great actions scenes. The story never got boring, and I stayed interested until the end. I am sure that eveyone leaving the theater with me wanted to burn rubber as they drove home. (The difference being, I can, in 1st, 2nd, and 3rd!) What is lacking in this movie is any intelligent explanation of the science behind the speed. Throughout the movie we learn 2 things. 1, nitrous makes a car go faster, and 2, you have to press the button at the right time. I dont think I ever heard anyone in this movie mention the size of the engine for any of the cars raced. Diesel, who again does a great job - contrary to those who assume big muscles mean no brains and automatically pan him - does give a top to bottom on his father's car, but it is never raced. I guess we have to assume these are basically japanese compact cars that are painted nicely and mod'd out to the max, and that's the only reason they come close to matching the speed and power of classic street-rods. Still, I really would have liked there to have been more explanations of why Car A is faster than Car B, and known why Car B's driver needs to use his wits to win. Of course, the writers must have known, it doesnt really matter.