"I live my life a quarter-mile at a time.".

Rating: 8/10 (30 January 2003)

I have always loved movies which involve fast cars, so naturally I had to see this one. I definitely think that it's better to see it on video than in the cinema. I say this because I DID see it in the cinema, and I was sitting right next to a speaker at the time. My eardrums got a thorough assault, due to the roaring of powerful engines and a pounding heavy metal and techno score. But I still loved the picture. There is no shortage of action here and the performances are rather good, especially the rapidly-rising Vin Diesel as our anti-hero Dominic Toretto. Paul Walker may be listed above him in the credits, but for my money, Diesel is the main man here. The goods are certainly delivered in this film!
SPOILERS AHEAD!
Walker plays undercover cop O'Connor who infiltrates Toretto's gang of street racers in order to find out if they are involved in a series of hijackings which look like the work of skilled drivers. He at first is unwilling to believe that Toretto may have something to do with it due to the fact that Toretto appears to be a civil type (plus O'Connor is falling in love with his sister). It first appears that Toretto's rival, a violent, and quite psychotic, Triad-type named Johnny Tran, may be the guilty party. But this may be the easy solution.
I had seen this picture before I had seen the earlier POINT BREAK, but as soon as I saw POINT BREAK, I could see similarties between the two. As with POINT BREAK, the easy answer is proved wrong and the truth turns out to be what you hoped wasn't true. The ending also has a similarity to POINT BREAK, which I won't reveal here. But these similarities do not mean that this film is not original. Far from it, the story is great with inventive twists and turns and you eventually find yourself rooting for Diesel.
The two leads are brilliant as is Jordana Brewster as Toretto's sister Mia. In addition, Toretto's racing team are well drawn (well, three of them are anyway). There's Letty, the tough chick (and Toretto's girlfriend), Jesse, the geeky but lovable mechanical expert, Vince, the violent nutjob (who takes exception to O'Connor) and Leon, the other one (he has very little distinguishing characteristics). A pre-DIE ANOTHER DAY Rick Yune is truly menacing as the sadistic Tran.
The cars are also brilliant. The real great ones are the Supra which thegang restores for Walker to race at an Arizona race event, the three black Honda Civics which are used for the hijackings (when did they actually start making cool-looking Civics?) and the black Dodge Charger Dieseldrives towards the end. Toretto states that he never drove the car before because itscared him. According to him, this car has 'so much torque that thechassis twisted when it came off the line', and it certainly proves itself in a final drag race near the end of the film.
The music score may not be to everyone's taste, but the film is overall excellent. The sequel's not too bad either!