It is fast, but it ain't furious...

Rating: Null/10 (13 January 2002)

Director Rob Cohen has made a living out of making consistently mediocre films. From his earliest attention getting feature films such as 'Dragon: The Bruce Lee Story' to the equally unimpressionable 'Dragonheart', he has never earned my respect as bringing something new to the film industry. In his latest feature film 'The Fast and The Furious', he makes it seem as if he is bringing something new, when in reality he is not. He is simply taking a new theme in film rarely explored and cutting this film into a 106-minute music video. Filled with some sloppy editing and horrendous clichÃ©d lines, this film explores the underground world of street racing. While Cohen enjoys displaying his modified cars in many tracking shots along the sunny beaches of California, there are many elements that can be deemed detrimental to the final product. Despite the film's horrible 'teeny-bopper' title, this film does retain one astounding element that has crept under the radar. That one element delivers this film on all levels it could not perform, that one element is Vin Diesel. Mark Vincent, otherwise known as Vin Diesel has been in many films yet never has he carried a film as he does here. From his stint as Private Adrian Carpazo in 'Saving Private Ryan' to his juicy role as Chris Varick in 'Boiler Room', this one film will solidify him as one of the fastest stars to climb the ladder of success in Hollywood. Now we understand why the Great Spielberg cast him in a small yet important role in his film, and we now know why this film isn't as bad as it could have been. This film's inexcusable plot to set up a racing sequence after another centers itself upon an undercover cop attempting to infiltrate an underground street racing circuit in an attempt to unravel a hijacking ring. Paul Walker plays Brian O'Connor, the newest member of the team joining Turetto's gang who seemingly has an agenda of his own. While Walker seems to be doing his best attempt at conveying a brute man with a deep voice, Cohen seems to enjoy shooting Walker for his blue eyes and blonde hair appeal. Contrasting these two main characters who forge a deep bond in the film, Diesel is shot in all his raw appeal as he gets himself dirty and displays his charisma at being a leading man, whether in a villainous role or not.
Cohen sets up the film quickly and stresses the fact that the film will be laced with fast cars, furious sequences and racing that attempts to leave viewers dizzy, yet only leaves the educated viewer questioning the logistics of such sequences. Where Cohen does get my respect is whereas in his previous films such as Stallone's horrible 'Daylight', he veers away from his conventional formula that did not work and lets the character study not tell the story, and lets the car-obsessed viewer gets their rocks off with the hundreds of modified cars that race up and down the street.
His aim was never to win an Academy Award; his aim was to deliver an intense racing film that perhaps wanted to rival Frankenheimer's 'Grand Prix' or that of 'Ronin'. Unfortunately, he has failed. He keeps the film going quickly enough in order to make the viewer forget about the past scene and brings us into a new sequence completely unrelated from the former. Taking into account the modified Japanese cars and coupling them with some interesting race sequences, he delivers a mildly formulaic yet pleasing film that will be enjoyed mostly at home as a rental. This film is not a work of art, nor a groundbreaking film. But what Cohen attempts to do is deliver a fast film in which the filmmakers could not think of a better title. The film is filled with imperfections and the casting of some characters may somewhat be questionable as well. Furthermore, Cohen's direction seems to be lifting off various music videos in order to combine the furious editing with the fast music of composer BT. Perhaps one of the film's other flaws is the attempt to edit a piece of music into every scene in the film in hopes of making a scene bigger than it really is. Except for the final hijacking scene, music is rampant within the film and film studies students will see how a piece of music can either make or break a film. In this case, it does neither. That is how ineffective it is. I must admit that I wasn't bored while viewing the film, yet I wasn't devastatingly impressed either. Cohen knows exactly what he has with Diesel and makes good use of him, as for the other failing elements, Cohen resorts to some tacky CGI in order to spice up the racing scenes and simply bogs down this film with his attempt at really wanting to impress - yet he does not. He has delivered a film that will appeal and satisfy the many car lovers out there with the unrealistic racing sequences and those who get a rush out of bad editing. Finally, what is conceivable about this film is Cohen's attempt at wanting to impress us so hard with his music, his editing and his CGI that he forgets to include a bit of substance. Witness the final scene for substance and one will know that the actual conveying of emotion did play a part in the film, albeit too late.
Giancarlo's Rating: ** (out of 4)