A good fast paced action film

Rating: 7/10 (21 May 2013)

To go in and watch The Fast and Furious, it is a lesson in expectations as it is obviously not a masterpiece, and you should not expect it to be either. it does exactly what it says on the poster though and the film is fast and the action is furious.
The story of Brian O'Conner (Paul Walker) who is a undercover police officer. Trying to breaking on to the Street racing scene. Through Dominic Toretto (Vin Diesel) so he can bring down a crew who are hijacking trucks. The thing with the film is that in a lot of ways it is terrible. I'm not a Rob Cohen fan, of all his films this is probably the best of his work in my opinion and only challenged by 1996's Dragonheart. In acting terms Paul Walker is a good looking guy but lacks real acting talent and charisma on screen. Vin Diesel though does have good screen presence, and at times I think is an underrated actor. The supporting cast is generally OK except for the insufferable and thankfully only in it for a short period Ja Rule, and the definitely not very intimidating Reggie Lee as the main protagonists henchmen.
What is surprising and actually good about the film is that it does have a nice simple plot and develops the characters as we get to know about Dom's father and his childhood, and see Mia Toretto (Jordana Brewster) and Brian fall in love. The Car chases are decent and again are practical effects, which are better than CGI Green screen chases uses in some of the sequels. Praise also has to made of the final sequences involving the final hijacking, the chasing of some drive by shooters and the final race off. which were very thrilling and kept you on the edge of your seat until the end.
I can't say i love this film, because i don't. But i did like it and enjoyed the ride while it lasted.