didn't _want_ to like this...

Rating: Null/10 (23 June 2001)

... and "schindler's list" it ain't. But for a low-IQ summer testosterone flick, "The Fast and the Furious" is surprisingly involving. The car scenes are remarkable, the soundtrack "bangs" (in the parlance of our times) and some of the performances are quite good.
Vin Diesel, as usual, manages to rise above some pretty cheesemo dialogue and make conflicted-dude Dom into someone fascinating. This guy is one hell of an actor. Paul Walker, playing protagonist Spindler, is pretty but not terribly charismatic; he has a kind of blonde-Keanu thing going on. Diesel and Chad Lindberg, as ADD-afflicted mechanic Jesse, are more engaging. The women are more "types" than anything else but this is fundamentally a Guy Flick and two-dimensional chicks are to be expected.
What I didn't expect was well-written supporting characters, ethnic diversity without preachiness on the topic, and lovely cinematography (it's stylish without being excessively MTV, and LA looks just like itself.) The plot is a little loopy, but there's more than enough here to justify buying a $4 discount-twilight ticket. And I dare you not to lay down some rubber leaving the theater parking lot.