Ewwwwwww

Rating: 2/10 (17 May 2002)

It amazes me that anyone could possibly enjoy this movie. The rating here of 6.2 is far too high for what it is. Forget the fact that it's filled with Bondo'd up import cars (besides the nice car at the end, was there ever a scene containing a North American car?), the plot holes are big enough to drive a pack of cars through.
Oh - did you know that the people who drive these little import boxes all seem to motor around in packs? Like motorcycle gang cliche movies from the 50's, you see.
(Spoilers abound ahead)
How about this one: the blame for the crimes is shifted to an Asian guy, who is arrested at his family home during a meal. Instead of being angry with the cops, the father slaps his son. Good scene. Anyway, in spite of the fact that this guy machine gunned a police undercover vehicle which we are told cost $80,000, destroying it completely, he can't be held because all they have is "minor weapons violations". Right.
Ok - I had a stopwatch and timed the "10 second race" at one minute 51 seconds. Now, this is about par for the quarter mile times of a REAL Honda, but apparently these ones are heavily modified, so you'd expect them to at least be in the under-a-minute range, right?
It amazes me that someone can blow up his motor, destroying rings according to one character, and yet drive away with no smoke AND elude cops with the exact same car just seconds later. I wish MY car would self-repair like that, it would save me a lot of hassles and scuffed fingers.
The only thing I can say is, if you feel that you want to immerse yourself in a fantasy world that has very little basis in reality, where cars auto-repair and quarter mile races last almost two minutes, and cops let their quarry escape, and truck drivers don't get out of their trucks to check on the guy that just totalled his car on the truck, well, go right on ahead.
Afterward, go slap a giant exhaust tip and goofy spoiler on your ugly little tin box import, then come race me at a track. This movie will not prepare you for the realities of street racing OR life in general.
I rate this movie as a 2, only because of the strangely compelling performance of Ja-Rule and because the cinematography was pretty good. Otherwise it deserved a zero.