A fun, if brainless, start to a successful franchise

Rating: 6/10 (15 December 2014)

Never in a million years would I, sitting in the cinema (with my mum and stepfather, oddly enough) back in 2001, think that the auto-porn I had just witnessed would kick-start a hugely successful franchise due it's seventh instalment next year in 2015. Not that I didn't enjoy the 90 minutes of homoerotic machismo, endless gear-stick changes, scantily-clad gyrators and a cameo by Ja Rule - I actually found it highly entertaining in a Point Break (1991) sort-of-way - it's just that how much of an audience can a film about cars draw? Lots, it would seem.
Undercover L.A.P.D. officer Brian O'Connor (Paul Walker) is assigned to infiltrate a gang of street-racers led by the notorious Dominic Toretto (Vin Diesel) after a series of high-speed truck hijackings using pimped-out Honda Civics. A highly competent driver himself, Brian uses his skills to befriend Dominic, while falling for his sister Mia (Jordana Brewster). After saving Dominic from the police, Brian earns his respect but not that of his crew, and when Dominic proves himself generous and loyal to those who offer him the same, Brian must choose between protecting his new friend and arresting the criminal he has been assigned to bring down.
The Fast and the Furious' script is often bad enough to make your ears bleed. This is a film where words of wisdom are offered in the form of "it's not how you stand by your car, it's how you race your car,". But it's delivers on what the title promises, and the action scenes are well-staged and it's nice to see real metal bend and break in an increasingly CGI-reliant marketplace. It's loud and often crude, but the two leads of obvious limited acting range prove likable and actually generate some chemistry. It's difficult to say where the franchise will go after the sad death of Paul Walker last year, but this first instalment was a fun, if brainless, start.
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