The Fast and the Furious

Rating: 6/10 (14 May 2008)

This was the first film in what would become a non-stop high octane franchise full of cool and fast cars racing and chasing each other, including lots of action and some stunts along the way, directed by Rob Cohen (Dragonheart). Basically a string of high-speed truck robberies, stealing millions of dollars worth of electronic equipment, have been occurring, Los Angeles street racing gang leader Dominic Toretto (Vin Diesel) is under suspicion for these hijacking crimes. Brian O'Conner (Paul Walker) is an officer for the LAPD and goes undercover, joining Toretto's highly skilled crew of racers, taking part in many illegal late night street races for high stakes. As time goes by however Brian is compromising his assignment by becoming part of Toretto's life, he is sympathising with the chief suspect, and falling in love with Toretto's sister Mia (The Faculty's Jordana Brewster), he eventually starts to try and prove Toretto's innocence. Also starring Michelle Rodriguez as Toretto's girlfriend Letty, Die Another Day's Rick Yune as Johnny Tran, Chad Lindberg as Jesse, Johnny Strong as Leon, Ted Levine as Sergeant Tanner, Matt Schulze as Vince, rapper Ja Rule as Edwin, Space Jam's Thom Barry as Agent Bilkins and Bruce Almighty's Noel Gugliemi as Hector. Diesel with his gravely voice is cool, Walker is blank most of the time but a reasonable hero, and supporting cast members Brewster and Rodriguez do fine as well. To be honest, the storyline going on is not the thing to pay the fullest attention to, as the title suggests it the pedal-to-the-metal stuff, all the colourful and cool cars fuelled up, with extra rocket boosters and switches, that speed and crash their way around, and the explosions and stunts along the way keep the pace up as well, all in all it is a worthwhile action thriller. Good!