Point Break with cars, but there's nothing special under the hood.

Rating: Null/10 (29 September 2001)

The Fast and the Furious has definitely got cars. Big cars with obscene amounts of horsepower that quite clearly go very, very fast. Unlike the remake of Gone in 60 Seconds, it's also got some decent driving scenes and stunts to complement the muscle, including a superb shot from inside one car as another spins over it in mid air, though this was spoiled somewhat by being shown in the trailer.
Plot wise there's no worries about spoilers, as the story is not a complicated one. It's essentially a carbon copy of the '91 Keanu Reeves surf crime movie Point Break, which in itself is a whole lot of undercover cop standards, and most people will get the gist by a few minutes into the picture.
However, this isn't the kind of film you go to see to enjoy the subtleties of the plotline. I don't think anyone involved in the making of the film was expecting to put an Oscar on the mantlepiece, and they do try to provide the. The cars, as I have said, are big, there is a fair smattering of race girls, and a regulation hollywood drop of ethnicity, with a black group, a japanese group, and a latino group. The pacing of the movie is somewhat too speed, neither of which work particularly well, with the same amount of energy in a punch up near the beginning as the final chase scenes. The cast puts in a fairly decent performance, with the possible exception of Paul Walker who comes across as far too Keanu-like... this is not a good thing. By the end of the film you're really not too bothered on which characters if any escape, get shot, get busted or just disappear. On the plus side however, there are some of the finest driving under a truck scenes since Smokey and the Bandit.
Overall, this movie didn't do anything for me. It wasn't bad, as there wasn't anything particularly wrong about it, but it wasn't good either. In the right mood, with your buddies and some liquid refreshment, this movie could go down a storm, but consider saving yourself the cinema tickets and renting Point Break instead.