Turbocharged Shopping Trolley

Rating: 2/10 (31 December 2006)

Despite some good action sequences - no, sorry, strike that - a good action sequence involving a bike/car chase toward the end of the movie, there's little to recommend "The Fast and The Furious" to anyone with a central nervous system.
Vin Diesel tries his best but his performance is lost among a tribe of glove puppets and stick figures. Paul Walker looks great but makes Josh Hartnett The Wooden Boy look like Laurence Olivier. Michelle Rodriguez scowls and pouts so much that she actually looks like a bulldog for most of the movie. Jordana Brewster gives Katy Holmes a run for her money in the WET AS FISH stakes and Rick Yune is woefully miscast as a villain. Yune looks even better than Paul Walker but has all the acting ability of a packing crate. He needs to spend more of that money he made being pretty on acting lessons.
Director Rob Cohen clearly hopes that layering on the surface glitz will distract an audience from the dull plot, thinly spread characterisation and unrealistic stunt driving in this movie. Well, he's wrong. If, however, you actually like video-game driving action, Mattel Hot Wheels and lots of barely-dressed girls draped over every available surface, this movie was created for you.
You sad, sad individual.