The Fast and the Furious (PG-13)

This series has spanned so many sequels, it almost makes the “Friday the 13th” franchise look conservative. But I have to admit, this first film, directed by Rob Cohen has something about it that its predecessors seemed to lack. It would later gain infamy in light of one of its stars, Paul Walker, dying in an ironic car crash. It also features a plethora of rising Hollywood stars, such as Vin Diesel, Michelle Rodriguez, and Jordana Brewseter. It has a hip-hop soundtrack and the revving of car engines as its fuel. What it lacks in brains, it has in action. Films often forget who they are. Here’s a film that wants to be a view of the criminal underworld disguised as an action film. It does this very well.

There’s a plot, of course, to legitimize this. Brian O’Conner (Walker) is a L.A. detective who goes undercover into the street racing community to get evidence to arrest local street racing legend Dominic Toretto (Diesel) for suspected hijackings of freight truck cargo. O’Conner has supervisors, and Toretto has his underling’s; however, the movie is less interested in these, focusing on these two enigmas as they first size each other up and later, amidst their respective schemes, learn to trust each other. Some additional players, such as Dom’s sister Mia (Brewester), and his girlfriend Letty (Rodriguez), as well as hothead Vince (Matthew Schulze) round out the cast.

Several elements make “The Fast and the Furious” fun to watch. First and foremost, the film features several car chases and drag races, all well choreographed and featuring well-done special effects. While some of these races take place for bravado, such as a street race between Brian and Toretto, others have more at stake such as “Race Wars,” a huge, seemingly legal but un-chaperoned race in the middle of the desert, where losers lose often much more than just their car. The film’s cars boast thousands of dollars of equipment “under the hood,” and most every race ends with a well-timed boost of NOS (Nitrous Oxide), which runs ubiquitously through this movie.

The film’s cinematography is done by Ericson Core, and the camera shots are varied and intriguing. Point of view shots detail some of the film’s speedier chases, as well as blurred lines when its characters ignite the NOS. Los Angeles is here presented mostly from the streets, and is cast in that dry, golden, ever-present tinge of fading sunlight that made movies such as “Drive” or “Training Day” so effective. We see repair garages, auto-supply stores, and stretches of coastline in between steady shots of downtown L.A.

The film’s acting is hit or miss. Walker turns in another stock performance, lacking in depth or dynamism, filling in a one-sided role. There was perhaps a more interesting twist the movie could have found for him, and I question whether the movie would have had more punch had O’Connor been a fellow thief instead of a cop. Jordana Brewster does an adequate job as Dom’s sister/love interest for O’Connor, but is painted otherwise thin. When she finds out Brian’s a cop, her reaction is angry-yet-complacent; as though she’s utterly aware of the cliché she’s in. Rodriguez and Schulze are even more thinly painted, and are really only added as background noise throughout.

Surprisingly, the saving grace of this movie is Vin Diesel, who gives Dom edge and intrigue. In a role that needed little more than muscles and a heavy foot, Diesel makes Dom real, and gives him more depth than the script probably allowed. I’ve liked Diesel ever since 2000’s “Boiler Room.” The guy always struck me as a much better actor than the muscle-bound roles he lands in. An exchange between he and O’Connor toward the film’s end prior to a street race to a railroad crossing shows this well. Unfortunately, he is mostly constrained by a script than never planned much depth.

At the end of the day, “The Fast and the Furious” is an adequate action film that will entertain even though it never reaches truly suspenseful or believable heights. The ending is overlong and tips the scale of disbelief a little too much, but is still exciting to watch. No one gets saved in this movie; we’re supposed to believe that Dom and O’Connor respect each other by the end, and, honestly, the movie convinces us of this rather easily. A slightly better story and this might have been a true winner. Alas, it never insults your intelligence, which, amidst other films that can’t say the same, might be enough.

– by Mark Ziobro