The Fast and the Furious (2001)
Vin Diesel, Paul Walker, Jordana Brewester; d. Rob Cohen; C-

Somebody in Hollywood is commiting the biggest crime ever in film history - They're stealing Panasonic DVD players and TV sets! It's up to young, pretty-boy, Keanu Reeves-ish FBI agent Brian Spindler (Paul Walker) to crack the case. He's sent undercover into the fast-paced underworld of illegal speed racing, where young people gather at various locations at night and race each other in overly decorated cars. The people who participate in this sport are all apart of different "teams," distinguished by the ethnicity of its members: There's the Latin music listening Hispanic group and the "ghetto" African-American group, both of which have no true purpose in this film than Cuba Gooding, Jr., had in Pearl Harbor. Likewise in the vein of Pearl Harbor is the evil and potentially offensive Asian-American group, who are always accompanied by dark, Asian-like music. Not only are they evil because they're Asian and organized, but because they area always hounding Dominic Toretto (Vin Diesel), the leader of the film's main, and Anglo, team. This is the team that Brian falls into, mainly because he falls for Dominic's sister, Mia (Jordana Brewster). But, damn, those DVD players need to be found, and could Brian's love for Mia and her brother's group blind him from the truth?

I can easily see how someone would be entertained by this film, but for me, it just didn't work. The much praised, excellently-shot racing sequences failed to make my adrenaline level meet those of the other members of the audience. There's a difference between being in a fast car and looking at a fast car. Admittedly, the cars looked nice, but it was impossible to admire them while they were constantly speeding into little blurs, being shot, blown up, or covered with dirt. Also, I was severely dissapointed with the acting. To prevent getting a statement from a reader accusing me of expecting too much out of this film, no, I wasn't expecting the second coming of Marlon Brando. However, it would have been nice to see the actors act a bit better than what they did. Vin Diesel is painful to watch, especially because of his mess of a character. The writers wanted to make him look like the ultra cool, big, bad mo'fo that Vin Diesel's body and voice personifies, but then, for some reason, they try to throw in a human element by putting in horribly written scenes in which Dominic admits his fears to Brian. Instead of making Dominic look like a human, though, the writers only have succeeded in making him look like Cole Sear in Vin Diesel's body. On top of that, in many scenes you can litteraly see Diesel trying to remember and recite his lines, which makes him look more like a human in dire need of a teleprompter. Walker probably gave the best performance in the movie, and that's not saying much. He shines when he's spewing out lines worthy of medical directions in ER, but that's only in one scene. In the rest, he's just a pretty boy twenty something posing as both an FBI agent and a speed racer. And the others? Some are good, some are bad, some shouldn't have been in the movie at all (*cough*jarule*cough*). Girlfight's Michelle Rodriguez plays Letty, Dominic's bad-ass mo'fo girlfriend, an interesting character highlited by Rodriguez' younger-Angelina-Jolie-dumped-in-a-bucket-of-lipgloss look. Unfortunatley, that's as far as Rodriguez' performance goes. Luckily, the worst performances come from the FBI agents. Luckily because they aren't in the film for a significant amount of time.

Now what I did like about the film was the atmosphere, which easily rubbed off into the audience. By atmosphere I mean the obvious love for cars and racing, presented through the film's characters. I'm not fan of cars or racing myself, but it was interesting to see what goes into making one of those annoying, noisy cars. It gave me a new perspective into a culture I knew little about, even though this perspective lacked any kind of depth.

Believe it or not I wouldn't heasitate to reccomend this to someone. As I said, it did not work for me but I can see how it would work for others. I say if you're really into cars and racing, definatley see this film. It's not the Raging Bull of racing movies but at least it gives somewhat of a perspective into illegal speed racing. As for anyone else who's interested in it, sure, go see it. It's harmless summer fodder, so it won't hurt to try it out.

© Vert A Go Go Reviews 2001