T.V.
And Films
Film Reviews
The Fast And The Furious
Rating: 15
Running time 107 minutes
Directed by Rob Cohen
Stars Paul Walker, Vin Diesel, Michelle Rodriguez, Jordana Brewster,
Rick Yune, Chad Lindberg, Johnny Strong, Matt Schulze, Ja Rule, Ted Levine
Director Rob Cohen is an evil genius. In The Fast and the Furious he has
created a film which quickly and efficiently bypasses the brain and goes
straight for the guts. If you don’t want to go out and drive fast after
seeing this movie, you’re probably already dead.
Brian O‘Connor (Paul Walker) is an undercover cop infiltrating illegal
street racer gangs in suburban L.A. He’s after the bandits in black
Honda Civics behind a series of breathtaking truck hijacks. But to get
to them he’ll have to go head to head with speed king racer Dominic
Toretto (Vin Diesel).
Weapons of choice are souped up Japanese supercars with the muscle to
smoke a quarter mile street run. Crammed with tens of thousands of
dollars worth of import-only extras, they rely on chassis threatening
injections of nitrous oxide to leave the opposition for dead. For Brian,
it’s all too much fun. The first time he drives, the engine rips the floor
out of his car. Then the ride gets shot up by Vietnamese gangsters.
He’s hooked.
Director Cohen mikes up every squealing tyre in sight and soundtracks
each second with the sort of high-octane sports metal and gonzoid
headbanging techno we’re all supposed not to like. Chicks strut by in
halter tops and hot pants, while dudes tinker with their fuel mix.
Bankrolls are flashed and the sexual tension goes through the roof.
That’s entertainment.
The plot is not even secondary. Direction and script are fast and flashy
because they have to be. Give the audience time to think and the film is
lost. So Cohen fills the frames with visual flash bang. There’s even room
to borrow a trick from Three Kings’ director Spike Jonze, sending the
camera snaking down the gear lever and into the innards of an engine
revving at the limit.
As Toretto, the superbly named Vin Diesel is a ruthless criminal, who
also acts as father figure for a surrogate family of needy misfits and
lost souls.
It ends as expected, in a skidding pile of tearing metal and burning
rubber. Furiously fast. Don’t drive home unless your license can handle
the endorsements.
Rating: 4 Stars
Simon Owen
