Fast & Furious

Yes, the old saying is true. You see the same people on the way down that you saw on the way up. I know this movie will be sold to fans as a chance to see Vin Diesel re-teamed with co-star Paul Walker in the franchise that kickstarted both of their careers (and might be needed to save Diesel’s), but I’d rather see Diesel re-teamed with the co-star who was his true soulmate, the special co-star who brought out the best in him - The Duck from The Pacifier (That duck can act! I bet he could race a muscle car, too).

Dom (Diesel) and Brian (Walker) are back, but little do they know the two of them have a similar goal and completely different tactics to achieve it. Dom has been running around the Dominican Republic hijacking oil and gas tankers, but he has to return to Los Angeles when someone close to him is murdered and he wants revenge!

Guess what! Brian is after the same guy as he leads an FBI investigation trying to capture a big time drug trafficker who uses some of the best street racers in LA to bring his illegal product across the U.S.-Mexico Border.

Will Dom and Brian interfere with each other?

Will they be able to put aside the past to catch the bad dude?

Don’t make the mistake of calling this The Fast and The Furious. This movie is too fast and furious to be interrupted with the word, “the!” More than that, don’t worry about the movie, story or dialogue being too complex or overly intellectual to understand. Fast & Furious relies on the basics to win over moviegoers. This movie is all about fast cars, scantily clad women dancing around, and stuff blowing up. When it sticks to those elements, Fast & Furious is entertaining and enough make you feel like you are not wasting your time.

Frankly, director Justin Lin and writer Chris Morgan get into trouble when they deviate from the basics. Lin tries to create more serious, deep or meaningful moments, but they fall flat. No one wants to see Diesel staring plaintively out into the horizon trying to emote or force one, manly tear to drip down his rugged cheek. These moments are so ridiculous, people started to laugh in the theater I was in to see it.

Sure, when Brian and Dom need to win the big race, Fast & Furious suddenly feels like an Elvis Presley movie, but we can enjoy the race scenes, the death defying maneuvers and the silly one-liners Diesel cracks like Arnold Schwarzenegger did in his prime because the bald thespian has the right tough guy, cocky attitude to make all of it feel funny rather than annoying. It’s a pleasure to see him doing something more suited to his talent.

Fast & Furious runs a bit long with what feels like 2 or 3 endings, but it’s going to keep you interested long enough.

Rated PG-13 for intense sequences of violence and action, some sexual content, language and drug references.