1/2

This review first appeared in The Colorado Springs Gazette. To read this review at its original source, click here.

The first in the franchise built on speed, The Fast and the Furious was hardly a remarkable film. But it was self-assured. It knew exactly what it wanted to be and it put the pedal to the metal to get us there. The confusedly named fourth entry, Fast & Furious, reunites Vin Diesel and Paul Walker in what is easily the best film since the original. It’s dumb, but it’s fun, and it doesn’t pretend to be otherwise.

Fast & Furious goes back to where it all started: the streets of Los Angeles. The murder of one of the main characters brings fugitive Dom Toretto (Diesel) and FBI special agent Brian O’Conner (Walker) back together again, reuniting a five-year-old feud. The two men are forced to work together to take down a common foe, the Mexican drug cartel boss Braga (John Ortiz). But to do so, they must overcome past betrayals and learn to trust one another again. That and they’ll need to be able to drive very, very fast.

The globe-hopping action in Fast & Furious moves at appropriate breakneck speed. Nothing in this film sits still for long. People run when they could just walk. Even the subtitles race along the bottom of the screen. Following an explosive opening sequence, exotic cars move in a high-octane ballet, incorporating impressive stunts and CG magic nearly seamlessly. Sure, it all gets increasingly preposterous, bordering on becoming a video game (especially during a bit in which cars blast through underground tunnels at speeds reserved for bullet trains), but that’s half the fun.

Long on style but short on substance, Fast & Furious has just enough plot to hold the individual frames of celluloid together. It’s the sort of fun in which you turn off your brain and turn on your testosterone. The characters are so thin they border on translucence, but we both know you came for carburetors, not character. Diesel, who started out as a serious actor (remember Saving Private Ryan?) has now made a name for himself as a brute action star. He’s nothing more than a muscle bound gorilla but he plays the part well.

Fast & Furious is the very definition of a popcorn movie. It’s not nutritious but it is occasionally delicious.

© Copyright 2009 Brandon Fibbs. All rights reserved.