Film review - The Fast And The Furious (From Western Telegraph)

Film review - The Fast And The Furious

Director: Rob Cohen Starring: Paul Walker, Vin Diesel, Michelle Rodriguez, Jordana Brewster, Johnny Tran Cert. 15; Dur. 107 mins

Action movies are for a large number of cinema-goers, I have to concede, cinemas raison dtre.

I have come to a point where I hate them. Id like to be in one but thats different. (I like the odd round of golf but I dont watch it). They all have such attention to explosion and filming the impossible the script and the characters get the merest paper thin creative treatment. When action movies, as we know them today, were still finding their explosion ratio, when Bruce Willis first put on his vest, the hugely improbable stunt fests were a novelty. How many explosions can you make in one movie? How many cars can you crash? Whats the most drawn out way to ultimately see the bad guy blown? None of this is worthwhile pursuit in my book, but as I say, film is a variety box and there must be people out there who eat coffee creams.

So, with my disdain for the genre registered, in the hope that sooner or later there will be a bullets and bangs movie with a brain, here is an action movie that has gained a considerable amount of attention in the States.

The Fast And The Furious is the creation of Rob Cohen. I give him all the credit because although the script boasts a plot that is above average for this kind of movie they could (I almost feel they should) have made this film without dialogue at all. Basically its about some LA young things that race fast cars (I mean really fast- 150mph) on the streets. This is a headache for the local bobbies as you can imagine.

Then when some high-speed heists of moving trucks take place so the long arm of the law decides its time to get up close and personal and they infiltrate the gangs.

Its all fast and furious. That its creator Rob Cohen made the American University drama Skulls which was met with such critical derision and public disinterest it seems incredible to me that he has now created the freshest action movie since the first of the Die Hard movies set the standard. Apart from a really stupid middle bit where things slow down to introduce some oriental Mafia, the pace of the movie is incredible.

The star undoubtedly, and being touted now as possibly the next big action hero, is Vin Diesel. I dont know but that cant be his real name. If it is, it seems there can have been few other professions apart from an action movie hero left open to him after the birth certificate was written.

Hes a hulk of a man but hes not devoid of talent (nor is he lumbered with an Austrian accent).

There are things in The Fast And The Furious that you wont believe. Its that which sets our human endeavours in front of the camera in the name of entertainment apart from any film that will star computer-generated actors. I have to say one more thing. Part of me feels its a silly film that bears no influence on the world but part of me feels uneasy that this film does glorify car crime.