Fast And Furious review

The original cast of 2001's the Fast and the Furious reunite to inject some fuel into the ailing franchise and arguably their own careers - between trying to shake off DUI arrests, attempting to avoid b-movie hell and taking the leading role in 2005's The Pacifier, the future for Vin Diesel and co hasn't really been what was touted at the time. Together with Justin Lin (once a promising indie director before making the ludicrous Fast and Furious Tokyo Drift) and screenwriter Chris Morgan (Wanted), we enter the fourth film in the series, eight years after the original was released. Traditionally a fourth film in a franchise is usually a death-knell for ailing studios milking a franchise for all its worth, so does the same apply here?

Fast and Furious opens with one of the most outrageous action sequences ever committed to celluloid as renegade outlaw Dominic Torretto (Diesel) and his gang of motor heads attempt to hijack an oil tanker, and as an opening sequence it's up there with the best of them - well staged, confident, exciting and the pace never really lets up from there. The plot concerns Diesel returning from self-imposed exile to seek revenge on the drug kingpin that caused the death of the woman he loved. Undercover FBI agent Paul Walker tags along for the ride which gives Michelle Rodriguez and Jordana Brewster nothing much more to do than look pretty in what are essentially extended cameo roles for them both. It's a leaner film than its predecessors that concentrates on the aspects that made the first film a commercial hit: it sticks to a formula that solely consists of thrilling chases featuring ludicrously expensive cars, tanned buxom women making out at car park raves and (allegedly heterosexual) macho posturing and pouting from Diesel and Walker.

Though before this sounds like a glowing recommendation, let me just affirm that this film is dumber than a bag of nails, with a script that's completely absurd, plot-holes so large they could sink a ship and a wafer-thin plot so light on development it could be written on a post-it note, in some cases. It's Zoolander played straight ('Maybe you're not the good guy pretending to be the bad guy. Maybe you're the bad guy, pretending to be the good guy, ever think about that?'). The interplay between cops and criminals is so inept that you wonder if the cops could even catch criminals in their own backyard (which incidentally is what they're doing) and there's not one part of the story that holds weight or even makes sense. Fast and Furious doesn't assume you're intelligent, it assumes the exact opposite, that you'll refuse to question any part of the film by bombarding you with fast cars, explosions and constantly gyrating scantily-clad women.

I'll go as far to say that Fast and Furious is a welcome addition to the series, despite being absolutely ridiculous it's always entertaining, the action scenes are thrilling enough and Diesel and Walker are obviously having a lot of fun reprising their roles. If it had a fraction of the smarts as it does speed, it could be something to recommend. As it stands, it's an average slice of testosterone-fuelled entertainment that never really takes itself too seriously. If you have to watch it - my advice is to switch off your brain and enjoy the ride.

Jonny Dawson