The Fast and the Furious

An undercover cop (Paul Walker) gains the confidence of a street drag-racer (Vin Diesel) who’s a prime suspect in a series of truck hijackings; meanwhile, the cop falls for the racer’s sister (Jordana Brewster). Director Rob Cohen—wisely, perhaps—wastes no time trying to resuscitate the cliches of the script (by Gary Scott Thompson, Erik Bergquist and David Ayer), concentrating instead on the “money” scenes: several street-races and a climactic truck-and-auto duel when one of the hijackings goes sour—all set to the boom and crash of a zillion-decibel soundtrack. There are moments of excitement—to be honest, quite a few—but a better title would be The Dumb and the Deafening. Vin Diesel shows again the promise of real stardom, but his breakthrough role is still waiting to find him.