The Fast and the Furious

This is a bad, bad movie. Skip it.

A gritty and gratifying cheap thrill, Rob Cohen's high-octane hot-car meller is a true rarity these days, a really good exploitationer, the sort of thing that would rule at drive-ins if they still existed.

While few of the paper-thin characters register long enough to make much of an impression, Diesel carries the movie with his unsettling mix of Zen-like tranquillity and barely controlled rage.

This is probably the most fun to be had at the multiplex so far this year.

Flaws and all, The Fast And The Furious benefits from the feel of grit on rubber.

It doesn't matter that we know where it's going, what counts is that Cohen keeps his pedal to the floor and that his actors gun their lines with absolute conviction. Loud cars, fast music: this movie knows exactly what it's about.

Cohen's fast-paced, stylish direction pushes the hot and heavy excitement to the maximum, making the breakneck auto races, high-octane hijacks and crash-bang cop chases absolutely electrifying to watch.

Director Rob Cohen's film feeds his audience junk food from a recipe of high-speed cars, decorative women, and lame action.

This is an incredibly insincere look at dramatized cops and robbers.

... pure pop fun, the best evocation of B-movie/exploitation film mythology of loyalty and honor among friends that American movies had achieved in some time.