The Fast and the Furious

Directed by Rob Cohen, The Fast and the Furious follows undercover cop Brian O’Conner (Paul Walker) as he successfully infiltrates a gang of street racers and hijackers (led by Vin Diesel’s Dominic Toretto) – with problems ensuing after Brian finds himself growing closer and closer to said gang’s various members (especially Jordana Brewster’s Mia). It’s a familiar yet workable setup that’s employed to predominantly underwhelming effect by Cohen, as the filmmaker, armed with a script by Gary Scott Thompson, Erik Bergquist, and David Ayer, delivers an oddly sluggish endeavor that doesn’t, for the most part, contain much in the way of attention-grabbing interludes and moments – with the picture’s watchable atmosphere, then, due almost entirely to the affable chemistry between the various protagonists and the effectiveness of both Walker and Diesel’s efforts here. The less-than-engrossing bent of the movie’s many car chases, which have been augmented by a continuing reliance on distracting computer-generated effects, certainly does little to alleviate the pervasively mediocre vibe, and although Cohen includes an impressively exciting set-piece involving a hijacking that goes wrong, The Fast and the Furious does, for the bulk of its padded-out running time, come off as a sedate, low-energy actioner that just barely manages to sustain one’s interest throughout.

**1/2 out of ****