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Movie review: “Fast and Furious”
BY MAGGIE SCOTT
There’s a run for the border in the gear-stripping action/adventure, “Fast And Furious,” but instead of nachos and tacos at the other end of the tunnel from Mexico to the U.S., there’s $60 million dollars worth of heroin waiting for eager dealers.
The product belongs to a drug cartel king pin whose top henchman murdered the girlfriend (Michelle Rodriguez) of renegade street racer, Dominic Toretto (Vin Diesel). Letty’s funeral is the only thing that could bring Dom back to L.A., where he’s a wanted man. And, hanging out to dry the person responsible for her death is the only thing that could make Dom team up again with Brian O’Conner (Paul Walker). He’s the man who deceived Dom five years earlier, romancing Dom’s sister Mia (Jordan Brewster) and infiltrating the street racers to get the goods on a truck hijacking ring.
Before crossing the border, Dom and Letty and the rest of Dom’s crew had been operating in the Dominican Republic hijacking gasoline; so it isn’t as if Dom has become a boy scout. Brian on the other hand has supercharged his career; going from undercover cop to FBI agent, currently working on the heroin trafficking case that appears to have the department stymied.
Since the kingpin is signing on the winners of street races to work as his drug-smuggling mules, Dom and Brian shift gears and declare a truce while they take their muscle car and import to a one-two finish in a late night race through busy L.A. streets.
Then, it’s down Mexico way, where a blistering, D.E.A.-dodging sprint across the desert and under the border puts Dom and Brian in possession of the heroin. Temporarily leaving the kingpin’s gang in the dust, Brian impounds the car with the dope and strikes a deal with the authorities that if they bring the kingpin in, the charges against Dom are dropped.
Bringing Braga to justice is going to take one more gas-guzzling, gasket-blowing chase from Juarez to L.A. With a name like Diesel, it’s no wonder that the actor still gives the role traction, even when the plot could use some acceleration and the action never gets out of third gear after a blow-out opening sequence.
Gyrating mini-skirted groupies and head-busting galore help earn this a PG-13 rating for violence, sexual content, language and drug references.
