I never bothered watching either of the sequels that came out of “The Fast & The Furious.” What was the point? You have Paul Walker headlining “2 Fast 2 Furious” (clever title), and that did not inspire much confidence in me. Paul Walker may be a strong presence on film, but he’s not really much of an actor. Then came “Tokyo Drift,” and that had none of the original characters in it. For many (including myself), this seemed to be the last gasp of a franchise that was just trying to get by on name only. But now we have “Fast & Furious,” a movie that is every bit as tight as its title. With this one, we finally have the original cast back with the clever tagline of “new model, original parts.” With that in mind, I found myself actually excited about what I felt was going to be the true sequel to the 2001 original.

Ok, the original was by no means a great movie. Even Rob Cohen (who directed the original) didn’t try to hide the fact that the story was ripped off from “Point Break.” In essence, “The Fast & The Furious” was basically “Point Break” on wheels. At the same time, it was never less than entertaining and offered us a surprisingly authentic look into the world of illegal street racing. What astonished me most was how it brought all kinds of races together in pursuit of being the ultimate racing winner. In a way, it made you look at street racing as an equal opportunity killer. Car crashes of all kinds know no prejudice.

With “Fast & Furious,” the series comes back to what Cohen had originally hoped it would be; the continuing soap opera of what’s happening with Dominic Toretto, his sister Mia, his girlfriend Letty, and his friend turned nemesis Brian O’Conner. Of course, this particular sequel would never have happened without the participant of one individual: Vin Diesel. Having opted out of the other sequels (with the exception of a cameo in “Tokyo Drift”), Diesel returns in his star making role as Dom, the character all the fans desperately wanted to catch up with after all this time.

“Fast & Furious” has been described as an intersequel as opposed to just a prequel in that it takes place between the events of “2 Fast 2 Furious” and “Tokyo Drift.” We catch up with Dom and Letty (Michelle Rodriguez, as luscious as ever) in the Dominican Republic as they are up to their old game of hijacking trucks, in this case an oil tanker. The movie gets off to a fast start indeed as the hijacking quickly develops some rather dangerous complications. From there, the movie moves on to Dom coming back to Los Angeles to avenge the death of a very close friend.

When the movie does goes to Los Angeles, we also catch up with Brian O’Conner (Paul Walker), who is now an FBI agent. Brian starts the movie on a chase that is indeed furious as he runs after a fugitive who has information on a major drug dealer he is after. It is a brilliantly executed chase scene on foot that gets us primed for what will happen next. Of course, the real man that Brian is after is the same man that Dom wants revenge on. So these two end up working together again even though they couldn’t trust each other any less.

“Fast & Furious” allows us to also catch up with Dom’s sister Mia (Jordana Brewster) who fell hard for O’Conner before realizing who he really was. She now looks at him, feeling completely betrayed by his lies. But come on, you know these two are still hot and heavy for each other. Of course, it takes them some more time in the movie to realize that.

Is it even worth it to be critical of a movie like this? The plot threatens to be paper thin throughout, and it is there of course to hang a lot of car chases and other action sequences on top of it. There are clichéd characters aplenty, such as Brian’s superior officer who wants results or his ass is grass. There’s also that rival agent who doesn’t trust Brian one bit, and that’s even before Brian drives the guy’s head into the marble wall at the FBI office (ouch!). Then there is dialogue that comes out of every other action movie like this, and some of it will have you rolling your eyes as you sarcastically think of where I heard this line before. But seriously, it’s not like the filmmakers are trying to make “Lawrence of Arabia” here. I mean, you could compare the two to determine which is the better movie, but that is more likely to make you look like a snob rather than an objective film critic.

Truth be told, I just went in to the movie to have a fun time, and that’s exactly what I got. This is a well maintained machine that had much to appreciate. I especially liked the chase scenes which, while not necessarily the best ever, are heads above a lot of the action movies that have been coming out recently. I especially dug the street racing scene where Dom and Brian race two other guys for the chance to become drivers for hire. The only catch is, the streets are not closed off for this one. They are being led by GPS monitors showing them the direction they need to go, but they also have to keep their eyes open for oncoming traffic that is oblivious to the reckless endangerment they are about to unleash on the downtown streets.

There is another cool sequence where a group of cars race across the desert in order to get across the Mexican border. While the chase itself succeeds in defying the laws of logic in several ways, and it does have those CGI moments which takes away from it some, it was still fun and kept you on the edge as Dom and company barrel through these secret caverns with their twists and turns. This leads to an all out furious climax to the movie as the tunnel is utilized again for much more deadly explosive results.

There is also a high volume of tightly and scantily dressed women to be found just like in other movies in this endless franchise. Very appealing to the eye I found out. Still, it continues to astound me just how lax the MPAA is with movies like these. There is a lot of skin left uncovered for a PG-13 movie and then some (and then some more on top of that). Very stimulating it was! Sorry to sound like Yoda, but I am not going to lie about the eye candy on display here.

As for the movie’s faults, the female characters keep getting short shrift compared to the men in this franchise. Seeing Michelle Rodriguez here made me forget about all her troubles with the law she has had, and of how the media paid WAY too much attention to them. She is a hottie to put it mildly, and you totally believe that she would actually go out of her way to do some of the dangerous shit herself. Doesn’t matter if a stunt double did most of her work in the action sequences because you come out of this movie believing that Maria would have done some of this on her own. The fact that she is underused in this movie is almost painful.

The same goes for Jordana Brewster whose character of Mia is left around just hoping and worrying about the two men in her life, Dom and Brian. She’s great to watch in the movie, and she doesn’t even try to hide her character’s anger and bitterness at Brian. Still, to have her just sit there just worrying about these guys instead of doing more than that threatens to make her role in this movie a waste. She gives the movie the heart it needs though, and she strengthens the connection between both Dom and Brian. The end of the movie seems to imply that if there is another sequel, she will have more to do in it. It would have been great if that were the case here though.

It’s great to see Vin Diesel back in this movie though. Lord knows that it wouldn’t be worth doing another one of these flicks if he were not participating. Over the last few years, Vin had become envisioned by the media as an overexposed actor with a very over inflated ego, and many of the movies released after his first time playing Dom tanked at the box office. In retrospect, this seems largely unfair to him, and studios are more to blame for trying to sell him as the next big action star way too quickly. While Vin is not quite a great actor, there is no denying his charismatic presence onscreen. Some of his strongest moments in the movie come when he doesn’t even say a word. After all these years, he still has the physical confidence that spells out to the audience:

“Let’s not mess with me today.”

Paul Walker is, well, Paul Walker. Every performance I have seen him give is basically the same one, so his rep in Hollywood as a pretty face for a below average actor is unfortunately justified. To be fair though, he is more believable in this role this time around than he was in the original. That rough facial hair he has helps illustrate the years he has been on the job, and of a history that he still has to absolve himself of his part in. Paul is still not much of an actor, but he is welcome to prove me wrong on that in the future.

John Ortiz is also on board as the nefarious Campos. It’s a role very similar to the one he played in Michael Mann’s movie version of “Miami Vice,” except in this one he has a lot less hair.

The director behind the wheel of “Fast & Furious” is Justin Lin, and he also helmed the previous entry in the series, “Tokyo Drift.” Justin is best known, however, for his brilliant 2003 debut feature of “Better Luck Tomorrow.” With that movie, he managed to transcend the stereotypes many people have of Asian Americans. Ever since that movie though, Justin has gone Hollywood with wussy studio movies like “Annapolis” with James Franco. Many still want Justin to come back and make another movie like his first feature, but Justin does a good job here delivering a good old fashioned B movie that delivers the goods. His skills as a filmmaker were never in doubt, and I expect great things from him in the future. Hopefully, the inevitable box office success this movie will get will give him the power to make movies along the lines of “Better Luck Tomorrow.”

Justin also brings along his “Tokyo Drift” composer Brian Tyler for the ride, and he gives the movie the kick ass score it deserves. A combination of thunderous guitar rifts and orchestral movements, the propulsive score he comes up with more than matches the horsepower these cars in the movie have.

Looking back, “Fast & Furious” was a lot of fun, and that’s all a movie like this needs to be. It may not stand the test of time, but it is great to see these characters (especially Dominic Toretto) back on the screen. It was worth it to see these people once again live a quarter mile at a time.

I also want to add that the movie does have that disclaimer, and the first sentence says “the car and motorcycle sequences depicted in this film are dangerous.” DUH!!!

*** out of ****