June 23, 2001, updated February 5, 2003 -- There haven't been too many movies made about drag racing, especially the illegal kind, which makes "The Fast and the Furious" an oddity in this day of cloned, recycled movies. Too bad it isn't a more compelling film. The story is weak, but the film is otherwise well-made.

The story is about an undercover cop, Brian Spilner (played by Paul Walker of "The Skulls" sent to infiltrate the underground world of street racing. He finds a world much like street gangs with Hispanic, Asian, black and white groups, like tribes, battling for supremacy. The top dog is Dominic Toretto (Vin Diesel of "Boiler Room"). He and his group have the fastest cars. Walker is trying to find out who has been stealing truck loads of consumer electronic equipment using fast cars and precision driving. Racing gangs are thought to be involved.

Worming his way into Toretto's organization, Spilner (Spilner is just a cover name; his real name is O'Connor) soon becomes interested in Toretto's pretty sister, Mia (Jordana Brewster of "The Faculty"). One of Toretto's gang, Vince (Matt Schulze), hates Spilner and suspects he is a cop, but can't prove it. Another thug in the gang, Leon (Johnny Strong), also dislikes Spilner. Toretto's girlfriend, tough-as-nails Letty (Michelle Rodriguez of "Girlfight"), is also suspicious, but Spilner is befriended by Jesse (Chad Lindberg of "October Sky"), a nervous fellow with a tremendous mechanical aptitude. Spilner also becomes good friends with the leader of the gang, Toretto himself.

Spilner's cover job is working for a local racing equipment store, where he comes into contact with a number of other racers, including the dangerous Johnny Tran (Rick Yune of "Snow Falling on Cedars"), a bitter rival of Toretto's. Spilner is under tremendous pressure to crack the case, because the truckers are becoming scared and they are arming themselves. A violent and tragic confrontation is inevitable. So who is leading the hijackers? Is Spilner getting too close to the enemy for his own good? What will happen in the final showdown?

Although the details are different, the plot is very similar to "Point Break" a movie where an undercover FBI agent infiltrates a group of surfers who are robbing banks. In both stories, the undercover officer becomes friends with the very people he is supposed to be investigating. In both cases, the allure is both sexual and a love of danger, of living on the edge. In this case, Spilner is attracted to the thrill of racing as much as he is to the lovely Mia.

One of the problems with the story is that we have a hard time believing that Spilner is really a cop. He doesn't act or think like one. Toretto is supposed to be a bad guy, but he doesn't act like one. It is true he is an ex-con, but he gives a very plausible explanation for that. In many ways, he seems more like a hero than a bad guy. Vin Diesel was born to be an action hero. Giving him an ambiguous role like this makes it even harder for us to believe he is really such a bad guy. The dramatic tension between Toretto and Spilner that should arise between pursued and pursuer never really materializes. A real cop would have busted Toretto and his gang as soon as he found out what they were up to. Since Spilner is very obviously not a real cop, there is no tough choice to be made. What we get instead is a weak compromise. The movie finally stumbles to an inconclusion as ambiguous as the final big race scene. It seems to be a pointless story without a true conflict or a true resolution.

The film does have some great cinematography, by Ericson Core ("Payback") and special effects, coordinated by Matt Sweeney ("Galaxy Quest"). The film editing, by Peter Honess ("L.A. Confidential") is also very crisp. The sound department does a fine job in the film. The stuntwork is outstanding. Cars dart underneath the trailers of semi trucks on the road. Fantastic, daring, dangerous stuff. One glitzy effect has a sort of view inside the car's engine during races. Flames shoot from the exhaust pipes during the races, where there is a convincing illusion of speed.

The movie does not depict traditional hot rods, however. For one thing, the cars are smaller and far more expensive than traditional street rods. Instead, we have little, tiny miniature-sized cars like a 1995 Mitsubishi Eclipse, a Honda S2000, and a 650 horsepower 1995 Toyota Supra Turbo. Seeing a hulking man like Vin Diesel crawl out of one of these little things is hilarious. Only one car in the movie looked like a traditional hot rod, a 1969 Dodge Charger, and it didn't even have a 426 cubic-inch hemi engine, it had the smaller 383 cubic inch engine (more on this car below). The small cars in the film were, lightweight, and used nitrous oxide and high-tech computer-controlled fuel injection to boost engine performance. They looked a lot more like expensive road racing cars than quarter-mile drag racers. It was a lot more like a rich man's hobby rather than traditional skinned-knuckled, do-it-yourself hot-rodding.

Director Rob Cohen ("Dragonheart") does a good job with the action sequences, even if the dramatic and romantic segments of the story don't work so well. Writers Gary Scott Thompson ("Hollow Man") and David Ayer ("U-571") produce work here that is comparable to their past efforts, which is to say heavy on action and special effects, light on narrative coherence. The actors, especially Diesel, are effective. Oh yeah, and the incessant pounding of that rap music soundtrack (original music by BT, DMX, R. Kelly, Method Man and Redman) didn't help much, either. This film rates a C.

There seems to be a good deal of confusion on the identity of the Dodge Charger in the movie. Some people on the Internet are saying the front grille of the car is from a 1968 charger. Others say the tail lights indicate the car is a 1970 model. The film's official web site calls it a 1969 Charger with a 383 cubic inch engine. You can buy die-cast models of this car which say it is a 1969 model and you can also buy die cast models which call it a 1970 Charger. The reason for the confusion is the car is not from one particular model year, it is really several cars that are each unique composites made from several cars from different years. Once and for all, here is the definitive statement on the Charger, from Eddie Paul, the guy who built all the racing cars for the film: "We used four Chargers that were slammed togeather from different cars (and years). One was for the engine shot only and never used in a runner. One was for the wheel stand with a small 383 engine and effects for the wheel stand gag. One was for the driving shots and was just a clean 383 engine. The last was the Charger for the stunt and had a 383 engine." Thanks for the e-mail, Eddie, and I hope this puts the arguments to rest.

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