Vin Diesel stars as Dominic Toretto, part street racer, part caretaker, part criminal. He leads a band of street racers but is also a father figure to most of them. They run street races for cash in the middle of downtown, and all points lead to the king of all street racing, Race Wars. Enter Paul Walker as Brian, an undercover cop trying to find out who has been hijacking trucks. The hijackers use the same MO each time, three souped up Hondas get together on the highway and hijack an unsuspecting trucker. Could the hijackers be lead by Johnny Tran (Rick Yune)? What about Edwin (Ja Rule)? Or could it be Dom? Brian is quickly falling for Dom's sister Mia (Jordana Brewster). Could his feelings for her and her crew cloud his judgment as a cop?

There were (are) three movies I was looking forward to this summer. Tomb Raider, Planet of the Apes and The Fast and the Furious. So far Tomb Raider didn't live up to expectations, but I always had a thing for this movie, and it paid off. I didn't expect much of a plot (how many of you could tell what the plot was from the commercials?) and I didn't get much of one. What I did get was a lot of action, some fantastic car racing sequences, and just an overall cool factor.

First off I think Vin Diesel is easily the coolest actor on the planet. He is destined for greatness and he's going about it the right way. Take small roles in big films (Saving Private Ryan), and take large roles in smaller films (Boiler Room, Pitch Black). And now with The Fast and the Furious looking to become a huge hit, he's going to work his way into the mainstream and start making all the movies that the older action stars can no longer make. I expect big things from Diesel in the future. His role in this movie follows the right chart. He's the main focus on the film, and plays a character with his heart in the right place, even if his actions don't fall within the bounds of the law. The rest of the cast was also very good, with Paul Walker as the young undercover officer caught between the law and his feelings for the people he's investigating. Jordana Brewster as Dom's little sister Mia, and Michelle Rodriguez as Letty, Dom's girlfriend.

The real draw to the film is obviously the car racing scenes. Now as the movie says, all the stunts are done by professionals, so kids, please don't try this at home. I don't know the first thing about cars, I just know what looks good, and all the cars in this movie looked good. I had no idea you could soup up a Jetta to do those things. The racing fit the title of a movie to a T. It was all very fast, with the help of NOS (nitrous oxide) boosts to push the car to another level. And it was all furious, with the energy and heart the racers put into their cars and the race. The street racing scenes were shot in such a way that you could feel the heart pounding excitement of the racers while sitting in the theater.

Yes, the plot was a little lame, and the love story seemed forced, and there were extra story lines that didn't seem to fit correctly, but I can give all that a pass on this movie. I know I complain about the same things in other films, but for some reason in this movie it didn't really matter. This movie is about action and excitement and nothing else matters. Adding to the pulse-pounding was a killer soundtrack. Featuring tracks by Ja Rule, R. Kelly, and Limp Bizkit featuring DMX, Redman and Method Man all the music fit right in with the action on the screen.

So overall if you're looking for some good pulse-pounding action, and some cool cars and one cool actor, check out The Fast and the Furious. And oh yeah, don't leave once the credits start. After all the credits have run, there is a minute of extra footage that may be leading towards a possible sequel.

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