Fast and Furious MPAA Rating: PG-13 Entertainment: +2 Content: -3

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Vin Diesel, Paul Walker, Michelle Rodriguez, Jordana Brewster, John Ortiz, Laz Alonso. Action/thriller. Written by Chris Morgan. Directed by Justin Lin.

FILM SYNOPSIS: Vin Diesel and Paul Walker reteam for the ultimate chapter of the franchise built on speed - Fast and Furious. Heading back to the streets where it all began, they rejoin Michelle Rodriguez and Jordana Brewster to race exotic cars across Los Angeles and through the Mexican desert in the new high-octane action-thriller.

When a crime brings them back to L.A., fugitive ex-con Dom Toretto (Diesel) reignites his feud with agent Brian O’Conner (Walker). But as they are forced to confront a shared enemy, Dom and Brian must give in to an uncertain new trust if they hope to outmaneuver him.

PREVIEW REVIEW: I have to tell you, I got caught up in it. And to be honest, I can’t quite figure out why. My appreciation certainly didn’t stem from the acting. The cast obviously spent lots of time in the gym, but I’d be surprised to learn any of the performers exercised Stanislavski’s Method. The storyline is pedestrian at best. And while there are a few lessons, they’re mostly conflicting. For example, though the characters are motivated by a-man-has-to-do-what-a-man-has-to-do philosophy, or as Mr. Diesel says, “Nothing matters unless you have a code,” he’s been a crook most of his life and there’s nothing to suggest that he’ll drive the straight and narrow (and the speed limit) by film’s end. In one scene, the lead lady insists Vin’s character say grace before a meal, yet, she’s the one who profanes God’s name in another sequence. And where the villain is seeking forgiveness in a church near the ending, the priest gives a blessing only after accepting known stolen money.

Ms. Rodriguez and Ms. Brewster are fun to look at, but they serve no further purpose. As to the exploitation of the female form, every time street racers race, there’s a gaggle of tightly outfitted young ladies in attendance who apparently don’t shop at Macy’s. After the race, the winners celebrate at some clandestine club where the same tightly outfitted young ladies perch in hallways kissing each other like refuges from a women’s prison movie. It was kind of bizarre, all these female extras from Central Casting mulling around like lesbian zombies for no other purpose than to be, for lack of a more appropriate word, titillating.

I suspect the only motivation for attending fast and furious auto movies is for ladies to look at hunks in T-shirts and guys to fantasize about owning muscle cars and maybe the hope that they’ll one day find that clandestine club with all the zombie lesbians. It’s a film mainly fueled on testosterone and defined by the hand-held camera, but credit must be given to those in charge of stunts and the executing of dangerous car chases. Those scenes really are – I can’t believe I’m going to say this – COOL. Proves I’m a guy. I grabbed the armrests right along with everyone else during the races/shootouts. Despite the escalating price of muscle cars and the exorbitant fuel costs, most of us males see ourselves as skilled motorists able to compete at NASCAR given the chance. Ladies, we guys just like seeing cars go fast. It’s a shared appreciation, a guy thing, like our love for the Three Stooges.

DVD Alternative: Bullitt. Steve McQueen as detective who goes by his own rules. Chair-grabbing action, awesome score and the best car chase ever filmed. (Caution: contains one obscenity, but I caught no misuse of God’s name. Also it has some violence, but nothing like today’s standards, or lack of.)

Preview Reviewer: Phil Boatwright
Distributor: Universal