“To some people loyalty is more important.” ~ Brian O’Conner

Dominic Toretto is a bad guy. He, and with his crew Letty (Michelle Rodriguez), Leon, (Johnny Strong) and Vince (Matt Schulze), are using their high-speed cars to hijack trucks filled with expensive, electronic equipment. Also in his family are his sister Mia (Jordana Brewster) and Jessie (Chad Lindberg). The authorities believe the robberies were being committed by Johnny Tren (Rick Yune) and his gang, but they could be wrong. To find the criminals, the FBI send in an undercover officer to infiltrate Toretto’s gang.

What better way to infiltrate the gang than to join in the high-stakes game of dangerous street-racing with Nitrous Oxide? The problem is that Brian finds himself torn between doing his job and falling in love with Mia and a growing attachment to Dom. Does he keep his job or does he blow his cover by helping the very gang he swore to capture? The Fast and the Furious set off a successful franchise of hot cars, hot women and high-octane street racing.

Great movie moments:

Paul Walker and Vin Diesel, the list of great movie moments could almost end right here.

The importance of family is a strong message throughout the film. It almost makes you forget that Toretto is actually a bad guy.
Chad Lindberg gives a fine performance as a mechanic suffering from attention deficit disorder.

This was the first film in the Fast and Furious franchise, which showed great promise for the upcoming movies.

The chemistry between Walker and Brewster is absolutely believable and very sweet (yes, sweet in an action movie. I love the tuna scene).

We learn a lot about Dom’s background in this first movie, “I live my life a quarter-mile at a time.” It’s rare that we get to hear a character’s background built into the movie and being told by the character himself. I thought that was an excellent touch.

<Not so great movie moments:

Michelle Rodriguez is a great supporting character, but the accent or halting speech patterns she used in this movie were somewhat distracting and off-putting. The words “dumb, biker chick” comes to mind.

It would have been great to hear more about how Jessie joined the group, instead of just implying that he was a stray.

Overall, I give The Fast and Furious 4 out of 5 stars as one of the best in the franchise before they introduced Dwayne Johnson as Hobbs and his lines became too corny to be serious.

Details:

Director: Rob Chen (also directed xXx, Dragonheart, Alex Cross, Daylight, Stealth and The Boy Next Door)

Rated: PG-13 (No real blood, but a lot of strong violence and suggestive situations. Who rates these movies?)

Run time: 1 hr 46 minutes

This movie is part of my own personal action-movie collection. I was not compensated for this review.