FAST AND FURIOUS

(US, 2009, d. Justin Lim)

That's exactly it.

An initial attempt at a robbery involving road tankers and speeding cars along back roads and cliff paths in Santo Domingo is so pacily edited that it gets the adrenalin going at once whether you approve or not.

We are back at the 2001 The Fast and the Furious, having dropped the 'the's' to remind us that Dom (the smiling/humour and charsima free zone, Vin Diesel) and Brian (the tall Paul Walker) are still on different sides of the law and still rivals when it comes to racing their cars through crowded LA streets, out in the desert or though miles of tunnels under the mountains on the border between Mexico and the US. So, for the fans, there is a lot of driving, lots of souped up engines and manoeuvres and crashes and drivers with capital A, Attitude.

As with the previous films there is a final credits warning on the danger of the stunts, the fact that they were performed by experts and under supervision, and an exhortation not to try them.

There is a criminal sub-plot, as had The Fast and the Furious 2. A drug lord has been responsible for the death of Letty (Michelle Rodriguez). Dom is after revenge. Brian is with an FBI agent tracking him down. Yes, the do infiltrate. Yes, they do become drivers. Yes, there is rivalry. Yes, they combine to 'bring him down'. But, we knew all that – it was just the question of how enjoyable it was to follow it all.

It's undemanding action, expertly crafted – except that Diesel is so impassive we presume there is a lot going on inside. And Walker is bestubbled to give him that subversive FBI personal.

PS. It made over a million dollars worldwide in its first week of release. The release was also of pent-up adrenalin in the credit crunch times.