Action Adventure [Universal 100th Anniversary] [3 Discs]

Editorial Reviews

If not for its pulse-pounding last act, The Fast and the Furious might be little more than a cheeky, intentionally corny street-racing movie in the vein of '50s and '60s exploitation flicks. But what a finale: Director Rob Cohen lines up not one but three chase scenes, one after another, with only the basest of dialogue and a modicum of exposition needed to set up the fun. Cohen is not above using digital effects to enhance a scene -- even throwing in a point-of-view shot of gasoline being injected into a turbocharger -- but they never get in the way of the unadulterated, metal-on-asphalt stunts. Better yet, he wisely knows when to turn down the score and let the grunts and growls of the machines (and their respective owners) heighten the tension of a particular sequence. For their part, the actors do their best to duck and dodge the script's worst lines, which are so simplistic they occasionally threaten to break into song. The normally irrepressible Vin Diesel seems somewhat damped down here, but even still, he has no problem wresting the picture away from its ostensible lead, Paul Walker. Chosen apparently for his resemblance to Steve McQueen (he even gets his very own Ali MacGraw-like love interest, Jordana Brewster), Walker has the most venerable of exploitationer roles, that of the outsider investigating a "dangerous" subculture. And also in keeping with exploitationer tradition, he's the least interesting thing in the movie. ~ Michael Hastings, Rovi A tight, gripping spy thriller that's nonetheless a pleasant surprise given a notoriously difficult production that included an incomplete script, usually an omen of impending artistic doom. Not to disparage his abilities in any way -- a pair of showdowns with rival assassins are high-octane show stoppers -- but so much of what works about director Doug Liman's make-or-break studio debut is in the absolutely superb, even brilliant, casting. Matt Damon is perfect in a role that requires him to be simultaneously smart but baffled, competent but confused, lethal but little-boy-lost. By comparison, Richard Chamberlain in the late '80s TV-movie version of the same novel plays like a stone carving. Franka Potente is the first solid, realistic female foil to hit this genre in a long, long time, leaving one to wonder what exactly the James Bond producers will do with characters like Pussy Galore and Honey Ryder now that they've been trumped by the modern, feminist approach of Bourne and the spoofing jabs of the Austin Powers series. Praise must also be heaped on the blink-and-you'll-miss-it performance of Clive Owen as a rival assassin, whose chilling performance suddenly twists into eerie poignancy in a Van Gogh-inspired death scene that occurs in a wheat field bursting with crows, an unexpectedly quiet high point of the film. The always reliably efficient Chris Cooper, who never seems to use a movement, facial expression, or vocal inflection without deliberate care, seems at first an odd choice for a villain, until it becomes clear that his character's villainy is hopelessly intertwined with his very bureaucratic flunkeyism. Envisioned by Universal as a franchise-launcher with at least two follow-ups to come, The Bourne Identity is a solid kick-start to a series that will, hopefully, remain grounded in the sort of reality that makes the film a slick, enjoyable thriller. ~ Karl Williams, Rovi More an uneasy amalgam of Raiders of the Lost Ark (1981) and Terminator 2 (1991) than an homage to Boris Karloff and Karl Freund, this big-budget, end-of-the-century Mummy nonetheless delivers the genre's requisite thrills.The film plods somewhat in its opening act, but as soon as writer- director Stephen Sommers and company establish their threadbare premise, the action is swift and unrelenting. And you can forget the bandages with this Mummy: Sommers forgoes atmosphere and suspense in favor of CGI special effects and gross-out horror. Better yet, hero Brendan Fraser brings a bright, self-mocking element to the somewhat ludicrous proceedings, making the gory shocks all the more surprising. The film's Achilles' heel is an undercurrent of mean-spiritedness towards Middle Easterners and women; the latter is evident in the central character of Evelyn (Rachel Weisz), a bumbling archaeologist whose ineptitude is used to further the plot and add ostensible comic relief. ~ Michael Hastings, Rovi