This is a bad, bad movie. Skip it.

A gritty and gratifying cheap thrill, Rob Cohen's high-octane hot-car meller is a true rarity these days, a really good exploitationer, the sort of thing that would rule at drive-ins if they still existed.

While few of the paper-thin characters register long enough to make much of an impression, Diesel carries the movie with his unsettling mix of Zen-like tranquillity and barely controlled rage.

The Fast and the Furious may be derivative, and it’s honestly difficult to see the future billion-dollar franchise lurking inside, but at the same time it is cleanly made, unpretentious, and competently staged.