Director: Justin Lin, US, 12A, 104min
Stars: Lucas Black, Bow Wow, Nathalie Kelley
On general release
Hopes that The Fast and the Furious franchise might have gained a few IQ points on its transfer to the Far East prove utterly unfounded; this latest instalment of car porn is every bit as vacuous as the first two and every bit as mindlessly entertaining.
Black steps into Paul Walker’s shoes as a petrolhead rebel sent to live in Japan after a race gone wrong, and the film devolves into a series of montages and race scenes linked by a rice-paper thin plot. The “drift” races — in which drivers spin at high speed around hairpin turns with absolute precision — are impressively shot and technically stunning, but the rest is pure adolescent wish- fulfilment, with the camera lingering lovingly on the acres of perfectly tuned chrome machinery and the nubile schoolgirls (or possibly strippers, it’s not clear) who seem to like nothing better than to spend their evenings amid the smell of burnt rubber. It’s undeniably pacy right up to the last minute pre-credit treat for franchise fans, but about as substantial and nourishing as a car exhaust.
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HELEN O’HARA