But what about the story? Forget about the story. You get car chases and explosions. There's no room for a story. All you need to know is that there's an undercover detective (Paul Walker) investigating a recent string of highway truck robberies. He gets caught up with the street racing scene once he falls in with Dominic Toretto (Vin Diesel) and his crew. Naturally, there's the obligatory love interest; this time it's Toretto's sister (the beautiful Jordana Brewster). The detective wavers and in the end, he needs to decide: is he a cop, or is is part of the group?

Yep, you've seen it before and you'll see it again. It's not Shakespeare, but who cares? It's got car chases and explosions.

The film opens with a bang and zips right along all the way through an amazing stunt sequence at the end. The coolest thing about the stunts: they're real. When a character jumps from the trunk of a turbo-charged Honda Civic onto the hood of a moving semi, that's a real person there. No computer generated garbage here. There's an actual person flying through the air. This lends an amazing amount of credibility to the entire film and all of its action scenes. Sure, some of the racing sequences are souped up with CGI, but in those instances, it's all about showing speed.

The Fast and the Furious seems fast, but in a way, it isn't. One ten second car race actually takes over two minutes of screen time. But thanks to director Rob Cohen's innovative style, you really see what it's like to be driving over 140 miles an hour. With my speakers turned up loud, I actually got a giddy buzz of excitement pouring through me and I couldn't help but smile.

Even the "slow" parts of the film (you know, the exposition scenes that get in the way of the car chases and explosions) are fast. In the commentary, Cohen points out that he intentionally shot every scene as if it were a race. The camera is always moving. This style certainly gives even the dialog heavy scenes an accelerated pace.

The Fast and the Furious isn't a scholarly piece by a long shot. It's just plain cool. Sure, you can laugh at the plot or the credibility of the characters, but with the images speeding by at such a fast clip, it's hard to raise these issues. All you can do is sit back and enjoy the ride.

THE VIDEO
Universal presents The Fast and the Furious in 2.35:1 anamorphic widescreen. It appears to be the same transfer as the original DVD release, and that's fine by me. It's flawless. I couldn't find a single thing to complain about. Detail is sharp, colors are bright and vibrant, skin tone is perfect, and there is real depth to the entire picture. Needless to say, there are no halo effects or mosquito noise to speak of. It'd be difficult to find a better transfer to use when demonstrating the awesome powers of your home theater.

THE AUDIO
Just like the video presentation, the audio tracks are amazing; they're demo quality for sure. Both Dolby Digital 5.1 and DTS 5.1 tracks are offered again (and the new French and Spanish 5.1 tracks). Although the DTS track is slightly more crisp and possibly offers a bit deeper low end, anyone would be hard pressed to prove these differences. Both tracks use the rears exceptionally well and both offer great range throughout all sound fields. Explosions, squealing tires, dialog, and the music all come across perfectly. Use this disc (or the previous version if you have it) to impress friends.

Also note that there are Spanish and French subtitles, and the film is closed captioned for the hearing impaired.

THE BONUS FEATURES
Don't let the packaging fool you. This edition of The Fast and the Furious does not offer the same features and is definitely not as in-depth as its predecessor. Instead, what you get are some fluff pieces used to market the sequel, 2 Fast and 2 Furious. The best special feature on this disc is the director's commentary (yes, it's the same one found on the first DVD). Very screen specific, Cohen is entertaining as he describes the reality of the whole street car racing culture as well as some behind-the-camera information about the shooting of the film. Although it would've been nice to have another voice to interact with Cohen's, he does a nice job keeping up with the pace of the film without any dead air time.

While listening to the commentary, you can also choose to watch the film with the enhanced viewing option turned on. What you get are alternate angle shots, deleted scenes, and other behind-the-scene goodies. Unfortunately, you get them in small, obtrusive boxes overlayed on the movie, which has now become non-anamorphic to accommodate the enhanced viewing box. Although some of the segments are pulled right out of the first DVD version, the presentation is lacking anything solid. I would've rather seen these segments offered on their own with sound and commentary devoted strictly to that featurette.

Next up is the cool Tricking Out a Hot Import Car. Hosted by Playmate of the Year Darlene Curtis, this 19 minute featurette shows how technical advisor Craig Lieberman transformed an import car into a souped up racing machine. I must admit, after all the alterations, this car looks bad ass and it's interesting to see how much time and money can be thrown at an already fast car. But that doesn't mean I'd watch this featurette again.

So if those are the "quality" extras, here's the marketing fluff: a 5-minute "turbo-charged" prelude to the sequel that's anything but turbo charged or enthralling; a 5-minute sneak peak at the sequel which is pretty much just a commercial; and in the "what is this doing here?" category, two brief commercials for ABC/ESPN sports.

You'll also find cast and crew info, and trailers for both Fast and Furious films. And, as is the new trend these days, you get a free pass to the new film.

For you computer experts out there, this disc also offers up some decent DVD-ROM goodies. You'll find behind-the-scenes text information, a jukebox with six audio tracks from the film, a simple Street Racer game that's nothing more than a temporary diversion, and downloadables such as screensavers, wallpaper, and photos.

FINAL THOUGHTS
The folks over at Universal must not understand the phrase "tricked out" or they wouldn't have used it to label this flimsy piece of marketing. If you already have the first issue of The Fast and the Furious on DVD, there's no need to look into this version. And if you're looking to buy the film on DVD for the first time, do yourself a favor and get the original. It's much more in-depth and offers the same quality video and audio as this edition. Even with a free pass to the sequel, this one fails to compete.