Fast and Furious (**)

FAST AND FURIOUS

"Now you owe me a ten second car." After eight long years of yearning, Fast and Furious resumes the great love story of this decade: Vin Diesel and Paul Walker. They're back, bro, with no mention of Walker's fling with Tyrese back in '04. Once again, street racing with tricked out rides is the cause of and solution to all of life's problems. Fast and Furious, to its credit, is refreshingly multi-racial, with Walker's blank-eyed white cop once again the least interesting character on the screen. The meet cute between Walker and Diesel while Diesel is hanging a suspect from his apartment window is a little anticlimactic, but they make up for it later on with their jokey banter, occasional brawls, balls to the wall racing, and Walker's gently and sweetly running his hand along Diesel's arm during the big face off with the bad guys. Walker is repeatedly questioned why he let Diesel get away at the end of The Fast and the Furious, but he substitutes words like "respect"and "admire" for the word he dares not utter. It's easy to see what Walker sees in Diesel; Vin is once again the snarling badass of few words and incorruptible, rock hard machismo. When Diesel is shot in the movie, the bullet merely passes through him and apologizes on the way out of his shoulder. Also back are Jordanna Brewster and Michelle Rodriguez, the latter disposed of like Jason Bourne's girlfriend so Diesel can go on a noble quest of vengeance. Brewster is included simply because she was in the original and has nothing to do until the very end except act sweet but angry towards Walker and sweet but supportive towards Diesel. The plot, whatever it was, is merely there to justify Walker and Diesel's muscle car courtship.