A magazine article about real-life car racing gangs for Vibe becomes this fast-paced automotive thriller from director Rob Cohen. Paul Walker stars as Brian Spindler, a youthful FBI agent investigating a series of hijackings by going undercover with a street gang led by charismatic Dominic Toretto (Vin Diesel). Caught up in Toretto's world of gang conflict that is resolved in late-night car races, Spindler starts to sympathize with his chief suspect and falls in love with Toretto's younger sister Mia (Jordana Brewster). In the meantime, Spindler initially suspects the wrong gang of complicity in the crimes he's probing, while Toretto remains involved in a forbidden romance, à la Romeo and Juliet, with his girlfriend Letty (Michelle Rodriguez). The Fast and the Furious co-stars Ted Levine, Rick Yune, and Matt Schulze.

The Lethal Weapon films are at least consistent in one way -- their use of explosions, which almost define the shape of the story. This DVD expands things a little, though the presentation is overall somewhat of a letdown. The film is presented in an anamorphic transfer, maintaining the aspect ratio of 2.35:1. The image is relatively sharp and clear, but suffers from overenthusiasm in the mastering department. There is obvious edge enhancement, video compression, shimmer, and grain, while contrast seems overall a little off -- there are no solid blacks, and the image seems a little too bright throughout. The interior scenes still have good color balance, but exteriors have a sickly yellowish tone. While this may result from the persistent Los Angeles condition, it could easily have been corrected. The sound is good, but not spectacular. Mid-range in the music seems muddy, while the bass in music and effects has a distracting softness to it. Dialogue is relatively well separated. The 5.1 mix is fairly clean, but undistinguished -- there is environmental use of the surrounds, but not much directional effort. The French Dolby 5.1 track sounds muddy and has several rather bad examples in the dubbing department. The DVD includes deleted and extended scenes from the first three movies, along with "Pure Lethal," a rather fluffy documentary covering the four films, again with outtakes and unused scenes. Main cast and producers are covered in a collection of interview snippets, and there are trailers for all four films. The majority of the extras are provided on the second side of the disc, rather than using a dual-layer format (and providing more room for the movie). Director Richard Donner and a pair of co-producers provide a commentary track. Donner is good to listen to, speaking throughout in an even, deep voice. Final verdict -- not so lethal, either in terms of the film or the DVD production.