Rating: 3.5 Pulses

Rated PG-13

“New model. Original parts.” No article adjectives.

Rarely does a Hollywood sequel come along with a clever slogan on its teaser posters and actually live up to it.

The original Fast and the Furious promised simplicity and you got simplicity that was actually engaging. This is why it has always been among my favorite guilty pleasures. If you hated the first film . . . well, you’ll probably hate the newest entry, Fast & Furious, almost as much. However, if you’re in the same camp as me, then you’re likely to find that this fourth entry easily trumps the previous two sequels (despite the fact that Tyrese doesn’t pop in with a witty one-liner, ala 2 Fast 2 Furious).

After TFATF: Tokyo Drift (void of any major stars) saw more than a 50 percent decline in ticket sales from the previous sequel, many thought the F&F franchise was dead. From that perspective, Fast & Furious is a movie that was made for two reasons: to revive the careers of Vin Diesel & Paul Walker and to squeeze a little more cash out of the surprise-hit franchise.

Did Universal and director Justin Lin succeed? I doubt this will suddenly spark major changes in the acting techniques and script selections of Diesel and Walker, but the crew has delivered a successful return to the well.

The setup is simple and familiar: a crime involving a band of drug runners is the catalyst that brings Dom Toretto (Diesel), still on the run, back to Los Angeles. Without giving away too much, Dom is reunited with Brian O’Conner (Walker), now working with the FBI, and the two have to settle their grudge and once again team up and take down a common enemy. Michelle Rodriguez and Jordana Brewster also reprise their roles from the original.

Fast & Furious is redundant in that it only loses points for containing elements that actually make it worth watching. The plot is expectedly similar to the first but with just enough changes and, dare I say, better acting to still keep it fresh. These movies aren’t made to have a new plot each time out, but to deliver a solid, dumb-down-the-brain action fix, and in that area it definitely meets its goal. The chases have evolved in intensity over the four films and despite a couple of needless CGI moments, they are definitely among the franchise’s best. Walker’s delivery is a bit less over-the-top and Vin Diesel is . . . still Vin Diesel.

Take the best elements of the F&F films, add them up, subtract “The” and what you get is the best flick of its kind, second only to the original 2001 model, held up now only by its “vintage” status.