The Fast & Furious franchise by Universal Pictures has been one of the most successful film series ever turned out by Hollywood. It made a huge star out of Vin Diesel. He’s not a handsome man in the conventional way, but he has an ultra-masculinity that appeals to both men and women. Males of all ages have envied Diesel’s apparent possession of brass accoutrements that help ooze testosterone from every pore. Scientists have pulled their hair trying to figure it out. Give up and don’t try to analyze his appeal. It works.

 In fact, there have been nine films to prove not only Diesel’s appeal, but the entire cast’s as well. However, what seems to appeal the most to audiences around the world, are the cars. It’s the cars. They go like a bat out of hell, they fly through the air, they crash, they go over cliffs, and they flip two or three times and land on their wheels to zoom even faster after the bad guy. The fast cars defy all the rules of science and everything your professor told you about the forces of nature. It must be the Hollywood influence that makes the cars ignore what gravity is supposed to do to a vehicle spinning like a top that miraculously lands on all four wheels. Wow, is it ever exciting! And don’t we wish—as usually teen boys do---we were the ones behind the steering wheel?

F9: The Fast Saga has already been released internationally and is a smash in China, South Korea and even Saudi Arabia, so we don’t have to worry that it won’t make money in the USA. The entire world seems to like mindless, silly entertainment. That includes this reviewer.

The convoluted plot involves a mish mash of themes, most of which are impossible to unthread and make into anything comprehensive. Director Justin Lin (Fast & Furious 6 ) and co-screenwriter Daniel Casey must have spent many nights scratching their heads about what is happening. It doesn’t really matter because the main thing in these films is the action, and Universal Pictures has not scrimped on the budget for all the outrageous stunts and car crashes and explosions that occupy the wonderful big screen. The real stars of this film are the stunt people, and they deserve a huge round of applause for their imagination in dreaming up unimaginable crashes, cars that fly through the air, and  explosions that make the audience want to run screaming from the theater. It is possible that all of their high school and college physics teachers are pulling their hair wondering where they went wrong in their lessons as all the amazing stunts defy every law of dynamics, physics, and mathematics. Fabulous, fabulous, fabulous, if not ridiculous, but the action is probably the most astoundingly jarring ever seen on screen.

Vin Diesel (I love that fake name) and John Cena play brothers whose dad (J.D. Pardo) was a car racer. As young boys, they are played by Finn Cole (as Cena) and Vinnie Bennett (as Diesel). Neither of the boys look anything like their grown selves, and Diesel and Cena would not be related in a million years. There is not any DNA in the entire universe that would link the two as family members. Never mind, it’s a movie so we have to pretend.

The location scenes are all, to use a very Hollywood word, stupendous. Gorgeous scenes were shot in Phuket, Thailand. And no, it is pronounced FOO-ket and not in any other giggly way. Edinburgh, Scotland is used to advantage for some very hair-raising street chases. London crops up as does Tbilisi, Georgia (formerly in Soviet Russia). A jaw-dropping race through the city of Tbilisi featuring an enormous military vehicle that is as flexible as a caterpillar tops any stunt the audience may have seen in other films.

Of course, the film is not Shakespeare, nor is it intended to be. It is pure Hollywood entertainment, with engaging stars such as Diesel, Dame Helen Mirren, Jordana Brewster and Michelle Rodriguez to hold our interest. Tops in the comedy field are Chris “Ludacris” Bridges and Tyrese Gibson who play bumbling members of the team and who keep the laughs coming whenever they appear.

Diesel is a phenomenon. He thinks with his muscles and his chrome-dome head is sometimes used as a battering ram. But I adore him for being unique with testosterone that has been enhanced with jet fuel. He has, as the French say, “Je ne sais quoi.”

(Released by Universal Pictures and rated “PG-13” for sequences of violence, action and language.)