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"New model. Original parts" says the tagline for the latest Fast & Furious film, which reunites the four stars from the first film. Unfortunately, it's more a case of same model, old parts. The cinematic equivalent of a new paint job doesn't cover up the fact that underneath the flashy exterior this new film is a little rusty. After the fun B-movie thrills of the first three films, this latest instalment, while it has its good moments, feels like it's running on the fumes of former glories.

The film starts thrillingly enough with an over the top petrol tanker heist on a perilous desert road in the Dominican Republic. The heist gang includes former LA street racer Dominic Toretto (Diesel), his girlfriend Letty (Rodriguez), and Han (Kang, last seen in The Fast and the Furious: Tokyo Drift, 2006). But the law is soon onto them and an unexpected development sees Dom return to LA in order to take revenge on a criminal. Meanwhile, FBI agent Brian O'Conner (Walker) is after the same criminal and investigating a drug smuggling operation, and it's not long before Dom and Brian cross paths.

While both men are after the same person (albeit for different reasons), they also have unfinished business that dates back to the events of The Fast and the Furious (2001). Dom's sister Mia (Brewster) is also back in the picture, and the return of Brian (who she dated in the first film) and Dom adds to the personal and professional complications. The only way for Dom and Brian to find the criminal and learn more about his smuggling business is to infiltrate his organisation as drivers, and to do that they have to first take part in a street race to prove their worth.

Like the recent Transporter 3 (2008), this new film tries to add depth to the proceedings, but it doesn't work too well. The Fast & Furious films were always just enjoyably lightweight B-movies and so the earnest soul-searching of Diesel and Walker doesn't quite convince. There's got to be some drama in a film like this, of course (so that an audience can, at the very least, emotionally invest in the characters and story), but there also needs to be a measure of wit and inventiveness, as well a light, but surefooted touch (to pull off the more ludicrous elements), but all these elements are barely in evidence here.

While Diesel and Walker get a lot of screen time and generate some dramatic sparks throughout, Rodriguez and Brewster don't feature much, and the supporting women are mostly included to simply flash flesh and lock lips. The other Fast & Furious films featured plenty of sexy women (it's one of the amusing trademarks of the film series), but they were smarter, livelier and made more of an impression than any of the women here (for example, none of the women at the car races are as memorable as Devon Aoki's character in 2 Fast 2 Furious, 2003).

It's admirable that Fast & Furious doesn't just feature race after race and tries to take things in a new direction, but because a big reason for the popularity of the other Fast & Furious films was due to the car scenes, some audience members may come away from this new film disappointed. And while the story tries to up the dramatic stakes for the main characters, some of the early plot developments are sloppily executed and it's not until the first race through the streets of LA that the film seems to find its feet run more smoothly.

Disappointingly, the CGI assisted car chases hold little in the way of thrills. CGI has been used successfully in the Fast & Furious films before (for example, in the amusingly OTT warp speed-like visuals that accompanied the burst of Nitrous Oxide in the race scenes), but this film leans too heavily on obvious CGI to augment the action scenes (such as the opening truck heist), which robs much of the action of any believability (the chases don't need to be 100 per cent plausible, but they have to be convincing at least).

There are a few laughs to be had, as well as some fun ideas that could have been used better (the annoying Sat Nav that talks to Brian as he's trying to race is quite amusing, but too brief), and the car chases, while featuring too much CGI and edited to within an inch of their life, are occasionally thrilling. In particular, the first street race in LA is a highlight, with the cars racing through streets full of traffic (the public roads are not closed off for this race), and Brian and Dom competing to try and win the race so that they can get closer to the criminal they're after.

However, as occasionally enjoyable and thrilling as this new film is, it feels a little tired and worn out, and the action, humour and drama don't quite gel. The recent Death Race (2008) was an automotive action film that managed to combine chases, laughs and melodrama far more successfully: it may have been an OTT movie, but it was also witty and engaging. While Fast & Furious is undeniably fun in places, but its pleasures are fleeting, and viewers may instead be more inclined to put one of the previous Fast & Furious films in their DVD player and take it for a spin.