Review of Fast Five (2011) by Cameron J — 23 Nov 2013

Safe to say, "Fast Five" is easily the best of the "Fast and the Furious" films so far. It's utterly ridiculous and a lot of the plot points are a bit too contrived and convenient, but it's firing on every other cylinder, with the best cast, jokes, and set pieces of the entire series.

Vin Diesel, Paul Walker and Jordana Brewster are back yet again from the previous film, and are joined by many franchise favorites such as Tyrese Gibson, Ludacris, Sung Kang, Gal Gadot and Matt Schulze, all of whom get their best character development thus far, and all of whom have great scenes in their own right and are used to the fullest of their potential. As an added bonus, The Rock and Elsa Patakay join the team (well, initially they're not on the same side) as federal agents who help Walker, Diesel and the gang pull off a heist in exchange for capturing some corrupt cops and businessmen in Brazil. Also in the heist team (I kind of have a love/hate relationships with "Expendables"-like movies where a "team" is "necessary" just so that a great cast can be brought together) are Puerto Rican singer Tego Calderón and Don Omar, who, despite being criticized in Brazil for not being Brazilian yet playing Brazilians, are quite hilarious here, but mainly because we have no idea what they're saying the whole time.

"Fast Five" is the best film in the series on a technical level, with excellent cinematography, editing and music, as well as multiple superb car chases which put the rest of the series to shame. The final chase sequence, which for spoiler reasons I won't reveal, is easily the best in the series, and outside of this franchise is up there with the best action set-pieces of recent memory, from the tower scene in "Mission: Impossible - Ghost Protocol" to the train sequence in "Spider-Man 2".

This is the movie where the "Fast & The Furious" franchise realized its full potential, finding the perfect mix of story and action and drama and comedy. Its cast have now fully found their footing, each having great rapport with one another, and The Rock added yet more charisma to the series. It's worth watching the four preceding films, however inferior, just for the payoff of watching such an well-fitted cast reunite for their fastest ride yet.