Review of Fast Five (2011) by Christopher A — 23 May 2013

Fast Five does what many probably would have thought was unthinkable after three less than satisfying sequels. They actually made a good and fun action movie that surpasses the original film. Never has the Fast and Furious franchise been this fun.

Seeing that the car racing aspect of the franchise was becoming tiring (pun intended), Fast and Furious decides to go into overdrive and turn into a heist movie along the lines of Mission: Impossible (there's even a funny one-liner with that but with a different "I" word). Not only that, it's also an assembly of many of the cast members from the previous four movies.

The movie starts right where Fast and Furious left off. Dominic Toretto (Vin Diesel) is being driven to a prison to serve 25 years to life. But he is saved by Brian O'Conner (Paul Walker) and his sister, Mia (Jordana Brewster). After busting him out, they are on the run from the authorities. This brings them to Rio, where they catch up with Vincent (Matt Schulze from the original film). Their goal in Rio is to steal a giant safe holding $100 million worth of cash from a drug kingpin (Joaquim de Almedia). But due to the security, they need a team to do this. So they call in these people: Roman Pearce (Tyrese Gibson), Han Seoul-Oh (Sung Kang), Tej Parker (Chris "Ludacris" Bridges), Gisele Yashar (Gal Gadot), and Leo and Santos (Tego Calderon and Don Omar). However, they are being hunted down by Agent Luke Hobbs (Dwayne Johnson), who seeks to put Dom and the others behind bars.

Just like with the previous outings, there isn't that much of a story. However, some of the characters are given more depth than in any of the other movies. This particularly goes for the trio of Dom, Brian and Mia. The theme of family is brought up among the two with the announcement of Mia's pregnancy. There is also a nice touching scene between Paul and Dom talking about their fathers and Brian wondering whether or not he would make a good father. The comedy in this movie is also quite funny, particularly from Tyrese Gibson, Chris Bridges and the two singers.

The action sequences are at their best in this movie. However, there is only one car race in this movie. The rest of the action comes from performing the heist. The highlights of the movie are a fistfight between Dom and Hobbs and the final chase scene. However, this movie breaks a lot of the laws of psychics. The previous movies required some suspense of disbelief, but Fast Five is where they defy physics the most. But of course, that's not what people will be thinking about when they see these action sequences. But the filmmakers make sure to let the audiences know to not try to perform any of these kind of stunts.

The acting is at it's best in this movie. Vin Diesel is more like he was in the first movie. Paul Walker gives a better performance than his previous outings. Jordana Brewster gets a little more to do, but mostly sits in the safe spot not involved with the stunts due to the character's pregnancy. Tyrese Gibson, Chris Bridges, Matt Schulze and Sung Kang also return. The two former make some really good comedic dialogue, Vince is given more depth, and Sung Kang still has his charm as the Korean character.

There are five newcomers. Dwayne Johnson as Luke Hobbs is the standout. His character is really bad*** and his scenes with Vin Diesel represent some of the best moments in the movie. Gal Gadot's character was rather one-dimensional, though, and mostly serves as the somewhat tough woman that Han becomes attracted to. Else Pataky does a decent job as the cop who helps out Hobbs. The two singers banter a lot and the chemistry between them is funny.

Fast Five is the much needed adrenaline rush that we've been needing out of the franchise over the course of a decade. Before this movie, only the original movie was that enjoyable. Hopefully any sequels that come after this will follow its formula instead of the other four. Fast Five is what a summer action movie should be.