Review of Fast Five (2011) by Jamie R — 29 Jul 2013

The award for most unexpected turn around for a failing series goes to 'Fast Five'. If anyone had ever lost faith in the series, this is the one to redeem itself. For one, it ties together all chapters, so at last having to sit through 3 and 4 paid off, so you know what's going on, and also, the chases look better than ever.

'Fast Five' stars all the main characters from the past four films, Brian (Paul Walker), Mia (Jordana Brewster), Dom (Vin Diesel), Roman (Tyrese "looks the exact same as he did 10 years ago" Gibson), Tej (Chris "Ludacris" Bridges), that mean guy from the first, the guy who died in "Tokyo Drift", the Russian girl from the fourth one who no one remembers, and The Rock, as in Dwayne Johnson as Luke Hobbs, the only original character in this movie.

The plot (like all previous films) isn't too in-depth, but feels more focused than past installments. Dom gets broken out of prison and then there's 20 minutes of happy family time before they decide to steal $100 million from an evil drug dealer guy. What happens next is an hour and 40 minutes of non-stop action, cars, and humour. But never-the-less, I felt that all that time (the movie's 2h 10min) did not need to be spent all on the heist. It did drag at points, that much is true, but it's not like the 4th one where the movie's not even 2 hours and feels too long.

'Fast Five' is everything you'd want from a high-octane action movie, plus, what sequel this late in a series can be better than the first. 'The Phantom Menace' wasn't, 'Kingdom of the Crystal Skull' wasn't, and 'Batman & Robin' for SURE wasn't. So for a 4th sequel in a franchise, I'd say it's pretty awesome.