Review of Fast Five (2011) by Spyros T — 29 Dec 2012

Not nearly as bad as I was expecting. A bit over-the-top ridiculous but in a fun way, it had me laughing quite a few times. This is easily the best film of the franchise and a breath of fresh air for the series (not a great accomplishment though, if you consider the abominations that followed the original), they clearly tried with this one.

This time instead of it being 105 minutes of close-ups on pimped cars and bikinis (surprisingly, there is only about 3 scenes of this sort in the whole 130 minute running time, and at least one of them ends up serving a purpose in the storyline), it's actually a decent heist flick with a script that actually has some thought put into it.

The action scenes didn't seem like they're straight out of a video game this time, the action choreography and execution was solid and although the acting and dialogue weren't that great (except Paul Walker, who as always is fucking atrocious) there was chemistry between the actors.

Sure, I was laughing every time either Vin Diesel or Dwayne Johnson opened their mouths to say something, but somehow it actually added to the entertainment value. I guess this switch from a straight car porn to heist film fared really well.