Dominic (Vin Diesel) and his crew are back and on the run from the authorities (in the form of Dwayne Johnson). Stuck in Rio de Janeiro with no money there is only one way to earn something and this is by doing a car related heist. Unfortunately not everything goes as planned and the crew make a plan which will allow them to escape the authorities and also get rid of one of Rio’s biggest drug bosses.
The movie immediately starts as it should, with a spectacular escape and doesn’t turn down the action until the credits start rolling. Almost all characters of the previous Fast and Furious movies return and all do their part to execute their plan.
Although the Fast and Furious movies initially were all about street racing, it’s something that Fast Five shakes off. It’s clear that they are now heist movies, comparable to something like Ocean’s Eleven. This becomes very clear when the crew need a faster car and they meet up with local racers to obtain the fastest car possible. As you see this you’d expect that the next scene will be an exciting race where they win the car, but that just does not happen, you only see the result.
Fast Five is still about fast cars, but they have become more of a tool instead of the subject. The movie does feature one race in which the rivalry between Dominic (Vin Diesel) and Brian (Paul Walker) from the first movie is referenced. Besides action the movie also has quite a lot of humor. Tyrese Gibson is responsible for most of the laughs.
Dwayne Johnson convinces in his role as federal agent. Despite this being an action movie, he acts with an intensity which makes him stand out from the rest of the cast. As action fan you will be treated to a fight between Johnson and Diesel, two of the biggest action stars at the moment. It’s something unique and you couldn’t imagine something like this happening in the days of Stallone and Schwarzenegger.
With Fast Five Vin Diesel convinces us that this series isn’t dead yet. With an entertaining story, very spectacular action scenes, lots of humor and nice story twists I’m looking forward to the next one.
Score: 8
I went and saw this with two friends who are both mechanics – I think they were more interested in the cars than what was going on with the story! I’m not a big fan of the film though – humour wasn’t as much to my taste and I found it a bit predictable. Even if I didn’t like it, I can see why others would though – great review!
I can imagine petrol heads being interested in all the cars. Of course it’s also a big reason why it has become such a popular franchise.
The thing is that with these sort of movies I know what I can expect in terms of story (probably not very strong and to a point predictable) and action (lots of it). It delivered the action and the story wasn’t that bad either. It delivered an enjoyable evening, which is what I was looking for.
I am quite looking forward to getting my hands on this when I can. I like the Fast franchise. Especially Tokyo Drift.
I have heard that the Dwayne and Vin fight scene is pretty awesome too!!
Thanks for reviewing this matey
Hope you’ll enjoy it as well. Personally Tokyo Drift is the one I like the least as I thought it’s story wasn’t that interesting. It did have enough action, but the story bits made me enjoy that one a little less.
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