Fast & Furious 5
Starring: Vin Diesel, Paul Walker, Jordana Brewster, Dwayne Johnson, Tyrese Gibson
Director: Justin Lin
Rating: 3.5/5
Who would have thought when The Fast And The Furious was released back in 2001 that this movie would kick of a very successful five movie franchise that would last a decade.
Well that is exactly what has happened as Vin Diesel and Paul Walker are back in Fast Five - with Justin Lin returning to direct a third movie in the series.
Since Brian and Mia Toretto (Brewster) broke Dom out of custody, they’ve blown across many borders to elude authorities.
Now backed into a corner in Rio de Janeiro, they must pull one last job in order to gain their freedom.
As they assemble their elite team of top racers, the unlikely allies know their only shot of getting out for good means confronting the corrupt businessman who wants them dead. But he’s not the only one on their tail.
Hard-nosed federal agent Luke Hobbs (Johnson) never misses his target. When he is assigned to track down Dom and Brian, he and his strike team launch an all-out assault to capture them.
But as his men tear through Brazil, Hobbs learns he can’t separate the good guys from the bad. Now, he must rely on his instincts to corner his prey - before someone else runs them down first.
We all know what we are going to get when we watch the latest instalment of this franchise - fast plot, fast cars, great stunts and heart pounding action; and that is exactly what we get fifth time around.
Except director Justin Lin has pushed the boat out even further this time around everything is just bigger and boulder - resulting in Fast Five being an all out action ride.
The great thing about this movie is it never takes itself too seriously - Lin and the cast know what this franchise is about delivering the action, the speed as well as the cars perfectly.
Sure there is some attempt of bringing a more human story to the film and develop some of the character’s relationships further but that never becomes the focus of Fast Five.
And it’s not all about the cars this time around as Lin has turned Fast Five more into a heist movie - part way through you would be forgiven for thinking that you were watching Ocean’s Eleven - until the director throws in a jaw dropping car chase at the end.
Despite being the fifth movie in the series this franchise has not run out of gas and it’s not scraping the bottom of the barrel it’s an exciting, adrenaline fuelled ride that proved some great twists and thrilling action.
It’s great to see Vin Diesel and Paul Walker returning to the roles of Dom and Brian and they are joined this time round by Dwayne Johnson - who is perfectly cast as harass Hobbs; a federal agent who has been sent to track them down.
Ok so the end is perhaps a little bit predictable but that doesn’t mean that getting there wasn’t a great ride.
Fast Five is a great addition to the franchise and I wouldn’t rule out further movies if this finds success at the box office.
Fast Five is out on DVD and Blu-Ray now.
FemaleFirst Helen Earnshaw
Tagged in The Fast And The Furious