Movie Review: ‘Fast Five’

Fast Five is, without a doubt, the most intense action movie I’ve ever seen. There are a few sequences that are pumped so full of adrenaline that you almost break out into a cold sweat watching them (that is, if you’re not tempted to look away because it’s almost too much to handle).

Fast Five takes place in Rio de Janeiro, after Mia (Jordana Brewster) and Brian (Paul Walker) break out Dom (Vin Diesel) from a prison bus. In order to gain their freedom and escape their outlaw status, they agree to do one last job, which ends up being more of a heist to steal $100 million from Rio’s most notorious drug lord Reyes (Joaquim de Almeida).

Dom recruits friends and favorites from previous Fast and Furious installments to help, including Han (Sung Kang), Tej (Chris “Ludacris” Bridges), Roman (Tyrese Gibson), and Gisele (Gal Gadot). Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson joins the cast as special agent Hobbs, whose mission is to find Dom, Mia, and Brian and bring them back to justice in the United States.

While there’s less focus on cars and racing in Fast Five compared with the previous films, the plotline is actually somewhat more nuanced, mixing a classic heist movie with the more traditional elements of the “Fast” series (such as roaring cars, high speed, beautiful women, and lots of testosterone). It’s almost like the offspring of Ocean’s 11 and Talladega Nights, but set in one of the most photogenic places in the world.

The favelas of Rio play an important character in a heart-pounding scene at the beginning of the film, and the streets of Rio are torn up in one of the most unbelievable, almost shocking chase scenes in the history of film.

Director of the last two installments in this successful franchise, Justin Lin does an incredible job of orchestrating each dangerously hairy action scene, while also helping to create sufficiently engaging characters who provide more than beautiful faces and gorgeous bodies.

You will absolutely walk out of the theater high on adrenaline and wanting more (which will come in 2013, as the producers are already starting to write material for the 6th and probably not last installment).

Clearly not for the fan of the slow-burn, character dramas, Fast Five will please its target audience and likely win some new fans to the series.


[etRating value=“ 3.5”]