First off, have I ever seen a "Fast and Furious" film before? No. Have I ever shown great interest in wanting to see a "Fast and Furious" film? Not necessarily. Why did "Fast Five" spark my interest? Simple..."The Rock" is in it. So all in all is it really fair that I'm reviewing the fifth entry in a franchise that I am not familiar with? Some may say so BUT that is besides the point, a good movie is a good movie. And movies are now needed to be more than just average as the summer movie season is arriving and only the best movies will be successful. Does "Fast Five" do well in ushering in the next summer of major blockbusters? Let's find out!
Dom Toretto (Vin Diesel) is back in jail for the first two minutes of the film. Then his partner, ex-FBI agent Brian O'Conner (Paul Walker) and sister, Mia (Jordana Brewster) just break him out again with their super fast cars. Now on the run in Rio, Brazil, Dom and his gang seek to carry out one last job. The job involving stealing over $100 million from a corrupt businessman so that they can split up the money between themselves in order to run away and never have to perform another crime again (another words, to get "out" of the business).
But Toretto and his team will have to fight more than just the mob of Rio. DSS agent Luke Hobbs (Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson) and his team have tracked down Toretto and will risk anything to bring him and his crew of con-men and women to justice be it the easy way or the much more likely hard way.
What surprised me and what made me really appreciate "Fast Five" was that I was able to come into the franchise very late and not at all be confused with the plot or the characters. I understood everything that was going on and while there may have been one tiny little reference to an event in the past films, it was not crucial to the film and thus did not hinder my understanding of the plot. "Fast Five" allows anyone, fan or new-comer, to watch a film that is all its own, not really building on story lines from the series's predecessors.
Now what is the true reason for going to see "Fast Five"? What draws the audience? It is the high speed car chases, crazy stunts, and intense shoot-outs/fights of course! And believe me, "Fast Five" delivers. Right from the very beginning, the action starts off with a bang and there will be plenty of unbelievable action to fill the appetite of the action cravers. The major beat down between the Rock and Vin Diesel is what I was anticipating the most...it was insane. It is almost hard to believe that the walls did not collapse around them from all the pillars and walls that they smashed and broke through.
But the action, as much of it as there is, does not over shadow the plot. The film maintains a strong focus on story telling and not just mindless action, something that many action sequels (especially when it comes to the fifth in a franchise) simply do not care about. This is why most action sequels suck and why "Fast Five" moves up on the quality scale.
I went in to "Fast Five" wanting action, stunts, and more action and that's just what I got. The other stuff like the strong plot and the welcoming nature for newcomers of the franchise were things I was not expecting but got and that is why I enjoyed "Fast Five" so much. I give it three stars out of four. And by the way..."Thor" is being relased Friday, get ready be struck with awe (yes, pun intended).
"Fast Five" has a running time of 130 minutes and is rated PG-13 for intense sequences of violence and action, sexual content, and language.
