Fast Five (Universal Pictures)
Like A Rocket
Fast Five is the fourth sequel to The Fast and the Furious and it shows that the series is not fall9ing behind in any way. Not in energy, not in excitement, not in thrills! Vin Diesel, Paul Walker and Jordana Brewster are back and they are joined by The Rock. This combination makes for a movie that comes out of the gate like a rocket and stays on warp speed all the way through the film.
At the start of the film Dom Toretto (Diesel) has been sentenced to prison. As he is being transported there Brian OConnor (Walker) comes up with a plan to break him loose. When this is successfully done the trio meet up in Rio. There they plan a huge heist of money belonging to criminal kingpin Reyes (Joaquim De Almeida).
This plan requires some additional muscle so a crew is assembled which includes Roman (Tyrese Gibson) and Tej (Ludacris). All of this has to be done while evading Reyes gang as well as the police led by Hobbs (The Rock). There are a lot of little adventures leading up to the heist which is a huge event.
The actors are good in their roles but in this film it isnt the actors or the characters that are important, it is the cars and the stunt action. You have scenes in this movie that will leave you gasping, plus you wonder how so much property and cars were damaged without anybody being seriously hurt. It is amazing and the spectacle of it all will have you on the edge of your seat.
Diesel is perfectly cast as Dom, and he and Walker have a strong chemistry together that makes the heart of the story their relationship. They battle each other and then together they battle everyone else. Brewster is appealing as Walkers love interest, while The Rock provides a worthy opponent for Diesel. Ludacris and Gibson leave their mark on the film with their fast paced repartee.
The film is rated PG-13 for profanity and violence.
Fast Five is an exhilarating ride from start to finish. You can barely catch your breath between the action packed scenes. The photography in this movie is wonderful and the stunt actors are amazing. It seems everyone connected to this film brought his/her peak performance.
Most sequels to movies are a matter of diminishing returns but not this one. It seems to get better and better with each new adventure under The Fast and Furious banner. And make sure you sit through the credits so that you can see the setup for the next edition. It looks like it too will be a wild ride.
I scored Fast Five a revved up 7 out of 10.
