FAST AND FURIOUS 5

Fast & Furious 5, Fast Five (2011)
Directed by: Justin Lin
Written by: Chris Morgan, Gary Scott Thompson
Starring: Dwayne Johnson, Joaquim de Almeida, Jordana Brewster, Paul Walker, Vin Diesel

Directed By: Justin Lin

Written By: Chris Morgan

Starring: Paul Walker, Vin Diesel, Jordana Brewster, Dwayne Johnson

Running Time: 130 Minutes

Review By Ross Hughes Official HCF Critic

                                         “For fans of the series, its nothing but a massive wet dream!”

Love Fast And Furious, and I mean LOVE THEM?  Well if the answer is yes then strap on in and rev those engines because make no mistake the franchise is back, and its bigger and louder than ever!

No one would imagine that when the first film came out in 2001 that an amazing ten years later we still be talking about these characters.  I mean the original itself was as the makers put it “Point Break In Cars” and no one expected that a film which just had fast cars and hot women would become some a huge franchise!  The series itself has survived its own stars leaving the car park with Vin Diesel skipping parts 2 and 3 (apart from a tiny cameo at the end of Tokyo Drift) while Paul Walker took an all together break from the third, and it can be argued that as their careers have stalled, they now need the Furious franchise more than the series needs them!  But their return for the last sequel made the film a highly charged guilty pleasure and now the two re-unite for a fifth outing that going by reviews, is the best yet!

Its very hard not to like Rio Heist!  Its could well be the best sequel of them all, the budget is huge for this one, everything is thrown to a maximum effect and while at times it borders on the absurd, its a film that will make your craving for action fully satisfied, it really is a storming film, one that I totally loved from start to finish!

 “I am telling you, my arms are bigger than yours!”

Brian O’Conner (Paul Walker) which is hard to forget used to be a cop partners again with ex-con Dominic Toretto (Vin Diesel) on the opposite side of the law, after re-uniting in the last film!  Since Brian and Dominic sister (and now pregnant with Brian’s child) Mia (Jordana Brewster) broke Dominic out of custody, they’ve blown across many borders to elude authorities. Now backed into a corner and with no where to go in Rio De Janeiro, they must pull off one last job (as always) in order to gain their freedom.  As they assemble their elite team of top racers which resemble some of the series stalwarts, both Tyrone Gibson and Chris Bridges return, the unlikely allies know their only shot of getting out for good means confronting Reyes (Joaquim De Almeida) a corrupt businessman who wants them dead.  More added pressure comes from hard-nosed DSS federal agent Luke Hobbs (Dwayne Johnson) an officer well known for getting his man!. When he is assigned to track down Dominic and Brian, he and his strike team launch an all-out assault to capture them. But as his men tear through Brazil, Hobbs must realise that there is a difference between what is bad and good, and soon he himself must rely on his instincts to corner his prey before someone else runs them down first….

With a staggering 130 minute running time, its safe me to say that the film slows down in the middle part!  A good half hour should have been cut from the running time because its hard for a film that relies on high octane to keep such a high speed pace!  The opening half is breathless with some of this year’s best action sequences I have seen!  The first set piece alone will leave you gasping for air, then it follows a mix of  car crashes added with more car crashes to, yes you guessed it, even more car crashes!  You really will be leaving the cinema and checking your hearing because its nothing but a loud bang! Bu then, if you are a die-hard fanatic of the series, then what do you expect!

Director Justin Lin who has now directed three of the films, surely knows what the fan base needs and Fast and Furious 5 is the best looking to date and you can see why Lin is being linked with the next Terminator film!  Diesel and Walker know their roles and walk through the film but the added casting of the Rock is a masterstroke and its wonderful to see both Johnson and Diesel trying to outdo each other in the muscle stakes!  Their confrontation alone is worth the ticket price and

There are flaws, bad guy Reyes is not in the film much to really cause a stir and there is a silly love sub plot that you just wish to go away because all you want is action and more action and to be fair this delivers on every single account!

Is this the best sequel?

Probably without question!  It may lack the street races that fans love, but it more than compensates with outlandish sequences and mouth watering car chases that may not win any awards for high art but will thrill those who are just looking for simple fun!   This has gone down so well in America that there are already plans for a back to back trip of next year with parts 6 and 7.  Maybe that will be a tad too much for a franchise, but make no mistake, if they can continue to churn out quality like this then I’ll be there every opening day on release! 

OVERALL: If The Fast and The Furious was called Point Break In Cars!, Fast & Furious 5 should be called Ocean’s 12 On Wheels, because this riffs on the Clooney films but brings its own unique fun! Its absurd, totally unbelievable, where logic goes completely out of the car window and most of all,  you be ashamed for loving it so much.

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[pt-filmtitle]The Fast and The Furious 5[/pt-filmtitle]