Fast Five (2011) Review

Here's a good, fun action picture that doesn't have to be in 3D for me to enjoy it.

As the fifth film in the Fast and The Furious series Fast Five (try saying that five times fast) reunites Vin Deisel and Paul Walker in the roles they played ten years earlier. Former cop Brian O'Conner (Walker) partners with ex-con Dom Toretto (Diesel) on the opposite side of the law. Since Brian and Mia Toretto (Jordana 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 (and big bicepped) federal agent Luke Hobbs (Dwayne 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.

Basically when you have a picture like this all you are supposed to do is sit down and suspend your disbelief for an hour and a half. That's what I did with this film. I knew what I was watching when I got my ticket. It was a relentless loud cars, pretty girls and massive destruction (I think this movie may take the record away from Blues Brothers for most car-crashes in a single film). The story could've used some thought as well as the dialogue but I'm willing to let that go since this movie is meant to be nothing more than Saturday afternoon entertainment.

It seems as though there was a competition between Dwayne Johnson and Vin Diesel as to who could get the bigger muscles. Although both of them are already known for their physical strength Johnson won that competion.

The film amounts to a video-game with the stunt players and drivers doing things that are incredibly impossible. The stunts in the film are fantastic. The stunt team (which comprises of about thirty people) are sure to get SAG nominations for their work.

At one point in the film two members of the team want to keep people out of a bathroom. What do they do? They blow up the pipes and send used food all over the bathroom. It's not funny. In fact if I hadn't been enjoying the picture at that point I'd have walked out. Additionally I don't find sexual statements made about women in films funny or tasteful. It's a knee-jerk reaction I have. Every critic has one.

★★★