Fast Five Review

  The Fast and Furious franchise isn’t exactly known for its impeccable quality, deep plots and multi-leveled characters. What it is known for is high-octane car chases, obviously impossible (but very fun to watch) stunts, and lots of big sweaty guys beating the crap out of each other while other big sweaty guys shoot the crap out of each other while even more big sweaty guys race the crap out of each other. Although Fast Five doesn’t completely do away with this tried and true formula, it does add a few notable new layers to it that make the film a very enjoyable one.


Fast Five follows the story of street-racer Dominic Toretto, his sister Mia, and his friend Brian O’Conner. After the three reunite following Dominic’s escape from custody, they find themselves framed for three murders they did not commit on a routine train robbery gone awry. Soon, they’re being chased all over Rio de Janeiro by a hardened agency bounty hunter and his dangerous weaponized team while simultaneously attempting to assemble a heist dream team out of stars of past Fast and Furious films in order to try and strike it rich and buy their way to freedom. The plot is (obviously) pretty standard action stuff, but it manages to set itself apart with some really memorable set-pieces that culminate in a crazy street race through Rio headed by two sports cars dragging behind them a multi-ton safe. Moments like these are commonplace in Five, which never seems to run out of insane, adrenaline-fueled ideas. 

As mentioned above, the blatantly obvious role of this film in the franchise is to press the gear shift in a brand new direction. Instead of relying completely on mindless races and cool camerawork to get the job done as previous entries did, Five takes on the role of a sort of over-the-top Ocean’s Eleven. Its purpose is to give the weathered franchise new life by completely switching its genre, and all though it isn’t the sleek, silent heist film we’re used to, that’s not necessarily a bad thing. Instead, it’s a new breed of heist film that showcases big guns over silent tactics, and it ends up being very fun to watch. The story’s various bits and pieces come together nicely near the end of the film, and the characters actually take on more shades of gray than the normal good-guy/bad-guy outline, which is surprising for such a thought-to-be shallow franchise.

That’s not to say that Fast Five doesn’t come without its bumps in the road. On more than one occasion, the action scenes become so hectic that viewers will undoubtedly struggle to keep track of who’s who and who’s doing what for what reason, which is a problem for a film that’s trying to be a clever, fast-paced heist flick. Five also sometimes takes itself a bit too seriously. It’s no problem for an action film to act suave and cool, but it’s a bit difficult to keep a straight face when a goateed Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson clad in a chest-tight shirt looks straight into the camera and tells another character to, “Stay the **** out of my way.” 

Although Fast Five isn’t the perfect blend of genres, it manages to give an absurd amount of life to a struggling franchise (at least from a critical standpoint), and when the inevitable Fast and Furious 6 comes around, hopefully we’ll be treated to a film that’s no longer the transition between two genres for a franchise, but a smart, suave, smashing, heist film that isn’t afraid to exceed the normal bounds of the genre and keeps all of its elements under control. Oh, and Dwayne, you’re great, but seriously, lose the beard. 

Final Score:
7.0/10
"Good"

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