Ed's Review Dot Com

Dark Side Productions, Original Film

Vin Diesel, Paul Walker, Jordana Brewster, Dwayne Johnson, Tyrese Gibson, Ludacris, Matt Schulze, Sung Kang, Gal Gadot, Elsa Pataky

Fast Five is a short way of saying Fast and Furious Five as this is the 5th in the Fast and Furious series. Domenic Toretto (Vin Diesel) was arrested and on the way to prison when former cop Brian O’Conner (Paul Walker) and Dom’s sister Mia (Jordana Brewster) break him out of the prison bus. The US is too hot, so they start down through South America until they finally land in Rio de Janeiro. Mia announces that she is pregnant and they all decide it’s time to get out of the outlaw business and go straight. But in order to pull that off, they will need a lot of money, and there’s no better way to get it than to rob the biggest drug lord in Rio, But if that isn’t hard enough, Federal Agent Luke Hobbs (Dwayne Johnson) is after both Dom and Brian to put them away for good, and Hobbs never fails to get his man. They put together the whole gang and go out after the cash, but this one may be too much, even for these guys.

I have never been a fan of the Fast and Furious series. I saw a couple of the early ones and was underwhelmed. Loud mufflers and fancy cars never was my thing, and I just was not overly impressed by the whole thing. But I went to see this film because it is really big, and is killing this weekend at the box office. I decided to give it a try, and I wasn’t disappointed. There is a lot of story in this film, and I must say I did not see some of the twists coming. There were some ridiculous scenes, including one where they gang is stealing cars from a train that were seized by the Drug Enforcement team. That was so impossible it was insane, but to enjoy these films you have to suspend belief.

I had a discussion the other day about the advantage of the old days when spectacular stunts were real stunts, and the things they did were really dangerous. Now with CGI they can jump a car over a skyscraper and no one bats an eye. But in Fast Five they made the stunts really look like they were real stunts, even though they were impossible, and it’s easy to get into the action and just enjoy the film for what it is, just an awesome string of robberies and car chases.

For fans of this type of film, you’re going to love it. I enjoyed it and found it a relaxing suspension of belief and an enjoyable adventure. I also enjoyed the characters that have obviously been well developed over the years. I watched it in IMAX and the vision and excitement was larger than life. It was worth the money and time spent watching it, and if you’re a fan of the series, what are you waiting for?

EdG – EdsReview Dot Com – A Movie Review Blog