DVD Reviews

Fast Five – Blu-ray Review

By Patrick Luce Oct 2, 2011, 16:48 GMT

Get ready for "five times the action, excitement and fun" (Shawn Edwards, FOX-TV) as Vin Diesel and Paul Walker lead a reunion of all-stars from every chapter of the explosive franchise built on speed. Fugitive Dom Toretto (Diesel) partners with former cop Brian O\'Conner (Walker) on the opposite side of the law in exotic Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. There they are hunted by a high-powered U.S. strike force led by ...more

Although it strays from the original franchise formula, Fast Five is a great thrill ride from start to finish filled with high-octane stunts and plenty of action.

The film’s plot may be totally unbelievable, but who cares. This movie is simply fun to watch.

Directed by Justin Lin (who handled directing chores on Fast & Furious and The Fast and the Furious: Tokyo Drift) from a screenplay by Chris Morgan (who wrote the two previous films in the franchise), the movie’s strength comes in the assembling of actors from the previous chapters including Vin Diesel, Paul Walker, Jordana Brewster, Tyrese Gibson, Ludacris, Matt Schulze, Gal Gadot, Don Omar, Tego Calderon, and Sung Kang. They are joined by Dwayne Johnson, Elsa Pataky, and Joaquim de Almeida - as the film's history spouting bad guy.

The movie opens up with Brian O'Conner (Walker) and Mia Toretto (Brewster) breaking Dominic Toretto (Diesel) from prison in true franchise style with a high speed jailbreak and a massive car crash. Heading south of the border to Rio de Janeiro and short on funds, Brian and Mia hook up with Vince (Schulze, returning to the franchise for the first time since the original movie) who has plans for a big score.

The two quickly sign on and the film jumps to its next big action sequence – a car-jacking on board a speeding train. This is a killer sequence that reunites Brian and Mia with Dom and sets up the larger plot of the film.

They are double-crossed by their partners and Dom and Brian are forced to escape plummeting off a bridge. During the robbery, they also get framed for the murder of several DEA agents – which puts them at the top of the “Most Wanted” list and on the radar of DSS agent Luke Hobbs (Johnson) and his team.

Hobbs is the go-to-guy for capturing criminals and his team is the best at what they do. They arrive in Rio and quickly inform the local authorities that they only need translator Elena Neves (Pataky) and for the cops to stay out of the way.

If that wasn’t bad enough, Dom and pals discover that one of the cars had a secret chip in it that belongs to local drug kingpin Hernan Reyes (de Almeida) and that it contains the location of all his cash houses. Reyes wants his chip back and puts a bounty on Dom, Brian and Mia.

With their options quickly running out, the three amigos call on some friends from the franchise for one final heist with the prize being large enough to set them up for life in a country with no extradition.

The film then shifts into high gear (or actually a higher gear than it was already moving) as our team of street racers show off their criminal skills and plan to steal all of the local drug kingpin’s money. The fact that he moves all that money into a vault located in the center of Rio’s police station poses a problem, but nothing our mechanics can’t overcome.

They also have to figure out a way to get Hobbs and his team from slapping the cuffs on them before they can take the score down.

Like I said, the plot isn’t very believable, but who cares. This is a fun movie that keeps the throttle down from start to finish. There are a few character development scenes (such as Mia being pregnant with Brian’s kid and a back story about Neves’ dead husband), but the film never spends too much time on silly things like character.

Lin knows how to handle this franchise and knows what its fans want to see – a throw down between Johnson (who wears shirts three sizes to small and has been eating all his Wheaties) and Diesel (bulkier than in the first film but still looking like he could bench-press a Volkswagen) and a car chase where two of the cars are dragging a massive vault.

The director keeps the film’s pace cranking along so the audience doesn’t have time to notice how bad some of the dialog is (did Johnson improv some of his lines or did someone actually write the nonsense coming out of his mouth) or how unlikely it is that our good guy thieves could actually pull this job off.

The ensemble cast works great together with the franchise’s actors all making the most of their screen time. They all know their roles and some of the biggest entertainment comes from the minor characters (I got big laughs out of the performances and banter between Calderon and Omar).

The Blu-ray (which includes the theatrical cut and an unrated version of the film) comes loaded with bonus material including deleted scenes, a gag reel, commentary, and several features - including "Dom's Journey," "Brian O'Conner: From Fed to Con," and "Enter Federal Agent Hobbs".

Fast Five is a break from the normal Fast and Furious formula, but it is one of the most entertaining chapters in the franchise. For me, it was better than the original film thanks to its massive scope and stunt work. Another film in the franchise is in the works, and I hope they keep this style speeding forward. Be sure to watch the credits for a little hint of what might be coming next!