Fast Five

Fast Five

Okay, sometimes you don’t have to intellectualize every film you watch.  It doesn’t have to be a great piece of art for one to enjoy it.  “Fast Five” is the fifth installment of the “The Fast and The Furious” film franchise.  All snobbery and pretentions aside (as well as a belief in logic and the laws of physics), this film is a fun, fast-paced action packed roller coaster that features manly men doing manly things in a manly way, with hot chicks thrown in for aesthetics. 

                The core team of Dominic Torretto (Vin Diesel), Brian O’Conner (Paul Walker), and Mia Torretto (the incomparable Jordana Brewster) reunites in only the third film of the series to feature them.  As fans recall, the last one ended with breaking Dom out of a prison transport and all of them going on the lam.  The film opens with Brian and Mia living a life in hiding in Rio de Janeiro.  Impoverished, they are talked into one last car heist by local friends.  All the while, wishing Dominic were there to help (using his name with almost religious reverence).  Of course, when he arrives, he seems to act like he is the Savior.

                The car heist is everything you would hope for and beyond.  It defies all credulous possibilities of physics and human endurance, but it’s a lot of fun.  You keep thinking that there has to be an easier way to steal cars from a train. Really, do you have to hijack sports cars from a high speed moving train?  I would think taking the cars after the train stopped would be an easier plan.   Not as much fun I guess.  Of course, you can’t end the movie in the first fifteen minutes, so this heist sets up the betrayal and revenge motive for the rest of the movie and the stakes get raised even further as Dom and crew become public enemy number one. 

                The person they ripped off was the local Brazilian crime lord, Reyes (played by the always villainous, Joaquim De Almeida) and of course he wants their heads. Reyes also has the local authorities in his pocket and utilizes them to their fullest.  Dom and Brian decide they can only do one thing (as one does in every action movie); “We need to assemble a team”.  I will say that the director, Justin Lin does a great job assembling a fun group of characters (of course all with a super hero style skill set that defines them).  The group includes such action favorites as Tyrese Gibson, Chris ‘Ludacris’ Bridges (trying to phase out his rap name to become a serious actor), Sung Kang, and a few impossibly attractive women (still not sure what they brought to the team other than eye candy).  Throw in two bickering Brazilians for some comic relief and you have your super team.  They decide to strike back at the crime lord by stealing all of his $100 million dollars (which he keeps conveniently in cash in vaults).  We’re all set, right? Wrong!

                Let’s add another major action star who hasn’t had a hit in a few years.  Super Federal Agent Hobbs, played by Dwayne ‘The Rock’ Johnson (who’s had better luck shedding his stage name than Ludacris).  Hobbs and his team are the super feds they call in to go after the biggest and the baddest.  The Rock plays the character over the top and everyone loves it.  He believes in ‘Old Testament’ style of law enforcement and the team is visibly shaken (except Dominic of course), by the mere mention of his name.

                The roller coaster starts and never stops with both the good and bad guys after the Fast Five team.  The machismo is spread on thick and the manly feats are impossible.  Buckle up and enjoy the ride.  The film tries to portray the lead up to the meeting of Vin Diesel and The Rock as a meeting of Titians.  Not sure I felt that way, but the film tried to tell us that was the way we should feel. Of course, when you have two leading male action star’s egos in action films, they have to fight.  And the fight can only lead to a standstill in which each man gains a begrudging respect for the other even though they communicate only through macho insults.  Admittedly, I would be the first to say ‘Yes Sir’ to Vin Diesel if I ever met him in public, however; I must say that The Rock’s physical presence and stature dwarfed Diesel’s and I never bought the fighting to a standstill.  The Rock truly has a super hero’s presence where Diesel reminds one of a bar room bouncer.

                I won't insult the action premise of this film by trying to describe the plot anymore than I already have.  I have to say that I thoroughly enjoyed the film despite (or maybe because of) all the eye-rolling over every action cliché being recycled, yet expanded upon.  I would call it a guilty pleasure, but I don’t feel guilty.  It’s just a fun film.

I rate this film *** 3 stars