Fast & Furious 5 (2011) starring Vin Diesel, Paul Walker, Jordana Brewster, Tyrese Gibson, Ludacris, Matt Schulze, Sung Kang, Gal Gadot, Tego Calderon, Don Omar, Joaquim de Almeida, Dwayne Johnson, Elsa Pataky directed by Justin Lin Movie Review

Fast & Furious 5 (2011)   4/54/54/54/54/5


Vin Diesel in Fast & Furious 5 (2011)

Toretto's Eight

Having received a 25 year to life sentence Dom (Vin Diesel - XXX) is onboard a prison bus heading for his destiny when Brian (Paul Walker - Eight Below) and Mia (Jordana Brewster - The Faculty) help him escape with their car driving ability causing the bus to crash. Now all 3 are on the run and after heading to Rio they are united with Vince (Matt Schulze) who has a simple car job for them to do involving cars on a train. But simple is never really simple and Dom, Brian and Mia find themselves not only having to deal with a dangerous businessman who wants them dead but also federal agent Luke Hobbs (Dwayne Johnson) a top man detailed with their capture when they find themselves accused of the murder of 3 DEA agents.

In all honesty I was disappointed by "Fast & Furious" the fourth movie in the ever expanding franchise as I felt the storyline was not only uninteresting but played second fiddle to the action which reached a new level of over the top. Now one of those things is still true about "Fast Five" aka "Fast & Furious 5" as it still features some unbelievably outrageous action scenes. But at least this time it has a storyline which is interesting and more of a driving force than in the previous movie.

Jordana Brewster in Fast & Furious 5 (2011)

Now as for the storyline well to be honest we are not talking complex, you don't expect it, but there is enough going on to keep things interesting. Yes stripped down what we have our three car amigos Dom, Brian and Mia on the run from not only a bad guy but also a tough DEA agent which isn't overly special but it is enough. It's enough because of the conflicted point of view over who the bad guys are for the DEA agent who goes after are three favourites but begins to realise the situation is more complicated than it first seems. Oh and there is more to it than just that as you know Dom, Brian and Mia are not just going to spend the entire movie on the run but I will leave that for you to discover.

But in truth "Fast Five" ends up really about two things the action and the actors and it hits home runs on both. Now yes the action is ridiculously over the top from a bus flipping over several times to cars being stolen off a moving train in spectacular style but it works. Maybe its because the action is sharper this time around but it certainly feels a huge improvement on the previous movie delivering exciting and spectacular.

But we also have the actors and not only do we have Paul Walker, Vin Diesel and Jordana Brewster but we also have some other familiar faces including Ludacris and Tyrese Gibson. Maybe it is because we have some old faces that again it seems better but there is a good vibe going on between all the actors; they look like they are having fun, certainly delivering the action and the humour whilst looking damn hot. Yes that sounds shallow but a big part of the franchise has been sexy and this time the sexy is smoking.

What this all boils down to is that "Fast Five" works and is a huge improvement on the previous movie as it not only delivers the action and the sexy characters but also gives us a storyline whilst introducing us to some new characters.


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