The latest in the seemingly-never ending Fast And Furious franchise, now on its fifth outing, surprisingly the films seem to be extending their welcome, not further out-growing it.
After breaking Dominic Toretto (diesel) out of a prison transfer bus in the opening scene, Brian O’Connor and Mia Toretto reform their threesome to team up on a job for old friend Vince in Rio. With DEA agents and a secret agenda on board the train they’re hired to heist, however, things quickly go south.
Attracting far too much heat for the Ford GT40 they take to one side, Dominic, Brian and Mia soon get to the bottom of the mystery. Attacked by local drug-chief Herman Reyes (Almeida), they only just get away before deciding to get square for the attempt on their heads, and the plan for redemption? One almighty heist on Reyes’ fortune, spanning right across the city.
With Reyes owning much of the police force, our loveable rogues face quite the task to get away clean, with incoming federal agent Luke Hobbs (Johnson) yet another bump in the road. But if there’s anyone who can lead a mission to victory, it would be Dominic Toretto.
Perhaps unsurprisingly the dialogue is horrendously cheesy, the plot was telegraphed from the first minute and it was certainly nothing new in the genre but Fast And Furious 5 is still a lot of fun, you just have to laugh with the often ridiculous narrative, and not hold it against what is a very easy going film.
Making the most of the chemistry they’ve built up over the franchise up to now, the central characters will quickly draw you in, while director Justin Lin injects just the right amount of pace. Dwayne Johnson is great too as the cop hunting the gang down down, imbuing all the power and ludicrously big muscles a thunderous DSS agent could need.
Heavy on action and car chases as you’d expected, each directed with confidence if not originality, Fast And Furious 5 is far, far from a classic, it’s not even the best in the series, but it’ll spin two hours by with ease and some excitement along the way, even as absurd and silly as it may be.