Synopsis:
Brian O’Conner, Dom Toretto and the whole ’family’ are reunited in Rio de Janeiro to pull one last heist in order to gain their freedom. But this time they also face hard-nosed federal agent Luke Hobbs who is tasked with hunting down Brain and Dom no matter the cost.
There seems to be some confusion over the actual name of this film. I’ve seen posters calling it ‘Fast Five’, ‘Fast And Furious: Rio Heist’ and ‘The Fast And The Furious 5’. No matter the name though, the film itself is pretty good. You don’t need to have seen the other 4 films to know what’s going on or work out who the characters are. Actually I’ve seen the other four films and there were characters in the Fast Five ‘family’ that I didn’t recognize from the previous films. All the characters are introduced for franchise newbies, and their back stories are nicely summised for anyone who hasn’t seen the other films in the sequence but not to the extent that anyone who has seen the other four films will get bored while everything is elucidated.
Yes, it is clichéd, yes, it is quite predictable, but you get what you would expect from a Fast and Furious film. There are plenty of muscles for the girls, muscle cars for the boys and enough car chases and action sequences to keep everybody happy. The plot is not going to lose anybody, but is clever enough to keep the viewer interested right to the end. The Rock also adds an extra dimension ensuring two iconic modern action heroes show the rest exactly how to deliver bad puns.
If this had been as bad as the last instalment, then the franchise could now be dead in the water. However, this instalment is certainly a return to form and will make plenty of money at the box office which should mean a sixth film will be produced making the franchise a very rare breed; an action film franchise that make it to number 6 and possibly beyond? It’s easy to think of horror franchises that made it that far (Friday the 13th, Saw etc), but this landmark is exceptional for an actioner. In terms of box office, Fast Five actually plays quite a pivotal role this year. It is the first main-stream big budgeter of the year and heralds the advent of blockbuster season. With films such as Thor, Pirates of The Caribbean 4, Captain America, X-Men:First Class (to name just a few) all to come in the next few months, a dismal box office for Fast Five would have continued this years downward trend in box office takings. But along with Rio, Fast Five ensures the start of blockbuster season will be very encouraging indeed.
Lastly, make sure you don't leave before the credits have finished!
