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FAST FIVE |
Picking up where 2009’s Fast and Furious (Part 4) left off, former cop Brian O’Conner (Walker) and girlfriend Mia (Brewster) bust Dominic (Diesel) out of a prison transport van and head to Rio de Janeiro. With ridiculously beefed-up federal agent Hobbs (Johnson) hot on their trail, they take a job to steal three hot cars from a moving train, a cool sequence that ends badly for Dom and Brian (not to mention some cops).
They also run afoul of Reyes, the city’s biggest drug lord, a guy who expresses his feelings by shooting rocket-propelled grenades at them. As opposed to high-tail it to another continent, they decide to steal $100 million of Reyes’ money (from a police station. Don’t ask). To do so, they assemble a dream team, calling in F&F favorites including Tej (Bridges), Roman (Gibson), Han (Kang) and Gisele (Gadot) for “one last job.”
It all comes down to the inevitable sweaty mano-a-mano smackdown between Diesel and Johnson, which is so unintentionally homoerotic, one might be tempted to scream, “Get a room!”
The action is absurd, but that’s okay. You don’t come to a Fast and Furious movie for the intellectual stimulation. Action fans shouldn’t be too surprised to find the series has fallen into Lethal Weapon sequel territory by combining a bloated cast with a wicked sentimental streak to offset all the violence (killing cops and destroying half of Rio).
Prior to the release of Fast Five, the producers announced that it was a “transitional” film: Universal plans transform the street-racing franchise into a series of heist films. Danny Ocean, watch your back! (Universal)
— DENNIS WILLIS
