Fast and Furious 5 aka Fast Five

IMDB
First time viewed: Yes
Current Release: Yes
Watched With: Myself

I'm not a car guy, I don't know anything about them but somehow these films always manage to make me feel inadequate as a man when I drive home from the theatre.

So this is the 5th in the unexpected franchise. The title on the film was different to some of the posters so I didn't know what to be calling it. It's another heist film and the 3rd in the series directed by Justin Lin. I have seen all the others but they all blur together and I don't particularly remember the specifics of each one, but here they get cast members from all 4 previous films to team up Ocean's 11 style for a heist with a fun little twist at the end. And Dwayne Johnson is on their tail the whole time.

There's a big family theme they are pushing here. Family and cars and gratuitous ass grinding, although not as much as part 4 had. The film opens with a bang, the first action sequence is done in under 4 minutes before the title comes up. After that it's not long before the next big train sequence that goes wrong and sets up the need for a revenge heist and all the rest of the events in the film.

It flows pretty smoothly, there are a lot of characters to keep track of and there are plenty of throwbacks and references to the other films. Some of the more quiet character moments involving Vin Diesel will be lost on anyone who doesn't know the history he has. But you get the general idea, it's all about family.

And then they steal a safe and cause much destruction. Many police cars are flipped and crushed and it's pretty fun.

There is a small epilogue after the end credit animated sequence that has a few extra cameos and reveals. Any hopes that this might be the last of the franchise will be crushed by what they set up here. I don't remember the events enough to fully understand what the ramifications of this little sequence is but it'll be sure to get a rise from the die hards.

There's not much more for me to say on this one. Despite some drag in the middle and a plot structure that's done to death there still appears to be life in this franchise which refuses to die. All the more power to it I guess.