Fast Five Review
We have made it to the 5th movie in the Fast and Furious franchise with Fast Five. And this is a fun one to talk about because, this reignited the franchise with an extra dose of energy. And from Fast Five to Hobbs and Shaw, these are like the most ridiculous and fun movies of the franchise. Also, remember this is part of my Fast and Furious review series, leading up to the release of F9, I’m reviewing the first 9 movies in the franchise. Let’s get started with Fast Five!
The Good:
Like I said, this movie just reignited the franchise with an extra dose of energy. Where the stupidity sliders are all the way to 10. The entertainment is all the way up to 10. And it’s just such a fun, watchable, and enjoyable blockbuster in the franchise. They know they have a stupid concept, and they play that to their advantage with this movie. And when I say this movie is stupid...I mean this movie is stupid. The third act involves Brian and Dom dragging a safe full of money through the streets of Rio, and they are in racer cars. It doesn’t make much sense, but that is kind of the fun of it.
I also like that this is the Ocean’s Eleven movie of the franchise, where it’s the heist film of the franchise. Doing a heist film with cars, is such a fun idea to do in this franchise. The concept helps provide the stupid moments in the movie.
When you talk about this movie, you have to talk about the introduction of Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson to this franchise. And he just makes everything better, every scene that he is in he elevates it. And I forgot just how sarcastic he is, where 90% of his lines are some smooth or sarcastic joke.
It’s also fun to see them start to bring everybody from the previous movies. Seeing Roman and Tej interact is just so much fun to see, and they have some fantastic moments together. Especially when they reunite in the garage, and it’s just classic Fast and Furious humor for me. I also really dug who they used the Vince character in this movie, they give him a redemption arc through-out this movie. And honestly, it really worked for me.
Also the movie just has a great sense of humor for me, so far this is easily the funniest of the Fast and Furious movies. And might even be the funniest of the franchise. Seeing all of these characters interact and pull off a heist, provides some really funny moments in this movie. I mentioned earlier but the stuff with Roman and Tej is really funny. But even Brian, Roman, and Tej get some really funny moments. It keeps the humor going from beginning to the end.
Finally, there are a number of very cool action sequences in this movie. The fight toward the beginning with Dom reuniting with Brian and Mia on the train is really cool. When Dom first meets Hobbs (The Rock), and they chase across the roofs of the buildings. And the third is just fantastic, where they are destroying the city trying to pull off this heist. All of it is dynamic, and you can see everything that is happening.
The Bad:
Like most of the villains in the franchise, the villain here isn’t the best. I think the best villains come from Fast and Furious 6 to Hobbs and Shaw, but the first five villains are the best. And this one is no exception, he’s just an evil rich man in Rio. He doesn’t have a lot of screen time, and it’s not clear why he even became so rich and powerful. I understand, they had an ensemble of leads they wanted to focus on, but with doing so. The villain was the victim of that---and I guess the character himself was the victim of what Dom and friends were doing.
Also, the two brothers that are in the movie. Have never really worked for me, they provide some funny moments. But I’ve never felt like they added a whole lot to this franchise, so they are fun enough, they are fine. But I don’t know if they needed to actually be there.
Final Thoughts: Knickpicks aside, Fast Five is a great edition to this movie and a great blockbuster. They cranked the stupidity sliders all the way up, and it just makes such a fun blockbuster. The introduction of The Rock is great, and put all of it together. You get one of the best movies of the franchise.
The Score: 9.1/10 (A-)
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