Fast Five

What makes a good action flick? Who knows for sure? But this one has it all, whatever it is! The family is back, and this time, they are re-recruiting many of the actors from the other four F & F's. As an added bonus, Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson and the 5'3" extreme hottie, Elsa Pataky, are on board as well. ALL of the F & F flicks are a bit short on storyline, but who needs a lot of pondering, yawn-inducing love stories, and brain-damaging twists to make the best picture of the spring? Not Vin Diesel, Dwayne Johnson, or Paul Walker, that's for sure. After Brian O'Conner (Paul Walker) and Mia Toretto (Jordana Brewster) break Mia's brother, Dominic Toretto (Vin Diesel), out of a bus transporting prisoners to their final destination, prison, we soon find them all shacking up in South America. Although the entire train scene was edge-of-your-seat, the real white-knuckled fun starts in Brazil, and there ain't too much "shacking up" going on here either. The story is a bit thin, so for me to elaborate on it would give it away in totality, however, I can tell you that the story is exactly what it's supposed to be...perfect and not too over-the-top for what the movie is trying to do, which is bringing on the action, relieving the tension with occasional humor (VERY funny stuff, by the way), the rooting for the good guys (who are essentially bad to a degree), the serious love between the Toretto's (Dom, Mia, and their brother, Vince), and their love for O'Conner. It's a tight-clique buddy-flick, like "The Losers" and "The Expendables," but MUCH better than the former and even a bit better than the latter. All of the five-star reviews you're seeing on Amazon, Rotten Tomatoes, and Blu-Ray.com are the real deal. You honestly feel for these people, and you care what happens to them. The action sequences are top-notch, well-filmed, and superior to anything I have seen recently, or ever, for that matter. There is some truly incredible stuff going on here...especially the whole vault scene, which was absolutely awesome, to say the least. If you like action flicks, PLEASE don't miss this one. It has everything you're looking for and more. Also, make sure you stick around for a final scene after the credits roll. This scene tells us that there is NO QUESTION about a F & F Part Six coming up in the near future. One more note: If you haven't seen any of the first four movies, at the very least, watch the first one, "The Fast And The Furious," before checking out "Fast Five." It will get you in tune with the main characters. I believe it would be hard to pick up on the depth of these people without knowing some of their back-stories first. Fast Five is the best movie of the spring so far and one of the best action movies ever made. FIVE STARS HARD! *****

It's really incredible how this series turned around so drastically in the 5th film, Fast Five. This film received critical acclaim and a lot of box office revenue, both of which are first's for this series. This was like a rebirth, without having to re-do anything. That's the part that's so incredible, this film is by the same writer and the same director as the last two films and the same producer as the first four films. Nothing changed, which really makes it all the more impressive that this film scored 50 points higher than the last one on rotten tomatoes and that the film's box office gross was 3/4 of what the first four movies made COMBINED. Anyway, after being framed for the murders of three DEA agents that they did not commit; Don(Vin Diesel), Brian(Paul Walker) and Mia gather up all their old friends and allies from all different corners of the first four films, and bring them together as a team in Rio de Janeiro to do one last job: steal $100 million from the man who set them up and is running all the crime in Rio, all the while being pursued by a relentless federal agent: Luke Hobbs(Dwayne Johnson). This film is a lot better than the already pretty good first four films. It introduces two things that really bring the series to the next level. The first is: Humor. While it's four predecessors were so serious and had little to no humor, this film was hilarious. The second is: a sheer and genuine sense of fun. Again with first four being so serious, this movie is so much fun, arguably the most fun I've ever had in the theater. It's so refreshing to have a Fast and Furious film that focuses on the characters more than the cars. There's very little focus on cars at all in this film, a first for the series. Thank God. I'm sure most people wish the series could have just started here, which I can understand, but if it did, I don't think we would have appreciated it as much. This film takes at least one character from each of the first four films and brings them together as a team(like a pre courser to The Avenger) and it was so cool and so much fun to see them all working together. It's a lot like a crossover movie. Also, I was completely unaware that this film was going to be an all out heist movie. That was another pleasant surprise. Honestly, this film is so great and so much fun and is absolutely the best film in the series to date. I walked into that theater as a moderate fan of the series and walked out as a die-hard fan for life.

Hands down my favorite of the franchise (of parts 1-5). This is the most fun, has the coolest plot and produces the most engaging antagonists. High octane testosterone fun for movie-goers who like high speed chases, sweaty biceps, explosions and brawling. In this fifth installment in the Fast and Furious (2001-2017) franchise, we find our favorite characters in Brazil laying low from the American eyes of Johnny Law…but still jacking cars! Dominic Toretto (Vin Diesel; The Last Witch Hunter, Guardians of the Galaxy, Riddick) continues to choose bare biceps over sleeves, Brian (Paul Walker; Brick Mansions, Hours, Into the Blue) and Mia (Jordana Brewster; The Texas Chainsaw Massacre: The Beginning, Chuck, Dallas) are still an item and as close as ever, and director Justin Lin (Tokyo Drift, Fast and Furious, Fast and Furious 6, Star Trek Beyond)—who helmed parts 3-6 in this worldwide franchise sensation—has become more ambitious with stunts. God bless him for that! We have flipping shredded prison buses, high speed plasma-cutting train heists, rocket launchers, exploding poop-launching toilets, and high speed vault dragging! The fight choreography is getting more interesting (with each sequel), everyone has become a better martial artist, the explosions are bigger and more frequent, and cars continue to function unphased after devastating landings and hits. The action has truly been turned up to an “11” in this sequel and, after the youthful thrill of the 2001 original (I saw when I was 20 years old), this is, by far, the most entertaining and my favorite of the franchise…so far. This film is like high octane testosterone. There’s a lot of flexed-arm finger-pointing, flexed arm-crossing, very few shirts with sleeves, lots of yelling, lots of hard crazy-eyed stare downs, lots of large bald men in sweat-soaked overly snug shirts, and a lot of shiny biceps. It has a lot in common with The Expendables (2010-2014) movies in that respect, only much better. From the moment Agent Hobbs (Dwayne Johnson; Pain and Gain, Ballers, G I Joe: Retaliation) busts on the scene every gym bro is reminded of why he’s their man-crush. He’s all business, he’s a straight up killing machine and…well, it’s The Rock! And whereas we meet Hobbs as an antagonist, we also have our “real villain” Reyes (Joaquim de Almeida; Desperado), a man of the people who spins anecdotes about why Portuguese is spoken in Brazil. He’s exactly the refined villain you like, hate, like to hate, and want to see taken down. Whether it’s Ocean’s Eleven (2001) or Mission: Impossible (1996), ever notice how in every movie it’s always “one last job” and then they’ll retire, it’s always against the biggest baddest opponent they can find (like the crime lord who runs Rio), and they always need to “assemble a team?” Well, a motley crew they do assemble. They have big engines, bigger biceps, big stakes ($100 million), and the biggest team cast in the franchise so far! They meet, greet, hug and smile as we see new friends and old friends reunite. After Brian, Mia and Dom, there’s the long and mysterious Gisele (Gal Gadot; Fast and Furious, Dawn of Justice: Batman vs Superman, Wonder Woman), the calm and cool Han (Sung Kang; Tokyo Drift, Fast and Furious, Ninja Assassin, Bullet to the Head), mouth-running Roman (Tyrese Gibson; Legion, Transformers 1-3, 2 Fast 2 Furious), tech whiz Tej (Chris Ludacris Bridges; Crash, Hustle and Flow, Gamer, 2 Fast 2 Furious, and rap performing artist), Santos (Don Omar; Fast and Furious, and performer responsible for Danza Kuduro) and Leo (Tego Calderon; Fast and Furious, Illegal Tender, and rap performing artist). Maybe some of you thought Roman and Tej were funny characters, but Leo and Santos are show-stealing hilarious. Nine in total, and complemented by Hobbs and Reyes. That’s 11 stars in a “part 5” movie! Our characters’ exploits are scored by an outstandingly energized soundtrack. The foot chase scene is solid, filmed with numerous wide angle shots capturing the gorgeous cityscape of Rio’s rooftops. Probably the best camerawork among the first five Fast and Furious movies. We are also wowed by one of my favorite movie fight scenes (excluding martial arts movies). When Hobbs and Dom go at it, it’s like two rabid junkyard dogs on steroids. They hits are hard, frequent, and I question how many bruises the actors left the set with at the end of the day (of course, the stunt doubles had it much worse). There weren’t enough windows and plaster walls in that entire warehouse for them to smash or throw each other through. This was a grappling, tackling, face-punch frenzy. My only gripe is that The Rock didn’t win. Not Hobbs, mind you…but The Rock. Later, seeing Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson limp is like going to SeaWorld to see a water show starring a killer whale with a captivity-rendered limp dorsal fin. It’s just not right. LOL. Then there was the vault chase scene…STUPENDOUS! At every turn we find so much property damage as they swing that vault across the road in their wake through crinkled cars and mangled buildings. Oh, and they were wholesale MURDERING cop cars, smashing up more vehicles than a Bad Boys Michael Bay flick. Winding down after their victory and reminding us that they’re all one big criminal family, is that we have such a happy conclusion. Much like the Lord of the Rings trilogy (2001-2003) we have a bunch of endings, only these are much more succinctly handled and won’t bore audiences. Brian and Mia got a beach house to raise their child, Tej and Roman jockey for “best car in the hemisphere,” Han and Gisele go honeymooning on the autobahn, and Santas and Leo do playfully dumb things with their money in casinos…it’s all very nice. You’ll leave this movie happy. So go see it (again), be thrilled, and be happy.

The first Fast movie I saw was #4 and only because my son begged me to go. The movie grabbed me from the opening shot, and didn't let go until the close. I literally found myself trying to catch a breath at times. Of course, I immediately had to go out and buy the first three. #1 was so good I couldn't believe I'd missed it for all these years. #2 was very good with at least one of the original cast and the addition of a couple of other good actors. #3 was nothing like the others, but was, for what it was, watchable. I couldn't wait for Fast Five to open and was not disappointed at all. We are huge Vin Diesel fans and love the Rock, so this was a real treat for us. We've actually seen it twice at the theaters and will probably go at least one more time. And I just preordered the DVD. No matter how you see it, though, sit through the credits for a real surprise! If you love good action movies, no matter how improbably they are (and really, anything else is just real life, isn't it), don't wait to see this one.

I loved the movie, it was full of action, had a story line and a lot of nice looking vehicles. It was also a litttle far fetched (some scenes).

This is One of the Movie's I'm So Happy to find to Replace the One that was stolen out of my storage locker! This is just one of a Excellence Series of Movies of the Fast and the Furious!!!

Probably the best in the franchise. All the previous Fast films had loose ends that kind of set you up for this domino affect and ties everything together perfectly where Dominic Toretto (played by Vin Diesel) is found guilty sentenced to 25 years to life without the possibility of parole and that's when things take a turn for the worst. Brian O' Connor (Paul Walker) and Mia (Jordanna Brewster) go all out on the run from the FBI after helping Dom escape. While in Rio, they have beef with a major kingpin who runs the city and have a score to settle bringing all their past friends and partners in crime: Tez (Ludacris), Roman Pierce (Tyrese), Han (Sung Kang) and the rest of the gang altogether for one last run robbing Rio's big boss for more than $11 million dollars worth of his money and starting a new life. Only problem is: they all are being tracked down by: Hobbs (played by Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson) who is willing to go all out and will not stop at anything to see them all behind bars. Alliances are formed and trust is in question as things begin to take an interesting turn throughout the film but one the is for sure: family always sticks together no matter what.

Vin Diesel, Paul Walker and Jordana Brewster team up again for some more heart pounding adrenaline action. This movie takes place after Fast and Furious. The film brings the crew back together in Rio De Janeiro, Brazil for one last job to get their freedom before disappearing forever. Some of the previous stars through the past Fast and Furious films return, including Tyrese Gibson, (Roman Pearce - 2 Fast 2 Furious) Ludacris (Tej - 2 Fast 2 Furious), Gal Gadot, (Gisele - Fast and Furious) Matt Schulze (Vince -The Fast and Furious) and Sung Kang (Han - Tokyo Drift) all return for one of the most action packed Fast and Furious movies ever. They are faced with a tough federal agent Luke Hobbs (the Rock) who will stop at nothing to hunt them down. I will not give away any more but, I'm happy to say Fast Five does not disappoint. This Movie is action packed from start to finish, and even though it has many over the top moments it is still one heck of an enjoyable action ride. Just like the original film that started it all, this new and final installment will also have you on the edge of your seat. Don't listen to bitter critics, if you like a fun entertaining movie to take you away from your life for a few hours check this movie out! Im going to miss Paul and Vin and all the crew, but will be forever thankful for all the awesome Fast films they brought us and am happy to watch them again and again on DVD or blu-ray! Fast Five [Blu-ray ] Fast Five (Two-Disc Blu-ray/DVD Combo + Digital Copy in Blu-ray Packaging) Be sure and stay for the end credits for a unexpected twist. Updated 10/4/11 The picture and sound on the Fast Five blu-ray are outstanding. One of the best looking and sounding blu-rays ever. Your sound system will get a great workout with fast Five! The picture quality on this is Video codec: MPEG-4 AVC. Video resolution: 1080p, Aspect ratio: 2.35:1, Original aspect ratio: 2.39:1 and the Audio on this Blu-ray is DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1. The Fast Five`s Blu-ray Bonus Features: . The big Train Heist . Reuniting The Team . A New Set of Wheels · DOM VS. HOBBS: Watch how the action-packed showdown was shot · ON SET WITH DIRECTOR JUSTIN LIN: Go behind the scenes of Fast Five with director Justin Lin · INSIDE THE VAULT CHASE: Learn how they filmed the movie's most dangerous sequence · TYRESE TV: Go behind the scenes of Fast Five with Tyrese Gibson You also get a DVD copy and digital copy included on the combo pack with the digital copy expiring 3/13/12