Fast Five

The “Fast and the Furious” series continues its amazing run with the latest offering, 2011’s “Fast Five.” Among the five films released so far, the series has accumulated over $830 million at the box office. The series has an average fresh rating of 50% assigned by the Rotten Tomatoes reviewers, and each movie released in the series is worse than its predecessor. So far, critics have been favorable to “Fast Five,” and as a result, it has mustered a healthy rating of 81% at Rotten Tomatoes. As always, moviegoers looking for fun and entertainment don’t pay much attention to critics. Looking at the box-office numbers, no one will argue about the huge fan base this series has created in the last decade. There are two things that make the series fairly entertaining: Vin Diesel and cars.

“Fast Five” is a crossover movie that mixes themes from “The Thomas Crown Affair” (1968), “Bullit” (1968), “The Italian Job” (1969), and “The Getaway” (1972). This makes “Fast Five” a derivative action movie in its execution of plot and presentation of characters.  The film could have been very well named “The Brazilian Job,” considering the manner in which the plot unfolds. 

Vin Diesel reprises his role as Dominic Toretto, along with the other cast members from the previous movies in the series. In the beginning, Dominic is sentenced to a long-term imprisonment and is being transported to a correction facility. Moments later, he is rescued by a former cop, Brian O’Conner (Paul Walker), and Dominic’s sister, Maria Toretto (Jordana Brewster). The trio soon flee to Rio de Janeiro, where they team up with their old friend, Vince (Matt Schulze). Soon, the team undertakes a mission to steal a car for a big businessman, Reyes (Joaquim de Almeida). Along the way, Dominic plans something daring: to steal Reyes’s money. Meanwhile, a tough-talking DEA agent, Hobbs (Dwayne Jackson), is assigned to the case, and he travels to Brazil to locate Dominic’s gang. Things don’t go as planned for Hobbs, and soon he finds himself joining hands with Dominic.

Let’s momentarily assume that Vin Diesel resembles Steve McQueen from the ‘60s, with his cool-dude image, handsome screen presence, and calm composure--something that is a big selling point of this series. The only difference: McQueen’s charming screen presence was enough to floor audiences, whereas Diesel is a modern metamorphosis of the McQueen’s version, overpowered by a muscular persona and a biceps-revealing vest. Acting-wise, no will argue that McQueen was a better actor than Diesel. If you think of cars and drivers in the ‘60s and 70s, then one name immediately pops to mind from Hollywood: Steve McQueen. Likewise, after the success of “Pitch Black,” Diesel utilized his popular image to propel the series by carrying McQueen’s legacy of an antihero into his own signature style. In the last decade when you think of car movies, you tend to associate Diesel’s name with this genre. Nonetheless, at heart both actors are known for one thing: They know how to entertain the masses with their love of automobiles.

As a heist movie, “Fast Five” essentially functions like “The Thomas Crown Affair” and “The Italian Job.” The plot revolves around stealing money from a high-security police station and then transporting it using fast-speed cars. Once Dominic realizes there is money to be made in the deal, he quickly starts mobilizing a team of professionals to carry out the mission. The movie works in three stages: the idea of the heist, the planning of the heist, and the execution of the heist. The script spends a fair amount of time in developing these elements and partly succeeds because the screenplay keeps the plot moving at a rapid pace, as there is never a dull moment.

The characters plan the heist in a meticulous manner by leaving no gaps in their planning and ensuring every aspect is well covered. This makes characters intelligent, as the writers have presented sequences digging deeper into their thought process. And while these elements are well presented, the writers have also developed emotional family moments that were something missing in the earlier movies. We soon realize that Dominic and his gang are one big family. Interesting moments are presented involving Vince, Dominic, Maria, and Paul in which we see them discussing loyalty, keeping the family together, and standing by each other in difficult times. This injects drama into the story line, and at the same time, it enriches the characters to a certain extent. Of course, we still know how the climax will eventually play out.

Nonetheless, the film’s star appeal is enhanced further by the inclusion of a second action star, Dwayne Jackson. His operational skills on a foreign land remind us of the prevalent modus operandi in American foreign policy that includes the use of verbal force and military power. Being an American, Hobbs thinks he has an automatic license to use force and also puts his men in harms way. Furthermore, Hobbs disregards local officials and doubts their skills all the time. He is a misogynist agent who doesn’t hesitate to dictate the role of a female agent in a mission like this; in his world, they take a backseat. As it stands, there is nothing instantly likeable about his character. But that is not the point of why he is in the movie. He is very much a part of the action, whether it is shooting Reyes’s men or fighting Dominic in hand-to-hand combat sequences. His verbal banter with Dominic creates tension that brims with violence when both of them are on-screen. Nevertheless, his character produces sufficient visceral action moments that will surely appeal to action fans.

The film’s narrative structure is pretty familiar by now, and nothing in it strikes one as unique. Moreover, the story is riddled with plot holes, some of which are concerning but never quite distracting in any major way. This is something you can expect from the series. On the whole, the action sequences are well done, especially the train sequence in the beginning, but the final action sequence overextends itself quite a bit. In addition, I also felt that the movie lost the plot in the third act, in which we see the mayhem of apocalyptic proportions on the streets of Rio occupying every bit of screen space.

Still, “Fast Five” is a thrilling ride, in spite of a few misfires. In the end, this gas-guzzling, moneymaking series is not going to fade away any time soon. If Stallone’s “The Expendables” (2010) was a testosterone-driven movie with bullets and guns, then  “Fast Five” is not far off in producing an adrenaline rush with cars and hot ladies. So, fasten you seat belt and enjoy the “Fast Five” ride.

Final Film Rating = 7/10