Fast Five - Thoughts

After 4 Fast & Furious movies, it’s safe to say that anyone who loves fast cars and action will love the franchise. While some have complained over the years of lackluster storylines, general audiences worldwide have enjoyed everything the franchise has thrown at them so far. Fast Five premiered in Brazil on April 15th, 2011, and subsequently released in theatres worldwide. Starting-off exactly where the 4th movie ended, Vin Diesel and Paul Walker are again on the run from the law. While in hiding in Rio, a seemingly simple job goes wrong, and they need to get back into action to thwart a drug lord named Reyes, while evading federal agent and tracker played by Dwayne Johnson (aka The Rock).


Being a fan of the franchise and having seen the trailer, I was pretty sure that I was gonna enjoy Fast Five. To that end, Fast Five not only managed to impress, but to be fair took it up a few notches and outshined the 4th installment from 2009. In true Fast & Furious fashion, there was action and impressive car stunt sequences from the get go. Vin Diesel, Paul Walker and the rest of the team kept things entertaining, and fun. Though there were a few slower story/drama moments, never was there a dull moment. The Rock proved to be a very welcome addition to the plot; his clash with Vin Diesel’s character Dominic Toretto being iconic. In Fast Five there was very little focus on street racing, with the plot and its serious elements being at the core. The action sequences were hard hitting and intense, and enjoyed with the right theatre surround sound setup, it was amazing. While the overall narrative was in keeping with the usual design of Fast & Furious plots, it didn’t come across as boring or repetitive. If you love fast cars and action (aka the Fast & Furious franchise), you’ll probably love Fast Five. Only avoid it if action movies are totally not your thing.

While Paul Walker has been in more Fast & Furious movies than Vin Diesel, his character Brian O'Conner is at best an evolved sidekick of Dominic Toretto. Vin Diesel is perfectly at home in his anti-hero role as Dominic Toretto. Owing to his larger than life presence, it’s not surprising that Paul Walker is easily overshadowed. For the first time there is a seemingly challenging adversary in Luke Hobbs played by Dwayne Johnson (aka The Rock). The Rock performs admirably as the massive Hobbs. His relentless nature added to his solid brick wall sorta image makes him a perfect fit in Fast Five. Jordana Brewster plays Mia Toretto, who is a little less hardcore in this installment. With the exception of the first few minutes wherein she gets her hands dirty, she mostly acts as a coordinator/control station. This works well in keeping with the plot.

Owing to various circumstances I never got to see this movie in the theatre, though I’d originally planned to. So I patiently waited for the original DVD to be released, and then sampled it. As always it was a Region 1 US DVD, which has just under 8 GB of data including extras and trailers. Video was clear and favored warm tones; having a dark yellowish color to it. Due to this, the color vibrancy of primary colors were subdued. Sound was presented by means of a Dolby Digital 5.1 surround soundtrack and was amazing. The cars roared as they passed by, and there were resonating thuds during the high impact action sequences. Surround sound stage usage was ample, and the positional audio added to the realism of Fast Five. Anyone who either succumbed to watching a poor DivX rip, or watched this movie with a stereo soundtrack on an old school TV or portable media device, certainly missed out on the best parts of Fast Five.

My Recommendation: Watch It + (Turning on the cool in Rio de Janeiro)