Michael Ledo ** MINOR PLOT SYNOPSIS (MINUS ENDING)**Vin Diesel is busted out of prison and is reunited with his sister Jordana Brewster (who I fell in love with in D.E.B.S.) and her bf Paul Walker in Rio, the most recognized skyline in the world. They are bad guys stealing cars off a train. As things turned out, these were cars seized by the Brazilian DEA, who for some reason unlike their American counterparts don't disable the vehicles. Due to infighting, the effort is partially botched and Vin Diesel and Walker end up as captives of a Rio mobster. They discover he wants one of the cars back real bad. After they escape they dismantle the car to find out way.Meanwhile Dwayne Johnson comes down from the US to take back Vin Diesel. It seems the US has jurisdiction in Brazil, but hey its a movie. From a chip in the vehicle, Vin Diesel discovers that the crime boss has money stored in various cash houses throughout the city. Walker and Vin Diesel assemble a Mission Impossible team to go after the cash. They attack the first cash house and burn the money which forces the mobster to relocate all his eggs into one basket. As it turns out, that basket is inside the evidence safe at the police station, making the task of that one last hit a bit more difficult. At this point the movie takes a few interesting twists and turns.The plot contains numerous implausibilities as does most Mission Impossible action movies, vehicles that can bust through concrete walls (that never use rebar), and don't even scratch the head lights. The ending will keep Myth Busters busy for a season.

ryanskywalker-87402 The fifth installment in The Fast and the Furious franchise, Fast Five is an intensely gripping, thoroughly engaging & relentlessly entertaining sequel that not just brings several upgrades in all departments of filmmaking but by replacing the street racing formula with elements of a heist thriller, it ends up resurrecting this derailed franchise in style and heralds the series' heading into a new direction.Set in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, the story of Fast Five follows Dominic Toretto, Brian O'Conner & Mia as they plan a massive heist to steal $100 million in cash from a ruthless drug lord & corrupt businessman and enlist the help of former allies to pull off the job which would buy them their freedom. But at the same time, they find themselves being pursued by a federal agent who's in Rio to arrest both Dom & Brian.Directed by Justin Lin, Fast Five presents the director in much different form as his kinetic work behind the camera keeps the story running on top-gear from start to finish, and the earlier momentum it gained with its explosive opening sequence is never lost. The screenplay at last places more emphasis on its story & characters, adds in a welcome amount of humour and even though the route it takes is new, the old-school formula isn't entirely discarded.The technical aspects exhibit a complete overhaul which is in sync with the transition this franchise itself undergoes through this chapter. Production design team puts up some wonderfully detailed set pieces, Cinematography makes exuberant use of its camera while the applied colour tones are more vivid than before. The events unfolds at breakneck pace, Editing is at its best during the action sequences, and the vehicular carnage it has in store is simply overwhelming.Coming to the performances, Fast Five brings the notable characters from all the previous chapters together under one roof and all of them deliver more confident performances. Vin Diesel & Paul Walker show greater maturity in their respective roles of Dom & Brian but it's the swashbuckling input from Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson that turns out to be the biggest surprise of them all. It's not difficult to assess that he was really enjoying his character and it reflects in his impressive performance.Last but not the least is Brian Tyler's score which packs in some intense, vibrant tracks that never allows the film's charged atmosphere to settle down and actually enhances the whole experience by a considerable margin. The visual effects team also brings its A- game, for the moments of action seem convincing for the most part, even if it's a tad over-the-top on few occasions. There are more thrilling moments to be found here than in all previous chapters combined and every moment featuring Johnson & Diesel together is a highlight, right away.On an overall scale, Fast Five is without a shadow of a doubt the finest chapter in The Fast and the Furious franchise and the first one in the series that manages to find a near-perfect balance between its elements of style & substance. High-octane, full- throttled & immensely satisfying, Fast Five is an action-packed, roller-coaster ride that packs in all the ingredients in just the right dosages to succeed as a genuine summer blockbuster material & a quality entertainer for not just the fans of the series, but newcomers as well. Absolutely worth your time & money.

CinemaCocoa Fast Five, more like… Ocean's Eleven?Well that was disappointing, and when a Fast and Furious film disappoints, that's pretty bad.Brian O'Conner is on the side of the thieves now as the film picks up where the last left off with him, Mia and others rescuing Dominic from prison. Now they all have the law's worst, most ruthless officer hunting them down… The Rock, I mean… Dwayne Johnson… I mean the The Rock… never mind. To finally get away from the law and live free, the team must assemble all of their allies from previous films into a group to rob from the richest Brazilian drug cartel leader.The potential for ridiculous amounts of car racing and chasing could never be higher; the franchise's deliberate step to make things before Tokyo Drift and having all noteworthy characters involved in a heist has to pay off. Well, that does mean we get Tyrese Gibson again…….. But on top of that, it really doesn't work.The Fast and the Furious has now officially stepped over the line from being relatively easy going, entertaining racer films, to becoming a never-ending series of "serious business". The series has literally forgotten about the cars and instead feels we like the characters enough now to base the entire focus on them (to the point of having Brian and Mia about to have a child…)That isn't an overstatement either, asides an opening act train heist, the film takes an hour, an hour, to get into what the series is good at. Street racing. But we don't even see the race, we just get a cheeky cut away since Brian and Dom are obviously going to win it. The assembled team spend most of their time sitting around chatting and being their individual selves from other films (Avengers Assemble, this ain't) and nothing gets done. Most of the film appears to gear towards the two big, burly bald men (Diesel and Johnson) fighting each other… which… I don't care for, where is the… y'know, car racing?The finale is fun to watch as well as ridiculous, and the Ocean's Eleven reference earlier is not unfounded (seems like any film can get away with twists like that nowadays) but it takes so long to get there it doesn't feel particularly tense. This is the first film in the series to go over the two hour runtime, and it did not need it!It isn't precisely a bad film, but it has lost its identity as a niche piece of entertainment and instead settles into generic action movie zone. Sad really, but when you try to stretch "street racing" into multiple films, it'll happen.And no, it isn't as bad as the second one.

hersheedontplay I just finished watching Fast & Furious 4 and now I'm starting this installment Fast Five. I must say so far this has been the very best transition from one installment to the next so far. Much better than any of the previous installments. I loved the introduction of the Rock in this installment as well as the fact that all of the originals were back. Now the stunts in this installment was were the best up until this point in the franchise library. Vince ... It was nice to have Brian save Vince in the last one Vince was in( part 1) because after that here in Fast Five they got along pretty well. Let me buckle down and tune in to this one ... I think I can recall much of this one and I recall it being pretty entertaining. Time for me a beer and movie time.... I'll add more if need be. Yes bring in the team. Yes this is when it got back good. I'm loving it. The mix of all the best from each installment prior to this one and it's on. This was the best one after 1