Release Date – 4/29/11
Dominic Torretto is on a bus to prison when Brian O’Conner and Mia Torretto execute an elaborate escape plan. They flee to Rio de Janiero, Brazil but they’re now on the Most Wanted list due to their prison break. This leads to the best agents in America being dispatched to find them. They are desperate for money so they can’t really lay low for long. They take a job with an old friend that requires them to steal some cars from a train. When they realize the cars are DEA seized vehicles and Brazil’s #1 crime lord is involved, a world of problems start to unravel. But instead of running, Dom decides to get a crew together to steal $100 million from that bad dude so they can all retire from a life of crime. The movie is a perfect precursor to summer blockbusters filled with over the top action and excitement. Its filled with some unbelievable moments and cheesiness too but its still enjoyable.
In the 4th installment of The Fast & The Furious franchise, Vin Diesel and Paul Walker returned to their “famous” roles. It was a hit at the box office so they came back for a FIFTH movie in the series. Pretty crazy that there’s five of these movies now. Nothing much changes in terms of acting, they have their characters down perfectly at this point. Walker is the cocky O’Conner and Diesel is the badass Toretto, which I assume is pretty much how they are in real life too. Jordana Brewster has a bigger role as Mia, Dom’s sister and Brian’s girlfriend, this time around actually part of the crew instead of just the love interest. The movie has little to do with street racing anymore and more to do with a heist. I guess this is to appeal to a wider audience instead of just car fanatics. In fact, the few racing scenes seemed almost forced just because people know this is a Fast & Furious movie and expect some races. Eventually a crew is formed like Ocean’s Eleven. Tyrese Gibson and Ludacris from 2 Fast 2 Furious come in, Sung Kang from Tokyo Drift and then a few more smaller characters from the previous movie. So it’s a big gathering of past Fast & Furious stars mixed with the big guns of Diesel and Walker. It was a pretty cool idea and it worked well. This is probably only the beginning of the transition away from street racing. I’m sure more of these movies will be coming out in the future.
One of the best parts of the movie was the head agent on their tail, Hobbs, played by Dwayne THE ROCK Johnson. I swear if he stuck to action films only over the last few years he would have become the next Arnold. This guy just oozes charisma and badassery. His battle with Diesel is definitely a highlight in the film. The only problem with the movie is that it goes a little TOO over the top sometimes. Big action scenes in movies are always a little unbelievable but director Justin Lin went above and beyond this time. Dodging bullets from machine guns, surviving a fall off a bridge that would kill any mortal man, escaping every single incarceration attempt possible and a car chase through the city with a large vault tied to the back of 2 cars. Eventually you just go, SERIOUSLY?! But then you have to remember this is a Fast & Furious movie and you weren’t expecting Oscar worthy screenwriting. All in all, this movie is the perfect setup for a summer filled with similar over the top action films like Transformers, Thor and Pirates of the Caribbean among others. I enjoyed it much more than I thought I would. I would even go as far as saying I would see another installment if they decided to keep it going. How about next summer?
IMDB – 7.9/10
Rotten Tomatoes – 77%
Movie Wiseguys – 7/10