Series Review 1.5: Fast Five

Series Review 1.5

'Series Review' is Movie Freak 77's new type of Post where a Review of a series's films will be done. Each couple of months films of a certain series will reviewed . 

The first series to be reviewed will be 'Fast and Furious' series. Movie Freak 77 has already reviewed 'The Fast and the Furious(2001)' , '2 Fast 2 Furious', 'The Fast and the Furious: Tokyo Drift', 'Fast and Furious(2009)' and 'Fast and Furious 6'(click on them to check them out). Here is the last Review of this Series, enjoy!

Review: Fast Five
  Do NOT forget to rate this post when you finish.

Official 'Fast Five' Poster.

      The movie that reignited the flame of the 'Fast and Furious', 'Fast Five' is a sleek and over-the-top movie installment that injects new life to the franchise.

"Vin Diesel".

"Jordana Brewster"
and "Paul Walker".

      After 'Brian O'Connor'(Paul Walker) and 'Mia Toretto'(Jordana Brewster) broke 'Dominic Toretto'(Vin Diesel) from jail, they are all now fugitives moving from one country to another. When in Rio de Janeiro pulling a job to get some money, everything goes sideways. This forces them to pull one last job bringing the best and elite top racers in order to start a new fresh life. But it will be easier said than done, especially since they will be followed by DSS agent 'Luke Hobbs'(Dwayne Johnson) and his team, as well as drug lord 'Herman Reyes'(Joaquin de Almeida) posing as a legitimate business man. Familiar faces will return, the fun and action will continue on, and the stakes will be higher. Other characters include 'Brian''s childhood friend 'Roman Pearce'(Tyrese Gibson), 'Brian' and 'Roman''s friend from Miami 'Tej Parker'(Ludacris), 'Dom''s old friend 'Vince'(Matt Schulze), 'Dom''s business partner and friend 'Han Seoul-Oh'(Sung Kung), 'Gisele Yashar'(Gal Gadot), Rio police officer 'Elena Neves'(Elsa Pataky), 'Herman Reyes''s right hand 'Zizi'(Michael Ibry), members of 'Dom''s crew 'Leo Tego'(Tego Calderon) and 'Rico Santos'(Don Omar).

"Tyrese Gibson".

"Elsa Pataky" and
"Dwayne Johnson".

      After the success of 'Fast and Furious(2009)' at the box office, every person who was working on that movie decided to return. But new ways and a change in direction was needed to implement a new way of tackling such franchise. The addition of old faces of the ''Fast and Furious' franchise was a brilliant idea, joining the whole family once again. But what made this installment such a success was the transition from a racing movie with subplots to a true heist-action-racing movie. The movie wasn't only relying on the racing to keep things going but rather on the whole effective story as well as the dynamic of the cast. Join all this together and you will get a movie that is pure action entertainment that you will surely go back and watch it over and over again. And loyal fans of the franchise(including me) will never get bored with it and were very much satisfied with this successful shift.

"Gal Gadot" and "Sung Kung".

"Ludacris".

      For the third time after 'Tokyo Drift' and 'Fast and Furious', director "Justin Lin" returns to helm this movie. With this movie "Justin Lin" proved to all his critics that he is able to achieve a very large scale movie and deliver franchise movies that are both successful in the action department as well as the acting. He properly increase the scale of the movie providing even bigger action sequences (even if many of them were spoiled in some trailers) but still manages to provide us memorable surprises along the way. "Chris Morgan", who also returns after his work on the previous two films, delivers the best script and story of the movie. Giving more emotional impact and bigger stakes for the character, it is the first time that the story equals to a certain extent the action of the movie. And again "Brian Tyler" nails the score merging the heavy-beat needed with the Latin inspiration of Rio de Janeiro. No need to mention that "Don Omar"'s song and the films theme song 'Danza Kuduro' was an instant hit.

"Vin Diesel" and
"Dwayne Johnson". 

"Paul Walker", "Tyrese Gibson",
"Don Omar", "Sung Kung",
"Ludacris", "Jordana Brewster",
"Gal Gadot" and "Vin Diesel".

      Believe it or not, even with the 2 hours 10 minute time frame, the movie uses it in the most optimum way, allowing the both action sequences and emotional development to grow as the movie rolls on. The beginning was a thrilling sequence continuing the cliffhanger that the previous movie ended with . Admired that they actually spent most of the first half showing us the way 'Dom', 'Brian' and 'Mia' are supporting themselves to survive. The movie starts to full effect with the end of the first half when the group is regrouped and the work on the large plans starts. The coordination between the three main stories was effectively achieved giving each story its fair share of screen time. The most enjoyable scenes were the train sequence, the escape of the trio from both 'Hobbs' and drug cartel armed members, the attack of 'Reyes''s men on 'Hobbs''s extraction team and of course the penultimate sequence(one of the best, outrageous and memorable sequence ever done). Setting the movie in Rio de Janeiro was also an excellent decision.

"Paul Walker" and "Vin Diesel".

"Matt Schulze", "Tyrese Gibson",
"Gal Gadot", "Vin Diesel", "Paul
Walker", "Jordana Brewster", "Sung
Kung" and Ludacris.

      Another highlight of 'Fast Five' was the harmony between all the cast and pleasure they provided. "Vin Diesel", "Paul Walker" and "Jordana Brewster" are the core cast of the whole franchise and as usual provided exciting performances and exploration to their characters like the father talk between 'Dom' and 'Brian'. "Tyrese Gibson" and "Ludacris" are the main comedic relief duo, who actually has the best comedic and hilarious lines of the entire movie. "Sung Kung" and "Gal Gadot" were a pleasure to watch, and the introduction of the love connection between them was a pleasant one. The return of "Matt Schulze" was appreciated. The star of the movie had to be "Dwayne Johnson". His inclusion in the series added value both to the movie itself and its box office abilities. He definitely fits the role on a both physical and personality level. The love-hate relationship between his character and "Vin Diesel"'s was a success factor. "Elsa Pataky" provided an interesting character, who took time to truly fit in but eventually was able to achieve it. Inclusion of "Tego Calderon" and "Don Omar" as the secondary comedic relief characters was enjoyable. "Joaquin de Almeida" as 'Herman Reyes' could have been explored more, same as "Michael Ibry"'s character as his right hand. The actors who played the members of 'Hobbs''s team also had their moments.

      Many consider this movie as the best of the franchise, but 'Fast and Furious 6' showed the franchise can deliver. With "Paul Walker" deceased unfortunately and the events prior to 'Tokyo Drift' finished, it will be interesting to see the direction 'Fast and Furious 7' will be taking in April 2015.

'Fast Five'.

-'Fast Five' Info:
-Release Date: April 15, 2011.
-Starring: Vin Diesel, Paul Walker, Jordana Brewster, Dwayne Johnson, Tyrese Gibson, Ludacris, Gal Gadot, Sung Kung, Elsa Pataky Joaquin de Almeida, Michael Ibry, Tego Calderon and Don Omar.
-Studio(s): Original Film, One Race Films and Universal Studios.
-Directed by: Justin Lin.
-Written by: Chris Morgan.
-Music by: Brian Tyler.
-Running Time: 130 minutes.
-Budget: $ 125,000,000.
-Box Office: -Domestic(US): $ 209,837,675.
                    -Foreign: $ 416,300,000.
-Ratings: -IMdb: 7.3/10.
              -Rotten Tomatoes: 77%.
              -Metacritic: 67%.

              -PERSONAL RATING: 8.4/10.

-'Fast Five' Trailer: