First Take: Fast Five- Rock ‘n’ Rio time.

SYPNOSIS:

Dominic Toretto and his crew of street racers plan a massive heist to buy their freedom while in the sights of a powerful Brazilian drug lord and a dangerous federal agent.

With the first direct sequel in the series came more of a shift to the espionage genre- and my word, this is where the popularity of these films shows. Justin Lin has made a solid film here.

From the technical side, it is mostly the same team once again- Lin directs the film well, Chris Morgan’s scriptwriting only seems to get better, Stephen F. Windon’s cinematography gets more daring, and Brian Tyler’s score is glorious as ever, but where this film really stands out is in the performances. For the first time in this franchise, they really do feel like family.

Of course, the key player in this film is a certain professional wrestler turned actor, and that man is Dwayne Johnson. Just his presence boosts the quality of the film, and with his work as Hobbs, there is a piece of casting gold. The regulars are just as good, with Paul Walker, Vin Diesel and Jordana Brewster leading the characters that we know and love away from harm in what is ultimately the world’s most expensive game of cat and mouse.

THE VERDICT

Fast Five is one of those films that defines the future of a franchise- with more action and less racing, this is where the films begin to build to one big story, and those are the sort of films I like.

Rating: 4/5