Fast Five (or Ocean's Eleven with Dodge Chargers)

Rating: 7/10 (1 May 2011)

By the time a franchise gets to its fifth film you're probably worried that the laws of entropy are in full effect, and for good reason. Outside of horror franchises, how many fifth films can you name that were anywhere close to as successful or entertaining as the original? Maybe it had to do with having low expectations (after all I've suffered through 2 Fast 2 Furious and have wiped all memory of The Fast and the Furious: Tokyo Drift from my conscious mind) but Fast Five seriously struck me as a fun to watch, exciting and funny action flick.
The basic premise is nothing new for a crime movie â€“ bring in a team of the best in your field to split a multi-million dollar score that will allow for a cushy retirement from a life a crime. In this case, that score is to be had against the most powerful man in Rio de Janeiro.
To accomplish the job, lifetime criminal Dominic Toretto and former federal agent Brian O'Conner bring in a team of all the best racers and specialists that they have met along the course of their illustrious careers. Characters like Vince, Gisele, Han, Roman, Tej and other favorites come out of the woodwork for the big score.
Making that score becomes even more difficult when the United States government becomes involved and sends a ringer in to catch Dom and O'Conner. Agent Hobbs (Dwayne Johnson) is a match for Dom in almost every way. He's big, determined, and has the resources of the U.S. Department of State, Diplomatic Security Service at his disposal. Hobbs commissions the aid of a rookie Rio cop named ElenaWith her help, Hobbs makes life for the Ocean's Eleven-esque crew even more difficult. A ray of hope for Dom and the others lies in Elena, the widow of a clean cop offed by Reyes before the start of the movie. Elena will come up against a choice of doing her job without question or taking a shot at helping the criminal crew make a score against Reyes.
Aside from a fairly easy to follow plot this film has what you would expect, a solid soundtrack, good looking people in skimpy clothing, humor (though mostly as shallow as the human emotions portrayed) and, of course a barrage of fast cars in adrenaline charged chase and race scenes.
If you've stuck with the F&F franchise, odds are you are wondering what sort of cars you can expect from the most recent installment. I doubt you'll be disappointed. Let's take a look at a few of the cars you'll see.
Of course, Dom's immortal 1970 Dodge Charger is back, though in this setting it's forced to look a little less mean and impressive in order to stay under the radar. It's not the only Charger in the film â€“ not by a long shot. Fast Five is filled with 2010 and 2011 Chargers (some realized as police vehicles and others are modified Chargers driven by Dom and O'Conner for the final heist). To round out the Dodge product placement was a 2010 Challenger.
Many of the modern cars in the film were used by the team to try and beat a camera array in a parking garage and driven only on an indoor test track. It gave filmmakers a good excuse to run some modern, hairpin turn capable cars like a Porsche GT3, 2010 Subaru STi, Nissan 370z, and others across the screen. Additional modern cars include a Lexus LFA, 1996 Toyota Supra, and a Koenigsegg CCX.
Classic car buffs have more to look forward to then Dom's Charger (a nice surprise after the NOS engine, rice-rocket sounding cars that have come to symbolize the franchise). Though the screen-time is brief, we see some work done with a '66 GT40, '66 Corvette Grand Sport, and quite a few other 60s and 70s muscle cars. Motorcycles weren't left out either as a real hot Ducati Street Racer (with a real hot Gal Godot on the throttle) makes an appearance.
If your taste in cars is at all similar to my own, you might find yourself drooling over Hobbs' government issued SUV that looks like a gorgeous, khaki-colored, utilitarian, armored behemoth on wheels and monster-truck shock absorbers. To save you some research, this beast is called a Gurkha LAPV. It's built on a Ford F550 chassis and was developed to withstand IED attacks with optional NATO level 3 armor. Though the top speed is about 90MPH, this beast is the perfect vehicle for the tight streets and uneven terrain encountered by Hobbs in his pursuit of Dom through Rio and surrounding areas in Brazil. And sorry, this vehicle is not available to civilians. Other than the cars there are a few more good reasons to head to the theater for this film. Adding Dwayne Johnson to the cast finally gives Vin Diesel someone imposing to match up with physically. Johnson's character Hobbs is a tough guy who lives like there is a strict line between black and white. While some of the characters in the film only have time to come off as two dimensional, Hobbs has three dimensions and is forced to make some choices that put his multiple motivations up against each other. Don't expect any Oscar worthy acting from Johnson or any of the other folks involved and don't expect some sort of gritty Eastwood realism and you should have a good time. As I mentioned, the plot of the film isn't real twisted, unique, or surprising, but it's fully realized and satisfying by the time we reach the conclusion.