Fast, fun and mindless fury ... once again

Rating: 7/10 (30 April 2011)

I went into this movie expecting the usual; fast cars and hot babes held together with a more than flimsy action-packed story line and Justin Lin seemed to schizophrenically deliver (or did he?). The movie starts with a famously stolen and instantly aggravating "one last job" scene, obviously not something any movie goer can believe in this instance because let's face it who finishes a movie series on its fifth? This movie sees the return of all the usual (and previous) F&F characters and same tricks of the trade we have seen Brian and Dom perfect with all the usual so-called tense last minute escapes Hollywood has rinsed dry, yet still this movie does deserve its 7/10 rating.
How? Rio and the favelas are beautifully shot, the new characters are refreshing and VERY well casted, the vehicles are awesome, although lacking in their usual "bling" quality and the witty humour running through from previous F&F's is a little bonus for fans of the previous movies. Coupled with a sprinkling of nail biting moments and generous helpings of laugh-out-loud moments this testosterone injected movie is no doubt a fun, easy on the mind movie to go and watch.
Unfortunately, like all "fun and easy on the mind" movies, the simplicity of it all becomes very predictable and the same is true for this movie. The story line, although containing a couple of very interesting screws, is essentially like any other heist movie we've all seen before (you already know the conclusion and you always wonder where they magically get all that military level kit from). The fight scenes have obvious outcomes, the alliances of certain characters are openly questionable and the character of Matt Schulze (Vince) is more pointless than jet skiing in your 15 meter, back garden swimming pool.
The UNENDING swarms of mind-blowingly beautiful women and roaring hot cars are haplessly missing in the trial to create a more interesting storyline, which has only lead to needless additions into the story which add nothing to the overall plot. This movie is like a man in his late 20's desperate to become something more yet hold onto his youth and ending up messing up on both fronts. There's a token nitrous moment amidst the scores of needless carnage and overflowing testosterone levels from the tanking cast and developments in Brian and Mia's relationship add nothing to the story.
Overall, the movie is enjoyable but lacks the zing of maybe the first two. It falls short of a modern day epic man-movie like the "expendables" and clearly lacks the strong storyline and acting prowess of a brilliant modern day heist movie like "the bank job". Saying that, it would still be a shame to miss this movie.