Camaraderie

Rating: Null/10 (6 October 2011)

The title for this ongoing sequel to Fast and Furious is, it seems, related to the number of films based on this fast driving bunch of car fanatics than to the number of people in the tribe. What makes this series of Pow and Wow action flicks stand above many of its competitors is the tremendous sense of fun the cast seems to be having - leaping over rooftops, driving fast cars, pulling off impossible heists. It all ends in a sense of fun and introduces the teaser for the next in the series (a bit with Eva Mendes and Jason Mignot in a brief talk after the credits run pretty much guarantees the next installment).
This time the guys and girls - Dom Toretto (Vin Diesel), his sister Mia Toretto (Jordana Brewster), her boyfriend ex-cop Brian O'Conner (Paul Walker), Vince (Matt Schulze), Roman Pearce (Tyrese Gibson), Tej Parker (Ludacris), Han Lue (Sung Kang), Gisele Harabo (Gal Gadot) Tego Leo (Tego Calderon), and Rico Santos (Don Omar) - gather in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil - each in various stages of running from the past - hunted by FBI Agent Luke Hobbs (Dwayne Johnson) and in desperate need for money to escape Rio to countries where they cannot be extradited. They discover the one last job opportunity - taking away the money that billionaire Hernan Reyes (Joaquim de Almeida) takes from the money houses in the infamous Rio favelas district. It takes the talent of the entire crew to make the heist of heists as the safe where the illegal money is kept is in the police station in a huge vault that is impenetrable - until our gang takes over in likely the most interesting and entertaining chase scene on film. The rest of the story is fluff but nice - with a little love interest thrown in for good measure. This cast is strong and they pull of the fine line between comedy and drama very well. In the end this is a fast and entertaining escape film. And #6 will probably come soon!
Grady Harp