Dir. Justin Lin, USA, 130 mins, 2011
Cast: Vin Diesel, Paul Walker, Jordana Brewster, Tyrese Gibson, Dwayne Johnson
Review by Matthew Rodgers
It’s something of a vintage rarity that any franchise splutters towards a fourth sequel; a fate usually reserved for a once great horror icon or a series settling for the direct-to-dvd mileage. Well the series that dropped the definitive article and managed something of a Pimp My Ride overhaul, is back, dragging familiar faces from throughout the petrol sniffingly stupid series, for an Italian Job set in Rio.
Setting the scene using a “previously on The Fast and The Furious” montage, Five picks up directly after Dom Toretto (Diesel) has been busted from the pen. Establishing HQ in the Rio favelas, he is joined by former FBI nemesis Brian O’ Connor (Walker) and his fugitive sister, Mia (Brewster) as they plot “one final job” before fleeing to an extradition free country.
Easier said than done when The Rock can smell what you’re cooking. Johnson joins the franchise as hard nosed Federal Agent Hobbs, who is intent on returning the joyriding trio to the States. And that’s all you’re getting in terms in terms of plot. Anyone that understandably nodded off during parts 1-4 will need a compendium to catch up.
This could very well turn out to be the comedy of the year, because intentionally or not, nearly every line of the daytime soap opera dialogue results in a laugh. At times it’s reminiscent of The Other Guys in the straight faced delivery of lines such as “even God couldn’t break into this prison”, although to be fair, 2 Fast’s Tyrese Gibson does get a few corking one-liners that hit home.
It’s also worth noting that Five brings together two brutes, who were originally intended to take up the action mantle left by Schwarzenegger, in which both have subsequently fumbled. Of the two, Dwayne Johnson appears to best embrace this live-action cartoon, gurning and overacting to pantomime effect like a pumped up version of Tommy Lee-Jones from The Fugitive. Diesel continues to struggle; gruff and monosyllabic, the charisma of Pitch Black now a distant memory.
But the cars are truly the stars, and even though the action only really bookends the Ocean’s Eleven style plotting, when it does occur it’s brilliantly over the top. It’s safe to say that the street slalom finale is one of the most ridiculous action set-pieces of wanton destruction (some of it the morally reprehensible kind, with its disregard for consequence) outside of a Road Runner cartoon.
Anyone strapping themselves in for this fifth lap knows what to expect; the kind of movie in which the protagonists steal police cars in order to be inconspicuous, only to race then down the high street with Tyrese wise-cracking (again) over the tannoy. Anyone else is going to have a bumpy ride with this overlong, dumb, marginally sexist, sometimes enjoyable rubbish.
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