Fast Five Nears Perfection

Fast Five:

The Rock Makes The Franchise Go Higher

If you have read a review of Fast Five that was not positive all you have read is someone who is admitting they don't like any of the Fast and Furious films. Now, there is nothing wrong with not liking these generally silly films about street racers who find themselves in various predicaments which inevitably require them to either flee from the police or criminals or both, but what is the value of that review? Anyone reading certainly already has an opinion about this franchise. The truth is it is impossible to give this movie a bad review. It is everything you want from these characters, plus The Rock. In short, it is this franchise at its best.

Again, don't misunderstand, this franchise at its best is hysterically absurd, over-acted and exist in a world that seems somehow less realistic than Star Trek. And that, of course, is the genius of it all. Where else can a jail break "plan" result in a prison bus flipping 10 or 15 times and having that result in "0" injuries and only 1 escape, our hero Vin Diesel? Where else can a US Marshal take his assault team to Brazil in search of two car thieves and be aloud to run roughshod over the whole of Rio with no intervention or comment from the local police? Only in a world that is alternatively fast and furious.

 I loved this movie because it is one of the few films that worked and yet you still had this comment after:

It was like they sat in the writers room and one guy yelled out "hey, why don't we make the Fast and the Furious meets Oceans 11" and then someone else said "hey, what about Fast and the Furious meets The Fugitive" and then someone said "I hear people are excited about that birds movie Rio, we should capitalize on that" and then someone said "I hear the agents for Paul, Vin and Jordana are saying they want more acting, why don't we make someone pregnant" the director gives a look and says "not too pregnant" and someone else says "yeah we can just have her say she is pregnant but she wont look it and it wont make her stop doing anything and then at the end we can show them a few months later on a beach and she will put a pillow under her shirt and they will be all happy and content" and then the producer says "I Love It!" and the director asks "what part?" and the producer says "all of it, throw all those ideas in there, now that will be a blockbuster!"

9 times out of ten when you see a movie with that many overt references and ideas the movie collapses spectacularly under the weight of it all, but not here. We get fights, we get heists,  we get a lot of crazy stunts with cars and we get some of the most brilliantly unintentionally funny "acting" moments ever.

Fast Five is an unabashed Level VIII movie. It is Awesome!