Directed by Justin Lin. Starring Vin Diesel, Paul Walker, Dwayne Johnson, Jordana Brewster, Tyrese Gibson, Ludacris, Gal Gadot, Joaquim de Almeida 12A cert, gen release, 130 min
WE CAN'T stop thinking about that joke in American Dad: "That's 2 Fast 2 Furious!Which means you've already seen the first one! How else could you possibly follow the highly cerebral storyline?" It's true; nobody is going to confuse Fast & Furious 5with The Brothers Karamazov. But that doesn't mean that the film or its thundering predecessors are easy to follow.
If the Nolanistas who brought along notebooks to repeat screenings of Inceptionwere to offer their services, we could perhaps, as a species, finally decipher the narrative function of each of FF5's many car chases. There are car chases as preludes to car chases. There are car chases as plot twists within bigger car chases. There are car chases framed as homoerotic soliloquies.
Still, there's something comforting about the anarchic crash- bang-wallop of the Fast and Furiousfranchise. Skip three sequels or wander off for an hour and you can be sure the exhilarating heist involving moving vehicles will still be on the screen when you return.
The true genius of FF5(aka Fast Fiveaka Fast & Furious 5: Rio Heist,depending on where you live in the world) is that they've pimped it out with superior features from previous models. We get the original triumvirate of Vin Diesel, Paul Walker and Jordana Brewster. We get Tyrese Gibson and Ludacris returning from 2 Fast 2 Furious. We get Sung Kang from The Fast and the Furious: Tokyo Drift.(We're hoping a midquel can bring back Michelle Rodriguez's character from the grave in time for FF6).
It hardly matters that, armed with a cunning plan, the gang have now relocated to Rio to face down a corrupt Brazilian capitalist. The big news for the fifth instalment is that Dwayne Johnson, back in badass Driver mode from his own fast and furious movie ( Faster), is the US federal agent on their tail. For those who appreciate the trashier things in life, it's the greatest union since De Niro and Pacino ordered coffee together in Heat.
Hampered by the film’s tremendously monosyllabic dialogue, Johnson defaults into entertaining wrestling speak, while Diesel . . . well, if only real life were like Vin Diesel.
Can you smell the testosterone from here? There are so many greased muscles and purring engines on offer, our hemisphere may have to consider invading Venezuela or Libya or one of those other oil-rich nations to keep Diesel and Rock looking nice and shiny. Oh.
