Truly Dreadful Film

One of the worst movies I've ever seen

Not sure how, but this is easily one of the best movies all summer. Multiple levels of funny, never takes itself seriously, super colorful, and creative.

The story, direction, characters, and writing/dialogue is akin to taking a tranquilizer shot to the neck, but everything else was so well done.

Great action, cool stunts, much thrill and suspense build-up you would expect from a Fast & Furious title. I was really satisfied with the story and the acting. Not only does this movie start on a strong note, but the ending ticks all boxes. If you'd like to watch great action flick with a few laughs along the way - I say that this movie is a must-see!

Prior to seeing this installment, I had rather enjoyed the other movies I'd seen of this series. Despite the fact that they are very action driven, formulaic in plot, and over the top, they at least held my attention and were somewhat exciting. From what I had seen and heard, I was under the impression that this number five was supposed the best in the series. But actually it was the movie that alerted me to everything I don't like about this series.I want to highlight how destruction was handled in the climatic car chase scene. Cars are flipping and blowing up and smashing into other cars and buildings. The big safe is ripping through everything it touches and is sliding out of control. And yet the only fatalities are those of the corrupt cops chasing Brian and Dom. Now, I know why this is so. How can we like our protagonists if they kill innocent bystanders? It makes for unlikable heroes. But I think that is letting them off way too easy. In none of their planning do they make any mention of whether they are endangering the citizens of Rio. In reality, there would have been a lot of people killed, and I think it is wrong to not show any pedestrians dying in the destruction. It's expected that in movies reality is bent a little, particularly in big-scale entertainment movies like this. I get that. But I think it was done to an irresponsible degree in this case.Coupled with this is the likability of our protagonists. They are shown as sort of perfectly imperfect people. They're criminals with some character flaws, but then they've got these simple codes and beliefs that drive them. In the character's views, Dom in particular, whatever they do to keep their family together is acceptable. They're almost too easy to root for. In some other movies, Brian and Dom and the gang would be the villains, but since the opposition is morally worse than them, they become the good guys. I don't want to give the impression that I think all criminals are bad, they aren't. Breaking the law can be the right thing to do, and nowhere is that highlighted more than in some of my favorite movies. But in the case of this movie, I think that legal justice should have been conducted on the heroes. One would think that the action would be an upside for this movie, but this is only partially true. The grand-scale action kept me watching, and some of the one on one fights and foot chase scenes were engaging. But behind the spectacle and size is a disappointingly flat execution. There is very little drama behind the action scenes. There are lots of explosions and big gunfights, but these are not constructed or shot in a way that makes them really cool or exciting. For this reason, the lengthy car chases get somewhat monotonous. Also, by virtue of this being a summer entertainment flick, we as an audience know intuitively that all or at least most of our heroes will survive. That makes us feel smart in a way, but it reduces the suspense of the action sequences. There's only real drama if there is a genuine possibility that the protagonist will not survive it. That doesn't mean the drama is real if the odds are stacked absurdly against a character, as often happens. It means that the world that is created by the movie gives the audience the impression that this is the kind of story that is willing to kill its main characters or at least wound them beyond repair. This is not the case in the Fast and Furious movies, and it reduces the excitement of their many action scenes.I'm sorry if I ranted too much here. I just have some strong opinions on the choices that this movie made. It does have some redeeming qualities in its frequent funny moments and slightly emotional subplots. But for the most part it's just a testosterone-driven movie with an adequate story pasted onto it. Overall Rating: 6.1/10

Fast Five picks up right where the previous film ends, with Brian O'Conner (Paul Walker) and Mia Toretto (Jordana Brewster) helping to free Dominic Toretto (Vin Diesel) from the prison bus. Brian and Mia go on the run but need to fund their escape so they meet up with Vince (Matt Schulze) to perform a train heist of cars where they meet up with Dom. This explosive action scene ends with Brian and Dom riding off a cliff and being captured by a new villain Reyes (Joaquim de Almeida) who wants to find the car Mia escaped in. Brian and Dom escape but they are even more wanted after the deaths of three DEA agents during the heist.On the trail of the criminals is Agent Hobbs (Dwayne Johnson) who recruits the only Bazilian office he can trust Elena (Elsa Pataky). Brian and Vince do not get along causing tension between the crew. Vince is caught stealing a secret chip that belongs to Reyes. Brian, Mia, and Dom discover that this chip has important information of Reyes just as his henchmen and Hobbs crew assault their hideout leading to a chase through the favela. Dom encounters Elena and saves her life from thugs. Check out more of this review and others at swilliky.com

Fast Five, more like… Ocean's Eleven?Well that was disappointing, and when a Fast and Furious film disappoints, that's pretty bad.Brian O'Conner is on the side of the thieves now as the film picks up where the last left off with him, Mia and others rescuing Dominic from prison. Now they all have the law's worst, most ruthless officer hunting them down… The Rock, I mean… Dwayne Johnson… I mean the The Rock… never mind. To finally get away from the law and live free, the team must assemble all of their allies from previous films into a group to rob from the richest Brazilian drug cartel leader.The potential for ridiculous amounts of car racing and chasing could never be higher; the franchise's deliberate step to make things before Tokyo Drift and having all noteworthy characters involved in a heist has to pay off. Well, that does mean we get Tyrese Gibson again…….. But on top of that, it really doesn't work.The Fast and the Furious has now officially stepped over the line from being relatively easy going, entertaining racer films, to becoming a never-ending series of "serious business". The series has literally forgotten about the cars and instead feels we like the characters enough now to base the entire focus on them (to the point of having Brian and Mia about to have a child…)That isn't an overstatement either, asides an opening act train heist, the film takes an hour, an hour, to get into what the series is good at. Street racing. But we don't even see the race, we just get a cheeky cut away since Brian and Dom are obviously going to win it. The assembled team spend most of their time sitting around chatting and being their individual selves from other films (Avengers Assemble, this ain't) and nothing gets done. Most of the film appears to gear towards the two big, burly bald men (Diesel and Johnson) fighting each other… which… I don't care for, where is the… y'know, car racing?The finale is fun to watch as well as ridiculous, and the Ocean's Eleven reference earlier is not unfounded (seems like any film can get away with twists like that nowadays) but it takes so long to get there it doesn't feel particularly tense. This is the first film in the series to go over the two hour runtime, and it did not need it!It isn't precisely a bad film, but it has lost its identity as a niche piece of entertainment and instead settles into generic action movie zone. Sad really, but when you try to stretch "street racing" into multiple films, it'll happen.And no, it isn't as bad as the second one.