#Fast5:A reconstitution of the Fast franchise that incorporates the most universal elements of The Fugitive and Ocean’s 11, and little else.
The main selling point of Fast Five for me was to see Vin Diesel and The Rock face off against each other. Not to see them trade blows, but to banter back and forth in some kind of “tough guy-off”. Unfortunately, because they were trying to leave the profanity at the door to keep their PG rating, i found the one liners lacking. (Odd that they watched the swears per minute for the sake of the kiddies, but paid little attention to the more important stuff like wearing a seat-belt.) Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson does a great job of chanelling Tommy Lee Jones’ Sam Gerard mixed in with a little “Stone Cold” Steve Austin (and maybe even a little Beck too), but I thought it was a shame he innevitably wound up becoming a bit player to the series’ manistays.
While I’ve only ever watched the first film in the series, I could see that they were trying to offer nods to the other installments, especially by parading though some of the past characters. If I knew more about Fast’s “legacy” I could say more on whether they stayed true to their original incarnations, but as character insight and development was pretty much thrown out the window in favour of a straight ahead cars & crime picture, it’s pretty much a non-issue.
They opted for a Brazillian backdrop for this outing, and they managed to exploit every last angle available out of it. I never get tired of footchase scenes across the rooftops of Rio’s slums, although I might be growing weary of the heavy handed use of the Christ the Redeemer statue as a theme for the supposed redemption that I don’t think ever manifested. It seemed like Diesel’s Dom wanted to make up for the things he’d done – sort of – but I don’t think he transformed himself at all. With no transformation, how can he be redeemed?
Those who were seeking riveting performances and a richly adorned script from this flick clearly don’t have firm grasp of the movie industry. This picture was meant to deliver a very specific menu of visceral experiences, and at that, Fast Five clearly succeeded. Attractive women abound, engines roar like horny wolverines, and guns lock & load straight out of Call of Duty. It’ll never make my shelf, but i can certainly see myself recommending it to a group of people looking for something to eat popcorn to.
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Hi Steve, haven’t seen you around the blogosphere for a while. My guest blogger reviewed this for me. I might rent this one, perhaps it’s a good flick to watch with my mostly-male friends. Definitely not something I’d pay money to see at the cinema.
Ruth! The Mad Hatter and I were saying nice things about you today, were your ears burning? I am currently in the process of repurposing my life – after having shut down my radio show, moved to other side of the country, and still trying settle in somewhere. I’ve been making time to watch movies, not so much on the writing about them though.
As far as Fast 5 goes – I’m not sure what it says about me that this was my first review in ages, but I assure you I’ve seen far better films in the past two months. I think you’ve got a clear picture of what it’s about though, so I’m sure you can put it in your “maybe” pile and let it gather dust.