Fast Five

This is the most honest bit of action in the last couple of seasons. After the demolitions of the digital Englishmen, the real stunt cars began to be destroyed at such a pace that Hollywood insurance people must have jumped out of their skin when they finally saw it. Lin manned up like few before him and fueled the tried-and-true blend of all the previous films, topping it off with the necessary octane by casting The Rock. Luke Hobbs, an overgrown, muscular beast, is brought in by an army transport special, and all hell breaks loose in a way that we would have looked for in vain in films that were originally about tuning, lots of nitro, and asses in tight shorts. Catchphrases can be heard all the time, there are some great action inserts, and then there is the fight we’ve wanted since Sylvester Stallone was rolled up by Steve Austin. The Diesel vs. Johnson fight is a physical bulldozer that breaks tables, knocks down walls, and still manages to exude that manly anger that such duels often lack. It all culminates in an action-packed ride through Rio de Janeiro that will have you running around like you did a year and a half ago in "Modern Warfare 2." An overflowing genre box. A regular aspirant for the Top 5 blockbusters of the year and a compliment to Lin. The Terminator idea suddenly looks very promising. (15/05/2011)

The series is transforming from a tuning exhibition for teenagers to full-blooded action blockbusters, where the roar of engines is drowned out by fusillades from machine guns and shotguns. Fast Five offers a well-coordinated team of partners in crime, the wild jungle of Rio de Janeiro and a surprisingly elaborate and ambitious script that overshadowed Bay’s Bad Boys II (which is thematically similar in many ways and met with mixed reviews). The movie’s creators hit the bull’s-eye by casting The Rock, who boosted the film to the testosterone maximum. In a single 130-minute film, there are no fewer than three bands of tough guys equipped with great cars and big guns fighting one another. What more can we wish for in this genre? (05/05/2011)

Anyone who admired the old-fashioned approach two years ago of combining action movies with relentless car chases will praise Justin Lin even more this time around. The reason is that the exact same thing happened to me. Although the fourth installment was a very pleasant spectacle, it simply pales in comparison to the fifth in every respect. Here we've shifted into a much higher gear in terms of of speed and the result is a real action gem where you don't have to question whether you truly like it or if you're just kowtowing to the familiar faces. Because here, you won't even have time to catch your breath properly. This is especially true for the infernal final half-hour, which is so dazzling and deafening (in a good way) that it has rightfully elevated the franchise from being a familiar favorite to a massively visited series of blockbusters. And the biggest asset? Dwayne Johnson's beast of a character is his now iconic role. (28/05/2011)

Hands down, the best episode of the series. Unfortunately, the overwrought pivotal action scene at the end, with a half demolished Rio and a massive vault behind two bulldozers, was too far beyond the edge of acceptability for my taste. And when they open their mouths in the non-action passages and the characters spout life's truths and wisdoms, even Mrs. Cliché and Stupidity run to hide behind the camera in terror, it was really hard to listen to. Thanks at least for Dwayne's character of Agent Hobbs, because you can never have enough of The Rock and his fist fight with Diesel, when the surrounding walls were collapsing like styrofoam backdrops, brought me out of my lethargy. (09/05/2011)

An action-packed western with Rio instead of the Wild West, fast cars instead of horses and a drug kingpin instead of a railroad tycoon (the opening jump/fall into the water can be understood as picking up where Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid left off). The family subtext is needless and the action scenes are, to put it kindly, ridiculous, but if for no other reason (such as Gal Gadot), the heavy-duty confrontation between Diesel and the Rock prompts me to gladly forgive the film for its clumsy dialogue and disrespect for the laws of physics. A smarter spectacle would have come at the cost of leaving out the scene in which a ten-tonne safe attached to two racing cars cheerfully demolishes the streets of the Brazilian metropolis. Either take Fast Five with all of its testosterone-fuelled theatricality or forget that it even exists. 80% (10/04/2012)