Fast Five (Fast and Furious Five)

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Plot: Dominic (Vin Diesel) is a fugitive hiding in Brasil with his sister Mia (Jordana Brewster) and her boyfriend Brian (Paul Walker). Soon they need money, and they start stealing cars. The run afoul of the local gangsters and the US DEA. Soon both are hunting them. The DEA sent super-agent Hobbs (Dwayne Johnson) to Rio to catch them. The hatch a scheme to rob the Brasilian Godfather with a big team like in Oceans 11/12/13.

Review: This is a big noisy popcorn movie with lots of good moments many including automobiles, but without a heart. The best part is Vin Diesel and Dwayne Johnson who are better than most action heros, and they pose and posture. There is a lot of clever tough-guy  banter and a few skinny girls to provide distraction and love interests. 


There is a lot of cartoon style gunshots and impossible car stunts. People fight and shoot and no one ever bleeds. The movie gets more and more far-fetched as it goes, but that is OK because this is a popcorn movie so shut up and watch. Stay home if that is going to be a problem. 


While it has good moments the overall effect is not that inspiring. I liked some of the people, but basically they are just thieves who kill people for the money. The biggest problem is that the director seems to think we know these people already, and the characters are re-living some scenes from the earlier movies. That is why most movie series don't make it to five.

Cast: Vin Diesel, Paul Walker and Dwayne Johnson

Directed by: Justin Lin

Rating: 2.0 stars

More: I liked the closing credit song and the stylized race scene. The song is How We Roll by Don Omar and other artists.

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2011 Has Solid High Concept Movies

 I have given five 3.0 ratings this year, and no ratings higher than that. It bothers me that I can't differentiate between these movies which were all enjoyable, but all flawed.

It makes me think that I should adopt a ten point rating system or something.

The five strongest movies of 2011 so far are Lincoln Lawyer, Source Code, Hanna, Adjustment Bureau, and Limitless. You can find the reviews below, or on the Top 2011 Movies on the right sidebar.

Of the four movies, which one do I want to see again?

Hanna is the coolest from an action movie sense, and probably the most fun. The beginning scenes in Finland are Oscar worthy, and the overall storybook metaphor provides a good context. The lack of an ending is disturbing, but indie films often lack endings.

Nonetheless all these movies had problems too. Hanna had good problems too. Hanna and Lincoln Lawyer only had good performances from Saoirse Ronan and Matthew McConnehey. Hanna would have had a high rating if the ending would have been stronger too.

Lincoln Lawyer was clever, but at bottom it was just a clever lawyer story -- and there are so many clever lawyer stories. It was a pretty enjoyable movie though.

Source Code  was a high concept movie that involved a limited amount of time travel. The story was a little weak in that it showed the same scene over and over, but the strength was the acting. It had good supporting actor performance from Farmiga and Monaghan, but Gyllenhaal was only OK. I also liked the idea of a major character only interacting via a grainy TV. Farmiga is the reason this is a three, otherwise, it is a little weak.

 Limitless is probably the most over-rated of this group. The acting was only OK, especially DiNiro. I gave it a high rating because I like the premise of a smart drug, and the issues that it played out. In retrospect, I's probably drop it back.

The villains are pretty dumb in Limitless.

The best part about Lincoln Lawyer was McConaughey, and the flawless exposition of a complicated plot. It falls down because it has no ambition beyond entertainment, and it lacks good supporting actor performances.  Lincoln Lawyer is just for fun, and it can't get beyond that.

Adjustment Bureau is like many of the others with supernatural forces, but it engages some big issues like political manipulation, freewill and predestination. Matt Damon and Emily Blunt are great, but the film is less than the sum of the parts, and it is just not that fun.

At some point we wonder when is Damon's character David going to give up and get with the program.  At the end of the movie, they punt on the big issues and go with the love story, which is fine for a Hollywood movie.

So where does this leave us?  Hanna is the strongest, Adjustment Bureau and Lincoln Lawyer are in the middle, and Source Code  and Limitless were a little weak.