Fast & Furious 5
Former FBI agent Brian O’Connor and Mia Toretto have broken Dom out of custody and have been on the run ever since. They end up in Rio de Janeiro where they face off local crime lord Hernan Reyes. They decide to pull off one last job where they’ll earn enough money with to retire and get Reyes out of business with at the same time. Only minor problem: DEA agent Luke Hobbs who’s come to Rio to take them down.
Sound and Vision:
Fast Five has that typical Michael Bay look with eye-popping colors and blown-out contrast. Colors don’t blend, detail is great and the camera views on Rio are just stunning and truly show how HD can represent realistic images. And while one can wonder why Johnson seems to have constantly forgotten to dry himself off after showering before every scene, it’s cool to see every bead of sweat on his face.
When it comes to having demo material, Fast Five is without a doubt a disc you want to show off your home cinema system. Plain and simple. Crystal clear dialogues, non-stop action, surrounds constantly showing off engine sounds, constant pumping bass coming out of the subwoofer, … and all that very detailed and never overloading each other. Fantastic!
Extras:
– Audio commentary
– Deleted Scenes
– Gag Reel
– A New Set of Wheels
– The Big Train Heist
– Reuniting the Team
– Dom’s Journey
– Brian O’Conner: From Fed to Con
– Enter Federal Agent Hobbs
– Doms vs. Hobbs
– On Set with Director Justin Lin
– Inside the Vault Chase
– Tyrese TV
A big list of extras, but they all come in at under ten minutes each (except for the audio commentary of course) and aren’t all equally interesting. Still, over an hour of extras for the fans next to having the movie on Blu-ray, DVD and a digital copy.
Conclusion:
Fast & Furious 5 is absurd. It’s ridiculous. It’s so over the top that there seems to be no limit to how high one can go over a top. As much as the story lacks credibility, the acting seemingly is limited to two types of looks and a couple of one-sentence dialogues. Vin Diesel and Paul Walker do nothing but look grimm, and Dwayne Johnson manages to perform even worse than in Doom. And even that seems to take a lot of effort from him as he’s constantly soaking wet for no apparent reason (or he must have some extreme issues with warmth).
Still, all that is made up by one thing and one thing only: the car chase with the vault is so abundantly ridiculous it’s great. You just MUST have seen it! It’s without a doubt the most original and greatest car chase I have ever seen and it blows away any other car chase that has ever been shown on screen. Absolutely magnificent!
If the makers want to top this with a next Fast & Furious, I’m guessing they’ll have cars that start flying, race into space and attack the Death Star while Darth Vader is chasing them with a TIE Fighter. Ridiculous on all accounts, but the way it’s implemented in Fast 5 makes it fun to watch nonetheless.
7.0