It's Mission In-Freakin'-Sanity

It's the rare film series that makes it to a fifth entry and still manages to entertain. And who'da thunk it that the Fast and Furious series would be a series that did both? Fast Five reunites original cast members Paul Walker, Vin Diesel, and (the gorgeous) Jordana Brewster, and shifts the action to Rio, where the team schemes to pull off a heist involving the city's largest crime lord. New to the series is Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson, as an FBI agent hot on their trail. (No wonder Walker and Diesel's characters bring back other former F&F stars, including Chris "Ludacris" Bridges and Tyrese Gibson, who both appeared in the second film).

Fast Five starts out with a bang, as the gang rescues Diesel's character, Dom, as he's bussed off to prison. It hardly slows down from there, with car chase after car chase, lots of running through the favelas, and plenty of gunplay. To call the whole thing a testosterone fest would be putting it mildly. In fact, given the film's location and the target audience, I'm surprised there's not more action that takes place at the beach, so we could see some scantily clad women. Oh well. But despite that, and an often silly screenplay and wooden acting, Fast Five keeps humming along in entertaining, fun fashion, and climaxes with an impossible and exciting chase through the streets of Rio that keeps you on the edge of your seat. If Fast Five is, in fact, the first "summer movie" of the year, then we're in for a very enjoyable season. I'm giving this film a B.

P.S. Be sure to stay through the end credits. Looks like there's going to be a sixth film sometime soon.