More is less is generally the case with blockbuster sequels these
days, with budgetary bloat often overshadowing the qualities that made
the original film click with audiences. The
Fast and the Furious
movies, however, somehow manage to spin doughnuts around this concept of
diminishing returns, with each installment becoming more ridiculously
entertaining.
Fast Five may be the most overblown entry in the
series to date (which is saying quite a bit), but there's a dunderheaded
earnestness to it that's hard to resist. This time around, Vin Diesel
and Paul Walker and Co. go for an
Ocean's 11 vibe--swapping out
the Armani and martinis for Ed Hardy and Muscle Milk--as the gang go on
the lam in Rio following a botched train heist. On the lookout for one
final big score, they set their sights on bankrupting the local kingpin
(an admirably straight-faced Joaquim de Almeida), calling in seemingly
every character in the mythos for help. Stuff goes vroom and boom in
mass quantities. Perhaps realizing that the formula may be in danger of
reaching its shelf date, returning director Justin Lin here livens
things up by bringing in Dwayne Johnson as a federal agent with a
fearsome grudge. When he and Diesel eventually throw down, the
building-busting destruction recalls the immortal
War of the Gargantuas.
Viewers in the mood for a little logic with their explosions may
initially scoff, but by the time the final chase scene rolls around (an
outrageously sustained kinetic set piece that would make Wile E. Coyote
proud) it's tough to keep back the grins. Heaven only knows what the
next sequel will bring (Send them back to colonial times? A race against
Cthulhu in outer space? Pit them against Dick Dastardly and Muttley?),
but there's every confidence that these folks will somehow pull it off.
--
Andrew Wright
