I like how when I review movies sometimes a Tumblr for a specific actor in the movie I reviewed “likes” my post. Especially when it’s a Paul Walker Tumblr liking my Fast Five review when I clearly state in the review that “Paul Walker was absolutely terrible in this film” LOL!

Here we go! I consider this the official kick off to the summer movie season right here, FAST FIVE.

I suppose the best way to start this review is to say my thoughts on the previous four installments in the Fast and Furious franchise. The first film, The Fast and the Furious, is still a pretty good cheesy action flick; the acting is terrible, but it delivers enough thrills. The second film’s only saving grace is Tyrese Gibson, WHO IS THE FUCKING MAN! The third film, Tokyo Drift, was enjoyable, less so than the first but sort of on the same level. The fourth film, Fast and Furious, which reunited the original stars is one of the worst movies I’ve ever seen in my life. I fucking HATE that movie, the only redeemable quality is the opening scene and then it’s all downhill from there.

This brings us to Fast Five… I really hated the 4th Fast and Furious movie, but then I saw that they were getting like everybody back for this one like Ludacris, Han, and the big one, TYRESE GIBSON! (I might go into a blog post about why Tyrese is so fucking awesome, it’s kind of like a well known thing amongst my friends that we’re all in on haha) Plus, they get Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson to get into the franchise as a bad ass federal agent to hunt down Paul Walker and Vin Diesel? Awesome, just fucking awesome. The trailers hit and that got me even more amped, but I liked the trailers for the 4th film too, so I didn’t get my hopes up. But even more surprising than that, the critical reception came in to positive reviews! It’s sitting at 79% on RottenTomatoes right now, certified fresh, when the entire franchise has been 0/4 on RottenTomatoes. So that’s huge, it just increased my expectations even more.

Ultimately, I FUCKING LOVE THIS MOVIE! It seriously delivers on everything that I expected from a Fast and Furious movie. All I want is some cool action scenes, good chase sequences, hot chicks, hot cars, some comedy, a Rock/Vin Diesel throw down, and some Tyrese quotables. I can happily say that the film pretty much delivered on all fronts.

What I appreciate the most is how they did a lot of the driving stunts FOR REAL. A huge problem that has plagued most of the Fast and Furious movies (and most action movies in general these days) was the CGI implementation taking the realism of the stunts out of the film. Fast Five has some CGI shots during the stunts, but very few and most aren’t as noticeable or are implemented well. A lot of the driving has real cars, real drivers, and you feel a sense of real danger, and that adds a lot of tension and belief for the audience. The fourth Fast and Furious film had a terrible finale that was basically all CGI and extremely boring, there’s no innovation. When you see a CGI car do a stunt, you think in your head “okay this is just a computer”, but when you see a real car do a real stunt FOR REAL, that’s impressive as hell. I have to say that Fast Five really impressed me with the action sequences and some of the stunts they were able to pull off, just ridiculously awesome stuff.

I know that you don’t go into a movie like Fast Five expecting good acting or an interesting storyline, but I have to air out some beefs. Paul Walker was absolutely terrible in this film, the rookie cop was pretty cringe-worthy as well. The plot at times makes no sense and they do a lot of really stupid stuff for guys who are “at the top of the FBI’s most wanted list” lol. Also what’s hilarious is that the cops are also ridiculously stupid and don’t do simple things that you would think a cop would immediately do to catch someone, but that’s besides the point, this is a movie called FAST FIVE after all haha.

If you come into Fast Five looking for a crowd pleasing and fun action popcorn flick, this movie will not disappoint. Justin Lin stepped his game up and delivered what is easily, qualitatively, the best Fast and Furious movie to date. A ton of action thrown at you a mile at minute, what more could you want from a Fast and Furious movie?

8/10