Fast Five

This is the best Fast and furious movie in my opinion. The franchise reinvented itself here and the series really benefited from it. This had a much better and believable plot and of course the Rock made the movie really good as well. 8.5/10

Without a shadow of a doubt, The Fast And Furious Franchise reaches it's peak in this installment with breathtaking action and a sense of friendship and brotherhood shared by the lead characters. Vin Diesel and Paul Walker return and are joined by newcomer Dwayne Johnsson for the 5th Fast and Furious Movie, entitled ''Fast Five''. There's not much to say about this, the action movie of the year, except it's fantastic shots of Brazil, the heist plot that brings even more excitem«ent to the table and overall the continuation of the story of these characters we have come to love and support, as their bond streghtens over time.

In Conclusion, if you love the franchise then you can't miss it

9/10

"Home sweet home" utters Diesel's beefcake criminal Dom Toretto to Walker's baby-faced ex-cop Brian O'Conner as they sit in Toretto's souped up muscle car ready to race along the streets of Rio de Janeiro. There's more than a hint of irony in this; fans of the Fast franchise will know exactly what Dom means. The sequels spawned from the highly successful first film have been a mixed bag appealing to different tastes. Some have been mildly entertaining in their own way, but the one major issue they've all shared is a lack of recurring characters and follow-on narratives. 2009's Fast & Furious partially rectified that by having the main four from the original movie return, but it's this fifth entry that really starts to bring the whole series together.

There's supporting characters from every instalment featured here – Matt Schulze's Vince from number one; Tyrese's big-mouthed Roman and Ludicrous' Tej from 2 Fast 2 Furious; Sung Kang's charismatic Han from Tokyo Drift; and Gal Gadot's sexy Gisele from F&F – with a post-credits cameo to cap it off. Scribe Chris Morgan has obviously done his homework as, in addition to the 'who's who' line-up of co-stars, there are references to the previous movies (and characters that don't appear) and he introduces subplots that help build on earlier story lines. This integration of the Fast universe, along with the marvellously tongue-in-cheek mood, notches up a level of interest not before seen in the car-crazy franchise.

After taking a new course with Tokyo Drift, and failing to impress with Fast & Furious, filmmaker Justin Lin has well and truly ignited the series with exciting set pieces and lashings of well placed humour. He still struggles to effectively call the shots when exposition (or mere conversation) is required; however he clearly has a handle on shooting the various fast-paced action scenes. There is a spectacular heist of luxury cars aboard a train (with a marvellously ridiculous denouement); a Bourne-esque free-running chase along roof tops; and a bruising hand-to-hand melee between The Rock and big Vin.

Of the major stars, it's Fast newcomer Dwayne Johnson who shines the brightest. His epic bad-ass cop makes Toretto look like an absolute sissy, which is no easy feat. He also boasts many of the film's greatest lines and comes away looking the least corny – something Diesel and Walker are evidently use to by now. The chalk and cheese pairing of the two wannabe action stars brings with it a decent slab of shonky acting. Chrome-domed Diesel is especially silly and unconvincing when required to open his mouth, but he looks good behind the wheel of a car and adds plenty to the unapologetic macho atmosphere.

Thanks to Morgan's decent script, Lin's solid grasp on the action and Johnson's tough-as-nails turn, this latest addition to a franchise that appeared to be running on fumes has just stepped on the gas.

3.5 out of 5 (1 - Rubbish, 2 - Average, 3 - Good, 4 - Great, 5 - Brilliant)

Amazing action, cars, solid story, comedic, and very entertaining! What more could you ask for except for epicness! I love all the badness in it and Tyrees Gibson is always a delight so is everyone else. Great Fast and furious for any fan of the series or not. Exhilarating as well too!

This is the film that single-handedly got me to give the rest of the series a shot, for better or worse. It's a nice change of pace from the previous films where it abandons the street race angle (how far could you have taken that anyway?) and goes into the direction of a heist action flick with cars. Dwayne Johnson is a great addition and really adds to the series embracing the goofiness of its premise. So yeah, still the best this franchise had, and that's kind of rare for a franchise on its fifth film. The action for the most part is really handled well and a lot of fun to watch. The cast as an ensemble are very charismatic which no doubt makes it more fun for audiences to see a cast that has so much diversity and it's not done with generic stereotypes but just a bunch of people with a common interest. Overall a very entertaining action flick.