Stars Vin Diesel, Paul Walker, Jordana Brewster, Tyrese Gibson, Sung Kang, Chris ‘Ludacris’ Bridges, Gal Gadot, Tego Calderon, Don Omar, Matt Schulze, Joaquim de Almeida with Elsa Pataky and Dwayne Johnson Directed by Justin Lin Spoilers abound!! Pushing into its second decade (The Fast and The Furious opened in 2001), the franchise that started with an eye on the illegal street racing coupled with an undercover cop story evolves even further from its original concept. Most franchise find a niche and stay there, rarely venturing beyond their comfort zone. In a way, the Fast and Furious films have stayed true with its use of cars. After all, it’s not so much about the racing as it is about the racers behind the wheels. But there has been an underlying theme that was introduced in the first film, revisited in the third albeit with a light touch, and reenforced in the fourth film; family. A family made of disparate souls brought together by the common element of speed. Here, the movie opens where the last one left off, with a daring escapade to bust Dominic Toretto (Vin Diesel) out of a prison bus. That done, our (anti) heroes are on the run and we pick up as they arrive in Rio. What follows eventually becomes a heist film that requires a team, so Dom and Brian O’Conner (Paul Walker) call up some help - cast members from previous films that include Roman Pierce (Tyrese Gibson) and Tej (Ludacris) from 2 Fast 2 Furious, Han (Sung Kang), originally from Tokyo Drift, and Gisele (Gal Gadot) as well as the double act of Tego and Santos (Tego Calderon and Don Omar) from Fast and Furious, and their Rio contact, Vince (Matt Schulze) from The Fast and The Furious. On their heels is unrelenting hard-nosed man-mountain federal agent, Luke Hobbs (Dwayne Johnson) and his strike team. Collaborating with returning writer, Chris Morgan, director Justin Lin raises the bar in terms of action. The opening gambit is the aforementioned bus bust. This is quickly followed by a train heist and the rest of the plot, occasionally punctuated by an occasional chase, a foot-chase across and over the favela, some fisticuffs - including a titanic battle between Diesel and Johnson - some gun battles and tour-de-force stunt set-piece ‘vault heist’. Even the race - a key component from the previous films, is whittled to just one quarter-mile stretch between four of the team. Another element enhanced in this entry is humour, which makes the movie extremely fun to watch. A dynamic is flipped. Lin had been moving the stunts away from the CGI vehicles that permeated through the first two movies and in this instalment, the CGI effects was mostly regulated to background plates at key moments, or converting shooting location Puerto Rico into story location of Rio for key scenes. All the key stunts were done practical, which includes almost derailing a train by launching a truck into the side of a train car or tumbling a massive vault through city streets. The featurettes mention wrecking up to 200 cars in the final chase alone. The fourth, fifth and sixth entries to this series do make up a trilogy in itself, with a tag at the end of this one (featuring the return of another star from 2 Fast 2 Furious) setting up the next. The core characters themselves have evolved, primarily Walker’s character who shifts from lawman to fugitive, and getting increasing comfortable with his new role, especially with the added complication of becoming a father-to-be. Another interesting aspect of the characters is that the girls do have strong and independent roles. Also, the addition of Dwayne ‘The Rock’ Johnson adds a different dimension to the already crowded cast of characters. Throughout the franchise thus far, this entry is the most relaxed, the most fun and the most enjoyable given the nature of the story. It is also evident that the cast is enjoying themselves immensely. It’s not a perfect story, but it suits the cast and crew, giving them lots of opportunities to shine, characters and action beats aided by Brian Tyler's pulse pounding score. Was it any surprise that there would be another entry to come. rating: ****
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