Written By Chris Morgan
Directed By Justin Lin
It would seem as though Fast Five really honed in on the formula for a successful. In order to keep selling tickets, the filmmakers must come up with more and more insanely high octane chases, even more ludicrously epic set pieces, and an expansion of humor in the script. To the last point, the expansion of the cast over the past few films adds a lot of possibilities for characters to pair up and quip with each other and go on side missions. To the first two points, no explanation is needed. It feels like the action scenes sprung from drunken sessions of “Hey, you know what would be sweet?” The chase scene involving a tank is so over the top that it’s absolutely glorious, with concern of collateral damage and human life tossed out the window without a second thought like a cigarette butt. The villain is appropriately skilled, and the mid credits scene introduces his even more ruthless brother, giving us an immediate hook for the next movie and introducing yet another big box office star to the series in Jason Statham. I can’t wait to watch him and The Rock beat the crap out of each other in part 7. This series is a ton of fun and I’m glad to finally be catching up.