Velozes e Furiosos 5: Operação Rio

"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)

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

The weather is finally better, people are taking their clothes off all over the place and even though it is still spring time, summer movies are now officially kicking off and ladies and gentleman, we start this summer right with Fast Five. The Fast and Furious franchise is something of an acquired taste, a sort of guilty pleasure that hasn't really been shown the respect it has earned. It isn't known for any of the terms critics love to use when they complain about a movie, like intellectual dialogue, solid characterization or even anything remotely close to a thought provoking plot. No, what it excels in is another term that critics seem to have forgotten about. Popcorn, no that overpriced buttery stuff you get from a concession stand, I'm talking popcorn films! Energetic movies meant to entertain, a good solid waste of time! So what makes a good popcorn film? Well if this question is asked to the future filmmakers of tomorrow one need only to watch Fast Five to see a fine example of how to get it right. Director Justin Lin (who also directed the fast and the furious) makes a huge leap in directorial prowess by showing an incredible eye for action that every other director today should take note at. The man can film ACTION, and you know..In an action movie…that's kind of what you want and with that eye brings together an expendables version of the fast and furious franchise starring everyone's favorite fast and furious stars. Dominic Toretto (played by Vin Diesel) and his crew find themselves on the wrong side of the law once again as they try to deal with a drug lord and a federal agent that's hot on their trail. So , um…back to talking about the action. It is INNNNcredible. Oh man this is my kind of action, I seriously have not seen this kind of solid , non computer generated action in a very very long time and Justin Lins camera work is top notch. Every shot is deliberate and clean. Oh…so good. Aside from the action the other thing that makes this film work is the stars. Everyone from The Rock to Ludicrous play their characters great and have their own moments to shine. While the movie does slow down in the middle to what looks like Ocean's Eleven meets Fast and Furious, the stars are what keep this movie was falling apart. The movie at times felt like a parody of action films, filled with cheesy cliché's that are sometimes so subtle you'll miss it but Linn will toss another scene in there in case you did and often in hilarious ways . The rock is just so great, it's these roles he should be taking, not the flying fairy kind, he's so great in this film I would love to see a spin off with this very character of his, this cocky nonsense guy who just knows everything, and he really does know everything. Frankly, that's the only two things that this movie has going for it. Action and pretty people and in a popcorn film, that's all you need. So this one is easy folks, for those with their noses in the air looking for only citizen Kane caliber films to entertain them, you should know better, you know a fast and furious movie isn't for you. It's a vapid film that would have been unwatchable had it not been for its action and star power. But it pulls off being entertaining. So if you're looking for adrenaline pumping action , seat rumbling roars of the hottest cars , beautiful people looking beautiful even when being shot at then you got yourself the definition of a popcorn film, meant to entertain you in every single way and this is popcorn done right.

Sure the original was something fresh, new, and somewhat original. But the sequels have been anything but. Yeah i know it's high octane fun, but you can say the same thing about Michael Bay films. Am i saying that these sequels are as bad as Michael Bay films? No, but each one offers nothing new, well, unless you count drifting, and that isn't saying a lot. Hopefull this new installment can bring something fresh to the table.

I never thought i would say this, but i actually enjoyed this movie. I went in with low expectations, and came out pretty damn satisfied. Sure the movie had a lot of the same moving parts, but what really made this one stand out is how it actually changed the pace of how they normally do things.

First, they didn't have a damn drag race every 10 minutes. In fact, they barely had any. Which really is a genius idea, because when the time did come to have an awesome driving sequence, you were begging for it. Finally, someone with brains stepped into this movie and said let's save all of our bullets and unleash them in the end.

So with a series that relies heavily on their driving sequences and less on their script, how do you keep your audience entertained? Well, the first step is to incorporate another major actor, enter The Rock. Next, you really need to buff up your script. Okay, here is where it gets both good and bad. It's good because the movie takes a ton of it's credit from the "Ocean 11" films. Yeah, it's stealing an idea, but it injecting more action into it, which is pretty cool. But the reason why i say it's also bad, is because it's still packed with bad cheesy one-liners, poor acting, and some really tarnished plot outlines. But does that take anything away from the fun.......not really.

Bottom Line, okay people, here is your first action movie worth seeing this year. No, i am not one of those people who hold these 'Fast and Furious' films on a high pedestal. Not since the first one have i given anything over a decent review. But i can say with confidence that this one is actually worth your hard earned dollar. Sure it's slightly cheesy, packed with impossible action, and sure it steals some plot outlines from other films, but i like i said earlier, it's still fun to watch. So with that being said, the question remains.....is this the best one in the series? I still say no, but this movie comes damn close. Closer that any of the other ones, thats for damn sure. On a time line, this should have followed up the original

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