"Pure unadulterated awesomeness"

Spontaneous applause in a cinema is something that, ordinarily, I absolutely loathe.  It’s bad enough when it happens at the end of a film, but when it happens during a film it’s enough to make me want to sob into my over-priced popcorn.  Astounded therefore, isn’t the word to use when I found myself not only chuckling when this happened during ‘Fast Five’, but even joining in – the film is just that damn good.  One thing it isn’t though is subtle.  Right from the word go it grabs you by the scruff of the neck, and doesn’t relent for the duration – if it’s nonstop action you’re after you’ve come to the right place.

Now the plot won’t come as a surprise to any of you – good guys in fast cars steal money/get revenge on bad guys.  Pulling together characters from all three previous films (whilst being the fifth film produced, it is actually the fourth film chronologically), the team unite to pull off their biggest job yet, and man do they pull it off.  Led once again by Dominic Toretto (an absolute return to form for Vin Diesel), the crew look to take down the biggest crook in all of Rio, Hernan Reyes, and get that one big payday to put their street racing days firmly behind them.

Along the way, not only do they have to deal with Reyes’ cronies, but also half of the Rio Police who are in his pocket.  Compounding their problem is one Luke Hobbs (played by a ludicrously massive Dwayne Johnson – it takes a lot to make Vin Diesel look small!), a DSS agent hot on the heels of Toretto and his crew.

There’s nothing truly original in ‘Fast Five’ - it’s the same heady mix of fast cars, big chases, guns and fights as the previous films, but just done so much better.  Diesel and Johnson exude so much machismo I’m pretty sure I came out of the cinema with more chest hair than when I went in.  The rest of the cast deliver thrills, laughs (thank you Tyrese Gibson) and action a plenty – it’s an absolute rollercoaster and quite simply not to be missed.