Fast and Furious 5

OK another movie review for you folks.

If you haven't seen Fast and Furious 5, you should.  It is, by a good margin, the best of the Fast and Furious series.  Don't be put off by the fact that Paul Walker couldn't act dead if you shot him in the face or that Vin Diesel is only slightly more life-like than your average department store mannequin.

This movie is a great merger of the action sub-genres of heist and chase.  Dwanye 'The Rock' Johnson is the super cop chasing our favourite fugitive protagonists who in turn have decided to go head to head with Rio De Janeiro's barrio kingpin.

I can assure you that there is precious little time wasted on character development in this movie.  It has as many characters as Ocean's 11, but few have much to say.  The line, "I had a life before I knew you." is used both for comedic purposes and to cover the lack of depth for most of the characters.  This movie is all about cars and stunts with the predictable cheesy and corny lines to accompany crashes and races.

Whilst I had offered nothing more than back-handed compliments to this movie, it is very entertaining.  The director, Justin Lin, keeps it moving at a good pace, whilst the script and locations allows for some great car and foot chase scenes.  It is a simple story well done. The combination of stunts and CGI is good as it keeps a degree of realism to the movie.

Next time you want a night off and some brain candy, give this movie a look - unless you don't like car chases!