Caffeinated Clint
The trailer for “Fast Five” – the fifth in the “Fast and the Furious” franchise – has come online.
This one likely needs no explanation but let me just say, when it comes to this franchise Universal have me by the gonads. They really do. I don’t quite get it – they’re junky movies, and there’s nothing especially interesting going on in them, but for whatever reason – maybe it’s the ‘bloke’ coming out in me? The fast cars, the fast women, the cool stunts – I enjoy them. Shit, I even enjoyed “Tokyo Drift”.
I really liked the last one, the unimaginatively titled “Fast and Furious”. They say you should continue to pour the same blend of synthetic goo into the oil compartment of your car. If you don’t, your transport may still run for a while – but you’re engine’s going to take a beating, and before you know it your vehicle’s blown a gasket. “2 Fast 2 Furious” and “Fast and the Furious: Tokyo Drift” didn’t exactly blow gaskets (well, maybe the first sequel did- someone definitely forgot to service that thing before reversing it out of the garage) but with the film series’ original magical ingredient Vin Diesel nowhere to be seen in either of those (not counting his very brief cameo in the latter), both vehicles definitely ran rough – in dire need of a some good lube.
Canon-armed Vin Diesel returned to the franchise that made him a marquee name, with “Fast and Furious”, alongside original sidekick Paul Walker – and yes, you’ll notice it’s a much smoother ride from the moment director Justin Lin (“Tokyo Drift”) lifts the park brake.
Rob Cohen’s original 2001 flick wasn’t a masterpiece by any stretch of the imagination – in fact, it was merely a riff on Kathryn Bigelow’s bank robbing-surfers flick “Point Break”, substituting boards for hot cars – but it was fun. Its appeal lay mainly with the fabulous car stunts, but also the chemistry of stars Walker and Diesel – especially effective as the brooding bad-boy with a heart of gold (or is it grease?).
Both the car stunts and the chemistry returns for this fourth (or second, if, like everyone involved, you’re trying to forget the last two sequels) installment in the franchise. It really is non-stop fun from 0 to 200. There’s enough mind-blowing car-flips and crashes to make up for the terribly cheesy dialogue (every line seems to be trailer-ready) and an entertaining little storyline to go along with (it’s actually been well thought out). You can pick away at it, and tot up numerous plot holes, but it’s not the film for it. Something like this should remain critic proof.
“Fast Five” looks like it’s more of the same – and in this case, that’s fine with me.
Here’s the trailer for the film :
