Heist Week: Five Fantastic Things About Fast Five

Fast Five

I have proclaimed my unabashed love for The Fast and the Furious series before and I will do it again anytime someone asks me what my cinematic guilty pleasure is. Now I will admit that the fourth instalment, Fast and Furious, had me thinking that the series had run its course. Fortunately, director Justin Lin has proven once again that you can still make lemonade from used lemons. The latest edition in the franchise, is an outlandish action film that takes more than a few cues from Ocean’s Eleven series and I loved every minute of it! Here are five reasons why I love Fast Five:

1. The train heist scene wonderfully sets the tone for the gleeful absurdity that is Fast Five. It is hard enough believing that Brian O’Connor (Paul Walker) could survive a truck crashing into a moving train, let alone the fact that he hangs on to said truck as it catches on fire. The minute Brian and Dominic Toretto (Vin Diesel) drive the car off the cliff, my brain officially closed up shop for the day and I was able to thoroughly enjoy the over-the-top goodness.

2. Bringing back old favourites means less onscreen time for Mia (Jordana Brewster). Look, I am sure Jordana Brewster is a great person in real life, but her character Mia is just not that interesting. Fortunately with the likes of Sung Kang, Ludacris, Tyrese Gibson and Eva Mendes making an appearance in the film, Brewster can just fade into the background.

3. Setting the film in Rio de Janeiro really helped to breathe new life into the series. The perceived lawlessness of the land, not to mention the overall corruption in the police force, gives everyone from the villain Hernan Reyes (Joaquim de Almeida) to Toretto a false sense of confidence. Where else in the world could Toretto and his team, the most wanted individuals in the entire world, openly defy Luke Hobbs (Dwayne Johnson) and his team of commando by hanging out in plain sight at a street race.

4. Speaking of Hobbs, Dwayne Johnson was a much needed addition. One of the main problems with the franchise has always been the lack of a proper villain. Every villain has been rather forgettable. While Hobbs is not a villain per say, he does provide Toretto with an adversary who match him in both the brains and the brawn category.

5. The laws of physics be damned I say! The final action sequence, which features Toretto and O’Connor, dragging a giant safe through the centre of Rio de Janeiro is both ridiculous and exhilarating at the same time. The logical part of my brain states that there is no way that the sequence can occur without a single civilian getting hurt. However, the fun side of my brain loved every minute of it. There is something thoroughly satisfying about watching the carnage that ensues as the safe flings across the street like a tetherball.

Which is Better?

Dwayne Johnson

10 sample films:

The Rundown
Gridiron Gang
Southland Tales
The Mummy Returns
Doom
The Other Guys
Be Cool
Race to Witch Mountain
Faster
Walking Tall

or

Vin Diesel

10 sample films:

The Fast and the Furious
Saving Private Ryan
The Pacifier
A Man Apart
The Iron Giant
Find Me Guilty
Knockaround Guys
Boiler Room
Pitch Black
XXX

Which do you prefer? Let me know in the comments section

Faster’s Vengeance Too Forgiving

Faster

Modern day film audiences have a tendency to frequently question events happening on screen. What is the significances of the scene in the bank? Why did the main character throw away the gun instead of getting more bullets? The problem with this is that directors often feel the need to jump the gun to provide answers to questions that no one was asking in the first place. A perfect example of this is the revenge film Faster.

The premise of director George Tillman Jr.’s film is simple and straight to the point. After being released from prison, a heist getaway driver (Dwayne Johnson) sets out to gun down the people who double-crossed him and killed his brother.

At the beginning, Faster seems to have all the makings of a great revenge flick. It sets up the story in the first ten minutes, the hero is provide with a cool car and the motivation to exact as much carnage as possible. Yet Faster makes one fatal mistake in its execution, it takes itself far too seriously as Tillman Jr. attempts to make the film deeper than it really should be. Sometimes a revenge flick just needs to be a revenge flick.

Faster is never content with being a simple revenge flick, is strives to be a tale about choices and forgiveness. Every single character in the film is struggling with the notion of pride and doing the right thing. As a result, the script is constantly providing the audience with background information for several characters that they could care less about. For example there is the turbulent relationship between two cops (Billy Bob Thornton and Carla Gugino) who are assigned to track down Johnson. The audience also learns a lot about Thornton’s connection with former flame Marina (Moon Bloodgood), who happens to be the mother of the son who he rarely sees. If that is not enough, Tillman Jr. also brings in the story of the killer (Oliver Jackson-Cohen) who is hired to dispose of Johnson’s character, but cannot decide whether he should leave the criminal life behind and start a new one with his longtime girlfriend, Lily (Maggie Grace). Throw in Johnson’s own story and the film ends up being far more cluttered than it should be.

Dwayne Johnson has the charisma to carry a film like this, but his character is surprisingly neutered. His driver character should be a stone-cold killer yet, he is nothing more than a inherently good soul trying to be bad. He spends half the film contemplating how to be a righteous man. All of the soul searching in the film really takes the energy out of the picture. What should have been a fast paced action film ends up being an uneventful tale of redemption that takes itself far too seriously.

Movie Marketing Monday

Grown Ups

Despite my love for Salma Hayek, I refused to be tricked into seeing this formulaic comedy. I wish Adam Sandler would do more dramatic roles, or even quirky romantic comedies like Punch Drunk Love.




The Other Guys

This seems to be the better of the two comedies featured today. I hated Step Brothers but I must admit The Other Guys peak my interests a little. The film has the potential of being either really funny or just plain awful. I expect Will Ferrell to do his same old shtick but I am hoping Mark Wahlberg, Samuel L. Jackson, and Dwayne Johnson can provide the big laughs.