Fast Five
More is less is generally the case with blockbuster sequels these days, with budgetary balloon often overshadowing the qualities that made the original film click with audiences. The Quick and the Furious movies, but, somehow manage to spin doughnuts nearly this thought of diminishing returns, with each repayment becoming more ridiculously entertaining. Quick Five may be the most overblown entry in the series to date (which is saying reasonably a bit), but there’s a dunderheaded earnestness to it that’s hard to resist. This time nearly, Vin Diesel and Paul Walker and Co. go for an Ocean’s 11 vibe–swapping out the Armani and martinis for Ed Hardy and Muscle Milk–as the gang go on the lam in Rio following a botched teach heist. On the lookout for one closing huge score, they set their sights on bankrupting the local kingpin (an admirably honest-faced Joaquim de Almeida), calling in seemingly every character in the mythos for help. Stuff goes vroom and boom in mass quantities. Perhaps realizing that the formula may be in danger of reaching its ridge date, returning director Justin Lin here livens things up by bringing in Dwayne Johnson as a federal agent with a fearsome grudge. When he and Diesel eventually throw down, the construction-busting destruction recalls the immortal War of the Gargantuas. Viewers in the mood for a small logic with their explosions may initially scorn, but by the time the closing chase scene rolls nearly (an outrageously sustained kinetic set piece that would make Wile E. Coyote proud) it’s tough to keep back the smiles. Heaven only knows what the next sequel will bring (Send them back to colonial times? A race against Cthulhu in external space? Pit them against Dick Dastardly and Muttley?), but there’s every confidence that these folks will somehow pull it off. –Andrew Wright
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