Fast Five
User Score
7.4 out of 10

Generally favorable reviews- based on 361 Ratings

User score distribution:
  1. Positive: 310 out of 361
  2. Mixed: 27 out of 361
  3. Negative: 24 out of 361

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  1. nbozinator
    May 1, 2011
    2
    actually pretty bad movie, this series really did need a new turning point because the story was getting old and i'mm not sure this delivers. For a car movie not much actually involves cars and 90% of the movie is vin diesel and friends either complaining or figuring out to do with the rock occasionally put in to mix things up.

    the action is ok put the story is terrible it is predictable     cliched and same old, this movie really wasn't what this title needed to help it.… Expand
  2. greyskies7
    May 6, 2011
    2
    In retrospect I'm not really sure why I expected anything at all from this movie. I guess it was the B+ from the A.V. Club. Stupid. Paul Walker is the least charismatic actor I've ever seen on the big screen. Vin Diesel seems to be caricaturing himself. The Rock, of course IS caricaturing himself, which yields the only mild entertainment of the movie apart form the fantastic train seen at the beginning. The rest of the movie is horribly scripted, pathetically acted, rote B-movie action with an A-movie budget. This movie makes me wish I could take back the "2" I just gave Hanna, which was also awful but provided far more entertaining minutes than Fast Five. A.V. Club: you owe me 2+ hours of my life back.… Expand
  3. YogiBear
    Jun 3, 2011
    1
    The worst movie of series.. They destroyed so much cars for nothing, no good chases, no story no nothing.. Seems like they are just milking out the franchise.. Sorry but a 1 from me
  4. Shiira
    Jun 8, 2011
    3
    This review contains spoilers, click expand to view. In chronicling the travails of the Brazilian underclass, "Fast Five" is no "Pixote", the Hector Babenco neo-realist classic about lost childhood, but at least it pays lip service to the poor, which is marginally better than an amoral filmmaker such as Michael Bay, whose infamous chase sequence involving Hummers laying waste to a Cuban hillside shantytown in "Bad Boys 2", makes almost no filmic reference to the impoverished people who reside there. The human collateral damage caused by the SUVs goes unacknowledged by both the driver(Will Smith) and the passenger(Martin Lawrence), because a third-world citizen isn't the equivalent of a first-world one. So even though the U.S. feds(led by Dwayne Johnson), in "Fast Five", chase Dominic Toretto and his friends through an honest-to-goodness favela, firing at will without any self-consciousness about nicking an innocent bystander, the exotic on-location set is not utilized merely as background for a standard Hollywood-style shootout. On the lam from the law, Vince, last seen in "The Fast and the Furious", has been hiding out in the Rio slums for the past ten years, and during the interim, he marries a Brazilian local and fathers a child with her. Likewise, since Canada is too easy, Dom, a recently escaped convict, joins his old childhood friend, along with ex-cop Brian O'Conner and Dom's sister Mia, who are also wanted for their part in the bus hijacking that frees the bald linchpin en route to a federal penitentiary. Despite the fact that all the Portuguese-speaking parts are assigned to crooked cops and criminals, the filmmaker does attempt to put a human face on the favela inhabitants. When Rosa allows the fairer Toretto to put little Nico to sleep, both the mother and child are signified as people through Mia's Americanism. By proxy, they're no longer just ordinary Brazilians. And then there's Elena, a neighborhood girl-turned-cop who, initially anyway, is seemingly the only honest law officer in all of Rio de Janerio. More interaction with the visiting fugitives would further distance the Rio locals from the same filmic life of faceless anonymity that confronts other third-world denizens whose respective countries serve as a backdrop for some crisis which often doesn't include them. While "Fast Five" has just enough cultural sensitivity to stave off comparisons with a Michael Bay production, it still, however, bears the unmistakable stench of American imperialism. (For instance, the scene where the ersatz "Ocean's Eleven"-like outfit brazenly race in police cars.) The filmmaker wants the moviegoer to care about Rosa, but not necessarily her countrymen. We never get to meet them. When Mia goes to an open market, her visit is cut short before she gets the chance to talk with a vendor, somebody other than Rosa who'd give the favela populace a collective identity. Thanks to Vince, the ambushing of Mia, orchestrated by Reyes(the unofficial "governor" of Rio), goes awry, so the quota on Brazilian kidnappings, at least one a day according to the Jason Kohn documentary "Manda Bala(Send a Bullet)", gets left to some other Portuguese goon and his henchmen. Contrary to Brazil's reputation as a glamorous tourist destination, the South American country with the seventh highest GDP is plagued by high crime rates, nefarious government officials, and a disproportionate amount of poor people. In "Manda Bala", a frog farmer, who was thought to be involved in a money-laundering scheme with then-Governor Jader Barbalho, tells the camera proudly that he chose the frogs, after his wife issued him an ultimatum which put the small businessman's aquaculture business in opposition with their marriage. The money was just too good. Love, both the brotherly and romantic kind, also takes a backseat in "Fast Five", as well, since Mia is allowed to go out alone, unescorted, without notice. Dominic and Brian are too busy mulling over their potential hundred-million dollar payday. This cast of characters were a whole lot more likable when they were rebels without a cause, mere small-time crooks who'd boost semi trucks at great risk for the incommensurate payoff of DVD players in the Rob Cohen original. By sequestering the thieves from the natives, the ugliness of their greed will go unnoticed by most moviegoers, who are conditioned to root for the good guys, or at the very least, the anti-heroes. Sure, they give Vince's widow a cut of the money, but that's a mere pittance in lieu of the innumerable poverty-stricken Brazilians who wallow in abject destitution. It's one thing to steal from Americans on domestic soil, but it's a whole other thing to steal from the people of a developing country. "Fast Five" is a film of its time. This updating of Steven Soderbergh's "Ocean's Eleven" very much captures the zeitgeist of the post-economic collapse. These criminals don't give a f*ck about who they steal from, as long as they get paid.… Expand
  5. donnelbr
    May 4, 2011
    4
    Tough to say too much about this film. On the positive, the stunts and special effects are top notch. The story, screenplay, and acting are dumb. But what should I expect, right? I just think perhaps this genre of movie isn't for me. I can't help thinking of Mike Judge's Idiocracy when imagining the people who REALLY enjoy a film like this. ...and man has "The Rock" been juicing! He looks like a character from Gears of War.… Expand
  6. Stealthgear
    Oct 19, 2011
    1
    This is the worst Fast and Furious movie yet. There is almost no underground racing. Now the characters are on the run in a 3rd world country and decide to rob a bank. Some wrestler FBI guy is out to get them. This movie is filled with bad dialogue and poor acting. End of story. This resembles nothing of the first Fast and Furious movies.
  7. jdrandall38
    Aug 23, 2011
    4
    Not at all what I expected. The Rock, although I like him, was such an unnesiccary addition to the great series. What was with this movie? Everyone is a criminal now? Rio De Janeiro? I didn't know they were known for cars. Have you ever seen the streets? It would be impossible to race there! Not well thought out by the producers. And the Vault seen dragging though the street at the end? WHAT? Two Peterbuilt trucks couldn't pull a vault through buildings and around corners let alone two muscle cars! The others in this series are admittedly "over the top" but this one takes the cake, then bakes another and takes that one too. 4/10… Expand
  8. wishmaster
    Jul 18, 2011
    0
    I only saw the first 15 minutes of the movie, and I do not really taste anything bad, I felt so uncomfortable to see Diesel is the worst actors I've seen, I lost myself in the scenes, went in one side and out of the other (literally). very disgusting
  9. EhRaD
    May 14, 2011
    1
    First of all, to understand my wrath, you should know that this critic comes from a Rio de Janeiro citzen.
    I´m (was...) a fan of the first movie and was very happy to see a FF in my hometown Rio de Janeiro, but they trashed their unique chance. Rio is not an old west city without law and it is one of the most beautiful and pleasant cities of the world. Unlike USA, Rio does no    t hide its poverty, the same that exists in USA an all other places of the modern world, but the movie focuses only in the slams and completely forgot places like Ipanema, Copacabana and hundreds of other. At least what you expect from a production team would be a minimal research about a foreign Country (like the good movie makers do) where you are shooting and not that grotesque and ignorant image that they did with our people and our city. I will not write about all incorrect history, culture, language and so on, because I´m pretty sure that most of the people will watch these movie for the cars, but I´d like to say that they offended Brazilian people hardly, mainly when Vin Diesel open his arms to say "This is not America, this is Brazil". And for the racing fans (like me) it is not a good movie, too. They did only two or three racing sequences that barely had the quality of the Fast and the Furious first movie. It is shame that there are people who give criticism on countries who they do not know. This movie has no value even for the fast...… Expand
  10. CaptainJammo
    May 7, 2011
    2
    MetaCritic won't let me properly format the review, sorry about that:

    Someone should tell Justin Lin (the director) to leave the heist movies to the professionals. Just because you have an ensemble cast from the previous entries doesn't mean you have to slap them all together into a specialized team. Most of these characters are given roles that donâ
  11. Cokebadger
    May 16, 2011
    3
    This review contains spoilers, click expand to view. I learned 3 things in this movie.

    1) One car can not rip a bank fault out of concrete, but two can.
    2) Having a strong relationship or not having a strong relationship with your father will still lead to a life of crime.
    3) SWAT team members will not assist you when you're having a fight with Vin Diesel. Even if he's about to kill you. How did I get dragged to this movie, and how could they possibly allow this guy a running time of 2 hours & 10 minutes? Wait for the directors cut, where they actually cut 40 minutes from this movie.    … Expand
  12. impudence
    Nov 8, 2011
    0
    This is the worst movie I have ever watched. What happened to the racing? As absurd as the previous movies were this one crosses every line of absurdity. Let me "ruin" the end for you ... a pair of dodge chargers manage to pull a multi-ton safe from a wall and drag it down the road at high speeds. I had as low of expectations as possible for this movie, however the movie somehow went lower.

Critic Reviews

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Metascore
67 out of 100

Generally favorable reviews - based on 29 Critics

Critic score distribution:
  1. Positive: 23 out of 29
  2. Mixed: 5 out of 29
  3. Negative: 1 out of 29
  1. Austin Chronicle
    Reviewed by: Marc Savlov
    May 5, 2011
    40
    Fascinating, no? Of course, that's just one (obvious) reading of Fast Five. You could also say it's a kickass demolition derby – pure dumb summer fun – and often easy on the (hetero) eyes thanks to the inclusion of Brewster and Mendes.
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  2. Time Out New York
    Reviewed by: Sam Adams
    May 3, 2011
    40
    The Fast and the Furious movies haven't exactly gotten better as they've gone along.
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  3. Village Voice
    Reviewed by: Karina Longworth
    Apr 29, 2011
    70
    Five's few driving set pieces, all economically cut for spectacle over continuity, are pumped to near-Crank levels of absurdity, with Lin transforming his ragtag bunch of fugitives' superhuman knack for escaping certain death into a running joke.
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