This film brings characters from all four previous films in the franchise together. Tyrese Gibson and Chris "Ludacris" Bridge reprise their 2Fast 2Furious roles of Roman Pierce and Tej Parker. Sung Kang returns as Han from Fast and the Furious: Tokyo Drift. Gal Gadot once again takes up her role as Gisele Harabo, a character who has a much larger part from when she was in Fast and Furious, becoming a major part of Dom's team. Matt Schulze also returns after being gone from the past four films, reprising his role of Vince, Dom's childhood friend and part of the original Los Angeles street racing crew that Paul Walker's character was assigned to take down.
New characters come from Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson, playing a DSS agent named Luke Hobbs, who is on assignment to track down Brian O'Conner and Dominic Toretto after Brian and Dom's sister break Dom out of federal detention and go on the run. As well as Hernan Reyes, a Brazilian investor that has his hands in all of the corruption in Rio de Janeiro. The final newcomer to the series is Elsa Pataky, who plays an uncorruptable cop named Elena Neves, who at the end becomes Dom's love interest.
The film includes some of the best acting by the actors that the franchise has seen yet. Each one shines as the team comes together with the same style of comedy and action that has been expected of the franchise. With some actors, it's expected. Hobbs' character as a complete soldier/tough guy is something that is not surprising and doesn't test Dwayne Johnson's ability in any way. Besides him however, the other actors' ability shines through and brings humanity to characters, rather than just having them as fast talking, whip-cracking sidekicks that they were before.
The story shows an evolution in the ability of the writers to take the characters out of their comfort zone. For instance, the first time Brian O'Connor was taken out of the police force, the character was seen smug yet uncomfortable. When this happened in 2Fast 2Furious, the movie suffered from being overly cartoony and childish. However, in this movie, all the characters seem to have life written in them that is brought out by each respective actor.
The film has gone from being a film about street racers attempting to pull heists to being a true heist movie, with a majority of the film going through the plan and ending with a high-octane theft of a massive evidence vault being pulled by two Dodge Challengers through the streets of Rio, taking out buildings, cop cars and anything that gets in the way of the plan succeeding.
The action in this film also is a lot more physical for the three leads of the movie. A ten minute section of the film involves a favela foot chase involving Brian, Mia and Dom as they run from both Reyes' henchmen as the team that Hobbs commands. Each bit of action isn't just there for the sake of having action. Each scene has importance to the plot, leading to the final moments of the film.
This film is the ultimate summer popcorn film, and is the best of the franchise. For fans of actions films, or heist films, this movie has something for you. Before you go in, know this, you won't be watching a Spielberg or Michael Bay action film, nor will you be watching something on the twisted levels of Stanley Kubrick. This is, as I said, a popcorn film. You can sit here on the edge of your seat, reaching your hand into the bucket and not paying much attention until the nice, pretty explosion distracts you and pulls you in.
My Review:
3/5 Stars
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