Fast & Furious 5

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Dom and Brian get ready to jump off a car

Fast & Furious 5 – After Mia and Brian aid Dominic Torretto escape his prison sentence, the three go on the run and settle in Rio De Janeiro. Given the promise of an easy car heist, the people working with them betray them and kill several US government agents. Dominic and Brian are captured by Hernan Reyes, the drug lord who owns the cars and, only interested in the car Mia has taken, he orders his men to interrogate them. The pair manage to escape and reach their safe house, meeting up with Mia. Wanting to get back at Reyes, Dom and Brian get a team together with the aim of stealing all his money, which would make each of them multi-millionaires. Agent Hobbs has been assigned to re-capture Dom and, believing that he and Brian killed the US agents, Hobbs will stop at nothing to bring them in.

Fast & Furious 5 (Fast 5) (2011) – Director: Justin Lin

Is Fast & Furious 5 appropriate for kids

Rating: 12

Running Length: 130 mins

Starring: Vin Diesel, Paul Walker, Dwayne Johnson

Genre: Action

REVIEW: ‘FAST & FURIOUS 5’

The fifth instalment of the franchise, ‘Fast Five’ has moved away from street racing and makes the movie more of a heist approach (but with cars). Doing things this way opens the franchise up to a wider audience and changes the genre to be more accommodating to those looking for something more interesting with a few twists and turns along the way. The main trouble with ‘Fast Five’ is that the focus is almost solely on Toretto’s team and, while they are fun to watch, this puts a distance between them and the villainous Reyes who is almost forgotten and never seems particularly close to catching them. There are a few scenes where men in masks attack the team but, as there is so much fun and wise-cracking, the team never appear to be in any serious danger.

Thankfully, the heist finale of the movie is brilliantly realised and brings all the elements of the movie together nicely. The car chase with both Toretto and Brian in separate cars (which are dragging a vault between them) provides plenty of excitement as the two are chased by Reyes and his men. While there are plenty of criticisms to be levelled at ‘Fast Five’, it isn’t exactly a bad film, it is simply a little dull for anyone who is after more action than a few car chases. This is a movie which is unashamedly aiming itself at young men, aged around 15 to 25, who enjoy watching fast cars, witty dialogue and attractive women. For anyone else, ‘Fast & Furious 5’ will provide some entertainment and the ending will no doubt be enjoyable but it is unlikely to keep your interest piqued throughout.

CONTENT: IS ‘FAST & FURIOUS 5’ SUITABLE FOR CHILDREN?

Surprisingly there is very little questionable content in ‘Fast & Furious 5’ and it is likely that the main concern will come from the amount of frequent moderate cursing throughout the movie, one strong word is said towards the beginning of the movie. There is also a moderate sexual reference said by one of the male characters who obviously plans to spend a lot of his money on women.

As with the other movies in the franchise, there are several scenes showing women wearing revealing clothing. This is usually in the form of bikinis, short skirts/dresses, hot pants and short tops. Several of the women bend over provocatively. One scene depicts a male and a female character discussing how they will obtain Reyes’ hand print and the female character gets up, removes her outer clothing to reveal a bikini underneath and walks towards Reyes. This is done mostly in slow motion and the camera lingers on her behind as she walks away from the male character. He then watches her approach Reyes who allows her to sit close to him and he puts his hand on her behind.

There is a relatively emotionally charged scene where an established character is killed. They talk to another character about their family and reveal something that touches this character deeply. There is a brief scene of mourning after this character dies but it isn’t lingered upon and there is little mention of it for the rest of the movie. This moment should therefore not be too distressing.

CAN I SEE A CLIP?
VERDICT: IS ‘FAST & FURIOUS 5’ FOR KIDS?

‘Fast 5’ will be an entertaining movie for its core audience of young men but may not be massively appealing to anyone else. Kids are bound to love the energy and banter of the group but, due to the amount of cursing in the script which could be repeated, we would recommend caution when allowing under 12s to see this movie. Overall we feel that it should be appropriate for kids aged 10 and over but would advise that you use your judgement regarding the language and sexism which is frequently on display.

  • Violence: 3/5 (most of the action is quite tame however there is one brief shot of a man’s neck being broken and later in the movie, there is a prolonged scene where a character is watching several of their men being killed)
  • Emotional Distress: 1/5
  • Fear Factor: 0/5
  • Sexual Content: 3/5
  • Bad Language: 4/5 (as well as the cursing in the script, the song at the end of the movie also includes moderate cursing)
  • Dialogue: 2/5
  • Other notes: Deals with themes of friendship, family, teamwork and doing the right thing.

Words by Laura Record

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