In yet another Fast and the Furious sequel, the original crew (Vin Diesel, Paul Walker, et al.) heads to Rio to orchestrate an Italian Job-style heist that could just as easily have been staged in Santa Monica.
Directed with more sizzle than style by Justin Lin, the fifth entry in this decade-old boys-and-toys franchise is just loud and mindless enough to satisfy the fan base, but it probably won’t win any new admirers.
Fast Five clocks in at a butt-numbing 130 minutes, but quantity doesn’t equal quality: there’s way too much padding (including quadruple endings and a new FBI nemesis played by a sleepwalking Dwayne Johnson) for a movie like this. Of course, since there’s nothing remotely necessary about this action pic in the first place, quibbling over the indulgent run time is as pointless as Fast Five itself. --Milan Paurich
