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Fast Five (alternatively known as Fast & Furious 5 or Fast & Furious 5: Rio Heist) is a 2011 American action film directed by Justin Lin and written by Chris Morgan. It is the fifth installment in The Fast and the Furious franchise. It was released first in Australia on April 20, 2011, and then in the United States on April 29, 2011. 

When developing Fast Five, Universal Studios deliberately departed from the street racing theme prevalent in previous films in the series, to transform the franchise into a heist action series involving cars. By doing so, they hoped to attract wider audiences that might otherwise be put off by a heavy emphasis on cars and car culture. Fast Five is considered the transitional film in the series, featuring only one car race and giving more attention to action set pieces such as gun fights, brawls, and the heist of $100 million. The production mounted a comprehensive marketing campaign, marketing the film through social media, virtual games, cinema chains, automobile manufacturers, and at NASCAR races.

Plot[]

Spoiler Warning: The following contains important plot details of the entire film.

As Dominic Toretto (Vin Diesel) is being transported by bus to Lompoc Prison, his sister Mia Toretto (Jordana Brewster) and friend Brian O'Conner (Paul Walker) lead an assault on the bus and free Dom. While the authorities search for them, the trio escapes to Rio de Janeiro. Awaiting Dom's arrival, Mia and Brian join their friend Vince (Matt Schulze) and other participants on a job to steal three cars from a train. Brian and Mia learn that agents from the DEA are also on the train and that the cars are seized property. When Dom arrives with his accomplices, he realizes that their leader Zizi (Michael Irby) is only interested in stealing the Ford GT40. Dom has Mia steal the car herself before he and Brian fight Zizi and his henchmen, during which Zizi kills the DEA Agents. Brian and Dom are captured and brought to crime lord Hernan Reyes (Joaquim de Almeida), the owner of the cars and Zizi's boss. Reyes orders the pair interrogated to discover the car's location, but they escape to their safehouse.

Dom, Brian, and Mia are framed as the murderers of the DEA Agents, and the U.S. government sends a team of Diplomatic Security Service Agents, led by DSS Agent Luke Hobbs (Dwayne Johnson) and assisted by local officer Elena Neves (Elsa Pataky), to Rio to arrest them. While Brian, Dom, and Mia examine the car to discover its importance, Vince arrives and is caught removing a computer chip from it. He admits he was planning to sell the chip to Reyes on his own, and Dom angrily forces him to leave. Brian investigates the chip and discovers it contains financial details of Reyes' criminal empire, including the locations of US$100 million in cash. Hobbs and his team arrive at Dom's safehouse, but find it under assault by Reyes' men searching for the chip. Brian, Dom and Mia escape after a chase across the favelas. Dom suggests they split up and leave Rio, but Mia announces she is pregnant with Brian's child. Dom agrees to stick together, suggesting they steal Reyes' money to start a new life. They organize a team to perform the heist: Han (Sung Kang), Roman (Tyrese Gibson), Tej (Chris "Ludacris" Bridges), Gisele (Gal Gadot), Leo (Tego Calderón), and Santos (Dom Omar).

To centralize the cash, Dom's team attacks one of the locations and burns the money in front of Reyes' staff. Afraid of further attacks, Reyes consolidates the remaining money in an evidence vault inside a police station. Dom's team does surveillance, buys equipment, and acquires Reyes' handprint. After their fastest cars prove to be too slow for security cameras, they steal four 2010 Dodge Charger police cars to blend in. Vince rejoins Dom's team after saving Mia from Reyes' men. Hobbs' team eventually finds and arrests Dom, Mia, Brian, and Vince. While transporting them for extradition to the United States in a Gurkha LAPV, the convoy is attacked by Reyes' men. Dom, Brian, Mia, and Vince help Hobbs and Elena escape the ambush, but the rest of Hobbs' men and Vince are killed. Wanting to avenge their murdered team, Hobbs and Elena agree to help with the heist. The gang breaks into the police station with the LAPV and uses two of the Chargers to tear the vault holding Reyes' money from the building, dragging it through the city. Han and Roman arrive to disrupt police vehicles on their trail.

Advancing on the bridge after an extensive chase, Dom has Brian continue without him while he turns around, smashing the police and Reyes' vehicles with the vault. Reyes is badly injured by Dom's assault, and Brian returns and kills Zizi. Hobbs arrives and executes Reyes in retribution for his team. Though Hobbs refuses to let Dom and Brian go free, he gives them a 24-hour head start to escape on the condition they leave the vault as it is. When Dom and Brian depart, however, Hobbs finds the vault empty, as Dom's crew switched it via a trash truck before they reached the bridge. After splitting the cash and giving Vince's family his cut, Dom's team go their separate ways. On a tropical beach, Brian challenges Dom to a final, no-stakes race to prove who is the better driver. In Washington, D.C., Hobbs is given a file by Monica Fuentes (Eva Mendes) concerning the hijack of a military convoy in Berlin, where he discovers a recent photo of Dom's former girlfriend Letty, who had been presumed dead.

Cast[]

The central cast is rounded out by Puerto Rican singers Tego Calderón and Don Omar as Leo and Santos respectively, members of the heist team. Michael Irby plays Reyes' right-hand man Zizi. Alimi Ballard, Fernando Chien, Yorgo Constantine, and Geoff Meedy portray Hobbs' team members Fusco, Wilkes, Chato, and Macroy. Michelle Rodriguez appears in photographs as Letty Ortiz, Dominic's girlfriend who is presumed dead following the events of Fast & Furious. Eva Mendes appears in an uncredited cameo as Agent Monica Fuentes, reprising her role from 2 Fast 2 Furious.

Reception[]

Box office[]

Fast Five achieved financial success, breaking box office records for the highest-grossing April opening weekend and the second-highest spring opening weekend, and surpassing Fast & Furious (2009) to become the highest-grossing film in the franchise. Fast Five has grossed over $625 million worldwide, making it number 66 on the all-time worldwide list of highest-grossing films, in unadjusted dollars, and the seventh-highest-grossing film of 2011.

Critical response[]

Fast Five received positive reviews from critics, who liked the combination of comedy and "action sequences that toy idly with the laws of physics"; some labeled the film the best of the series. Johnson was singled out for his performance, critics calling him "the best thing, by far, in Fast Five" and remarking that scenes shared by Johnson and Diesel were often the "best moments". Despite the positive response, many were critical of the film's running time, considering it too long, and others criticized the treatment of women, stating "[Females] cameo strikingly in buttock form. Others actually have first names." South American reviewers were critical of the film's portrayal of Rio de Janeiro as a haven for drug trafficking and corruption, labeling it a "stereotype". On Rotten Tomatoes, The film has a score of 77% based on 198 reviews with an average score of 6.39/10.

Sequels[]

A sequel, Fast & Furious 6, was released in May 2013 to box office success, surpassing Fast Five as the highest-grossing film in the franchise. Another sequel, Furious 7, released in April 2015, soon surpassed Fast & Furious 6, grossing over $1.5 billion worldwide.

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