Kinetic, funny and a near perfect action experience, Fast Five is the best installment in the the Fast And Furious franchise, which has quickly become the archetypal wiggle-flex-metal movie among teenage boys and short-attention-spanned denizens.

Fast FiveWith Justin Lin once again in the director’s seat, things pick up right where Fast And Furious, left off, with with Dominic Toretto (Vin Diesel) rescued from a prison bus by rogue law officer Brian O’Conner (Paul Walker) and girlfriend Mia Toretto (Jordana Brewster). The three take off for Rio de Janeiro where they land on the hitlist of local drug kingpin Hernan Reyes (Joaquim de Almeida), who has plenty of goons and half the police force on his payroll, ready and willing to do the job. Sensing an opportunity to make some serious cash, the trio commit to doing one last job (we’ve heard that one before, haven’t we?) before calling it a career. The plan? steal Reyes’ drug money; all $100 million of it.

Since the money is locked tight in a highly secure vault, they bring together an all-star crew of characters from previous films, including the laid-back Han (Sung Kang), mechanical guru Tej Parker (Chris “Ludacris” Bridges), Israeli bombshell Gisele (Gal Gadot), the passionate Vince (Matt Schulze), and glib motor mouth Roman Pearce (Tyrese Gibson). Standing in their way is Hobbs (Dwayne Johnson), a towering hulk of a man, determined to catch the car thieves and bring them to justice.

With Fast Five, the filmmakers have taken the Fast And Furious franchise in a whole new direction. Here, the cars take a backseat to the relationship between Dominic and Brian.  Plenty of cool cars abound, as do the stunts; however, screenwriter Chris Morgan has actually attempted to develop the characters a bit. The change is completely exemplified when Toretto and O’Conner return to a familiar setting to challenge a local racer. The race is glommed over entirely as the movie cuts to Toretto enjoying his spoils. There were some hints of the franchises evolution in 2009’s Fast and Furious, when the story began to drive the action, and the cars were used as eye candy. Fast Five has over-the-top, furious action, the entire film is a massive adrenaline rush. The vault sequence in the last act of the movie is utter craziness, but it’s cool to watch a ten ton vault booming down the road, being dragged by two cars. This isn’t award winning stuff, but it makes for a fun watch.

The acting is pretty much what you’d expect. Paul Walker continues to play Brian O’Conner with a unique kind of blandness. As Toretti, Vin Diesel is a man of few words and odd facial expressions. He mostly stands around and growls a few curt sentences, when he’s not kicking some serious butt.

While it’s nice to see some character development, let’s face facts: fans of the Fast And Furious franchise want to see lot5s of cars in smashed up peril. Thankfully, Fast Five offers plenty of action to keep fans happy.

Presented in the 2.35:1 aspect ratio, this 1080p transfer showcases vivid and bold colors, solid black levels and fine textures that offer fine details. While there are a couple of instances of aliasing and slight crush in a handful of shots, none of this should interfere with the viewing experience.

The DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 is excellent. Fully immersive, your speakers will be working overtime with the revving of engines, burning of rubber, and loud crashes.

French and Spanish DTS 5.1 tracks are included, as are English SDH, French and Spanish subtitles.

Aside from the DVD and Digital Copy, the Blu-ray comes with the following special features:

  • Theatrical and Extended Cuts: The Blu-ray edition of Fast Five includes a 130-minute theatrical cut of the film and a 132-minute extended version.
  • Second Screen Interactive Viewing: Users can use their networked tablet or computer to “control, interact with and explore” Fast Five. Also available via Universal’s pocket BLU app (for iPad, Android, PC and Mac) are two additional features: “Take Control,” a customizable viewing experience that allows fans to explore behind-the-scenes content and more, and a “Virtual Garage,” packed with cars, tech specs and more. (Note: these features are not accessible from the Blu-ray menu itself. A compatible secondary device is required.)
  • U-Control Picture-in-Picture Track (HD): Producer Neal H. Moritz, actor/producer Vin Diesel, director Justin Lin, supervising stunt director Mike Gunther and other cast and crew discuss the production, the car chases and races, the stuntwork, the performances and story, and the challenges the team faced in bringing the series’ fifth film to the screen.
  • Scene Explorer (HD, 26 minutes): Watch the film’s opening scene with a three-pane PiP interface that features a PreVis window, a Dailies window, and a Behind the Scenes window. From there, select any of the individual windows to see a larger version of the content.
  • Audio Commentary: Director Justin Lin discusses shooting scenes, stunts, the actors, etc.
  • The Big Train Heist (HD, 8 minutes): Head into the desert with Walker, Diesel and Brewster and learn how Lin and his crew developed, staged and shot the film’s opening train heist.
  • A New Set of Wheels (HD, 10 minutes): Lin focuses on the raw power of the cars used in Fast Five.
  • Reuniting the Team (HD, 5 minutes): Diesel and Lin welcome back actors from previous franchise entries.
  • Dom’s Journey (HD, 5 minutes): Dominic grows up and steps into the role of family patriarch.
  • Brian O’Connor: From Fed to Con (HD, 6 minutes): Hero or criminal? Brian chooses his path.
  • Enter Federal Agent Hobbs (HD, 6 minutes): Dwayne Johnson joins the cast.
  • Dom vs. Hobbs (HD, 8 minutes): A look at Diesel and Johnson’s on-screen fist fight.
  • Inside the Vault Chase (HD, 9 minutes): The Fast Five crew designs a steerable bank vault to shoot the film’s climactic action sequence.
  • On Set with Director Justin Lin (HD, 9 minutes): A day on the job with Lin.
  • Deleted Scenes (HD, 2 minutes): “Woman, there ain’t nothin’ standard about me!” Except for this pair of non-starter deleted scenes. Pretty standard stuff, and not much of it.
  • Tyrese TV (HD, 7 minutes): Gibson hams it up for the camera.
  • Gag Reel (HD, 4 minutes): Seen one, seen ‘em all.
  • My Scenes Bookmarking
  • BD-Live Functionality