This Is Brazil: FAST FIVE (2011)

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Universal Studios has pumped out F&F movies for 25 years now, with “Fast X: Part 2” coming up in 2027. A decade into the series “Fast Five” changed the direction of the movies. The original cast of Dom, Brian and Mia really found their footing, themes of family and sacrifice became firmly entrenched, and the movies morphed into something totally new.

Billion dollar box-office results followed, but “Fast Five” was the major turning point in the F&F universe.

This film picks up exactly where the fourth film left off; Dom has been arrested, convicted, and is being transported Lompoc on a prison bus. But his friends have other ideas! Using their fast cars as roadblocks and ramps, Brian, Mia and the team cause the bus to flip over and crash, allowing Dom to escape custody.

A two-year time jump finds Brian and Mia living in Rio di Janeiro. Now fugitives from the law, the couple steals high-end sports cars to support themselves. They reconnect with Dom on one of the heists, but everything goes sideways. The vintage Ford GT-40 they steal belongs to Hernan Reyes, the local crime boss, and he’s got some very sensitive information hidden in there. That’s when the plan is hatched. Dom proposes assembling the ‘family’ to take down Reyes, steal his millions, and buy their way to freedom far from Brazil. All this while The Rock, playing a US federal agent, is out to capture the fugitive family.

Up until this point, the F&F movies were just street racing flicks (like the Japanese “Shuto Kousoku Trial” movies a decade earlier) focusing on JDM cars, chrome wheels, neon underglow, and Hi-Viz graphics. The characters raced for fun and ‘street cred’ and occasionally took down bad guys in the process. Conversely “Fast Five” is a classic heist movie where the protagonists use fast cars to make their getaway, similar to “The Italian Job“, but the focus of the film is not the cars. The series switched into a high-octane action movie that appealed to a much wider audience that street racing ever could.

With the tagline ‘New Model, Original Parts’ many consider “Fast & Furious 4” to be the direct sequel to “Fast & Furious 1“. It brought back Dom. Brian,. Mia and Letty, but ignored the two movies in between.

“Fast Five” corrects this by conscripting into the family Roman and Tej from F&F2, Han Seoul-Oh from F&F3, and Giselle from F&F4. The first three films are quite disjointed, with few if any characters returning from one movie to the next, but “Fast Five” is the first real ensemble cast gathering all the characters together. The ‘family’ would grow in size in future films, which meant if one actor could not return, the series wouldn’t stop.

If there’s one big flaw in “Fast Five” it is the way director Justin Lin avoids street racing completely. While planning the bank vault heist, the family determines that they’ll need a fast car to get the job done. Dom and Brian smile knowingly while heading out to the local Rio street races where beats are booming and booties are shaking; standard F&F stuff. Legendary Dom and his resurrected 1970 Dodge Charger are known in the street racing scene in Rio. But Dom and Brian goad a local gearhead into racing for the pink slip (ownership) to his blue Porsche 911 GT3 RS. Jump cut to the Porsche arriving back at the family’s hideout. That was a perfect opportunity to satisfy the original fans of the F&F series with not just bikini girls, but some illegal street racing too!

The theme of family was originally introduced in F&F1 through Dom’s backyard barbecues. In “Fast Five” the notion of the gang as a ‘family’ is firmly established as the central tenet of the series identity. It isn’t blood that bonds a family together; it’s loyalty and trust. Dom’s decision to crush Reyes’ organization, and free the poor living in the favellas of Rio, requires the support of the family, working together for a common purpose.

The character arc of Dom Toretto continued to develop, now the patriarch of the fast family. In F&F1 Dom is just a street racing criminal, robbing to enrich himself and support his street racing. Dom’s actions destroy his family, and scatters them to Mexico, the DR, and Brazil to hide from consequences. By F&F5 a very different, mature and responsible Dom is presented. During the final Rio chase scene, Dom and Brian are driving tricked out Dodge Chargers, towing a bank vault with millions inside. The corrupt cops have caught up with them, and all seems lost. Dom demands that Brian cut his tow cable and run; take care of Mia and their baby. Brian shouts at Dom to “…stick with the plan…” but a stoic

Dom responds “This was always the plan.” and disconnects Brian’s cable himself. Dom had planned on sacrificing himself for his family all along.

“Fast Five” marks the change in the series from street racing movies to pure action-adventure films. The gang are more like spies or superheroes than street hooligans. Yes… in future films, outrageous CGI-aided stunts with little respect for the laws of physics became hard to ignore. Every F&F movie just had to top the last one. But for a while there, “Fast Five” had the formula almost perfect.

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