Fast Five is the latest in an increasingly implausible series that seemed to be running out of gas prior to this installment. Against odds, this fifth entry in the series has managed to get back on track to deliver an exciting if absolutely ridiculous thrill ride.

After Brian (Paul Walker) and Mia (Jordanna Brewster) break Dom (Vin Diesel) out of jail, the three go into hiding in Rio and find themselves doing a train heist job for old gang member Vince (Matt Schulze) which goes pearshaped and puts them on the wrong side of the crime lord who runs Brazil. The deaths of three federal agents during the heist brings the attention of Agent Hobbs (Dwayne ‘The Rock’ Johnson), a man who never fails to bring in his marks. They decide that this is a great time to pull off an 11 million dollar heist on the crime lord under Hobbs’s nose. For this they bring in a team of specialists made up of pretty much every supporting character from the previous films and roll the dice. What follows is completely ridiculous but it is also very exciting and fun to watch.

When I saw the Fast and the Furious I was kind of mystified. I am not a big car buff. I don’t care about racing and the chest puffing testosterone fest didn’t really interest me. When I saw it on video, however, I loved it and bought it immediately. I have seen it many times since then and cannot, if pressed, provide any good reason why I like it so much. Subsequent sequels disappointed and the fourth entry landed a spot on my least favorite movies of the year list two years ago. I am not really sure how they have managed to pull the series out of such a severe tailspin but they have and the resultant film soars.

Director Justin Lin has been on board since Tokyo Drift so I can’t credit the improvement to getting a new director and since the majority of the characters are from the previous films you really can’t credit a cast change up. The same writer has been on board since Tokyo Drift as well so it isn’t that…I really don’t know what it was that changed to make this such an improvement over the last one…oh wait, yeah I do…the action scenes were actually exciting and even when completely batshit crazy things are happening that could NEVER happen in a million years without making physics take corporeal form and say ‘uhm, excuse me but NO’ they are so well photographed, choreographed and executed that you really won’t care. Seriously if Paul Walker just decided to fly all of a sudden I don’t think the audience would mind because the action is just that cool.

The photography in the movie is absolutely stunning and I think that shooting in Rio was a good idea. You could cake the camera lens with Vaseline and you would still managed to get a beautiful shot at this location. Further, the location gives the movie a bit more personality than nondescript cities. There is maybe one too many shots of the Christ the Redeemer statue but what the hell if you’ve rented the helicopter then you might as well use it.

As exciting as it is, it is important to note that the writing in this is serviceable at best and outright terrible at worst. The dialogue ranges from mildly embarrassing to material that might get you life in prison in another country (mostly because we don’t have prison space for bad dialogue). Characters mostly speak in trailer ready sound bites and while there are a few good jokes here and there you will be cringing more than you will be chuckling.

The performances generally blunt the damage a bit here as everyone involved does a passable job. There isn’t a lot of depth to anyone here and while they try their best to simulate it, there is only so much you can do with what is on the page. You can’t do diving competitions in a wading pool and the actors here can’t turn the words to gold for the same reason. That being said, they all manage to make you care about them on some level no matter how close to the surface that level is.

At the end of the day, the action scenes are good and the driving scenes are good but there is really only one reason you should need to see this movie and if you find this reason does not compel you then you should save your money for something that is more to your liking: The Rock and Vin Diesel fight. The battle between these two is epic and hardcore featuring cringeworthy hits and slams big enough to shake the theater. This fight is up there with some of the best in recent action movies and putting all cynicism about plausibility and consistency aside is very exciting to watch. If you are a dude I think it is almost genetically impossible to not think this is one of the coolest things you’ve ever seen. If you aren’t a dude then you have two really well built guys grappling around with each other so that should hold some appeal as well.

Conclusion [8.5 out of 10]

This is the perfect movie to start the summer off with as it embodies everything that popcorn movies should be. It is exciting and mindless and will leave you feeling breathless but won’t demand anything from you outside of suspension of disbelief. If you can manage that you will have a great time. Big screen is a big plus here and you won’t feel like you’ve wasted the money.