Fast Five 2011

James Rocchi, MSN Movies: ...a film that's custom-built to combine the swift horsepower of characters we like with the stylish chrome of fresh changes is a welcome pleasure. Read more

Manohla Dargis, New York Times: In a free-for-all like this, where the laws of gravity and dictates of narrative logic are left to eat dust, it doesn't matter when anything takes place or why. Read more

David Germain, Associated Press: Pretty cars, prettier women, insanely absurd action that truly thrills even as it shatters all physical laws, and enough testosterone-fueled violence to satisfy the most-rabid WWE SmackDown crowd. Read more

Joe Morgenstern, Wall Street Journal: Gets lots of mileage from a combination of high spirits, scorn for the laws of physics, readily renewable energy and an emphasis on family values -- not those of the nuclear family, but of hell-raising, drag-racing outlaws... Read more

Moira MacDonald, Seattle Times: As a moviegoer, there are times when you want, say, "Jane Eyre," and then there are times when a movie about really large men who drive cars really fast is just the thing. "Fast Five" is that latter movie, and then some. Read more

Scott Tobias, AV Club: Like a proper action sequel, it's bigger, louder, and sillier than its predecessors, but it's more streamlined, too, smartly dumping the tired underground racing angle in favor of a crisp, hugely satisfying Ocean's Eleven-style heist movie. Read more

Wesley Morris, Boston Globe: "Fast Five'' is, so far, the most honest Hollywood movie of the year. It's also the most fun. Read more

Michael Wilmington, Chicago Reader: The whole thing progresses to one of the looniest heists of all time. The result is the most exciting, visually jazzy, and absurd entry in the series. Read more

Gary Dowell, Dallas Morning News: The series takes the curious, surprising and rather brave route of ditching the street-racing shenanigans that defined the series in favor of a more standard action-oriented plot. It's an interesting approach, but the series' shallowness remains Read more

Lisa Kennedy, Denver Post: The chemistry of the core cast - steered by Vin Diesel and Paul Walker - keeps this outing from running on fumes. Read more

Tom Long, Detroit News: You can't say Fast Five delivers the goods, but it delivers what it's supposed to. Read more

Owen Gleiberman, Entertainment Weekly: The film is basically Ocean's Fourteen starring a multiculti version of the cast of Jersey Shore. Read more

Laremy Legel, Film.com: Bold and beautiful in its hard-charging simplicity. Read more

Megan Lehmann, Hollywood Reporter: Utterly preposterous, but this car-crazy franchise is armor-plated. Read more

Betsy Sharkey, Los Angeles Times: Who knew that the best place to put Vin Diesel would be between the Rock and a hard place? The spot has never been tighter, or righter, and the testosterone never higher than in the hot jacking action of "Fast Five." Read more

Connie Ogle, Miami Herald: Embarrassingly fun, the sort of speedy, senseless, violence-crammed action flick that virtually defines the summer season, with superheroes who aren't gods or crusaders in tights but guys in T-shirts and jeans who can drive cars really fast. Read more

Bruce Diones, New Yorker: [Johnson's] skin looks as though it's been slathered in butter; his enjoyment is infectious and keeps the movie speeding along. Read more

Stephen Whitty, Newark Star-Ledger: If there were any more testosterone here, Jose Canseco could have boiled down the screen and injected it. Read more

Elizabeth Weitzman, New York Daily News: Now this is how you make a summer movie. Read more

Kyle Smith, New York Post: Instead of a vroomer, we get a knucklehead "Ocean's 11." Read more

Steven Rea, Philadelphia Inquirer: Defying laws of physics, laws of acting, and the law of diminishing returns, Fast Five delivers a ridiculously fun mix of motorized macho mayhem and multicultural bonding. Read more

James Berardinelli, ReelViews: Ignoring the rules of physics doesn't make a movie more entertaining; it merely makes the writing easier. If a screenplay can cheat at any time, it encourages sloppy authorship. Read more

Richard Roeper, Richard Roeper.com: Beyond implausible, but it works as a live-action cartoon. Read more

Roger Ebert, Chicago Sun-Times: What it all comes down to is a skillfully assembled 130 minutes at the movies, with actors capable of doing absurd things with straight faces, and action sequences that toy idly with the laws of physics. Read more

Peter Travers, Rolling Stone: 'Fast Five' will push all your action buttons, and some you haven't thought of. So what if you hate yourself in the morning. Read more

Andrew O'Hehir, Salon.com: That force of chaotic and unsatisfiable desire that Freud called the id is much closer to the surface in a movie like "Fast Five" than ever before in action-cinema history, and part of Lin's peculiar genius is that he barely tries to conceal it. Read more

Mick LaSalle, San Francisco Chronicle: The first sequel to the 2001 "The Fast and the Furious" that's worth watching, that isn't an embarrassment or a travesty of the original picture. Read more

Dana Stevens, Slate: As the summer of 2011 approaches with the speed of a souped-up Dodge Charger, I'm going to take my action-movie blessings where I can find them. Read more

Colin Covert, Minneapolis Star Tribune: Here's a popcorn flick strong enough for a man and gentle enough for a woman. Read more

Joe Williams, St. Louis Post-Dispatch: "Fast Five" represents Yankee ingenuity of the brutally stupid kind. Read more

Stephen Cole, Globe and Mail: Always preposterous though never actually silly, knowingly funny without ever being self-conscious, Fast Five is a passable action flick that will more than entertain its core audience. Read more

Leah Rozen, TheWrap: Fast Five is grindingly mechanical -- and not just because of all the emphasis on car repairs and retooling. Read more

Richard Corliss, TIME Magazine: A movie with exploding toilets, cars that move sideways and a big chase sequence with Walker and Brewster fleeing favela goons by crashing through the tin roofs of shanty-town shacks. Read more

Anna Smith, Time Out: Overlong but slick, this still gets away with simplistic dialogue and characters, perhaps because it doesn't take itself too seriously. Read more

Peter Howell, Toronto Star: Something like Ocean's Eleven and its various numerations, except with muscle cars and knuckleheads and without the laughs. Read more

Claudia Puig, USA Today: Who knew the fourth sequel to The Fast and the Furious would not only refuel a flagging franchise, but lead the pack as the best of the bunch? Read more

Robert Koehler, Variety: The Fast and Furious roadshow isn't slowing down a bit in Fast Five, by most measures the best of the bunch, combining fresh casting choices, interesting Rio locales and literally smashing bookended action sequences. Read more

Sean O'Connell, Washington Post: By shifting into a previously untapped gear, it delivers the most entertaining "Fast and Furious" adventure while also getting 2011's summer movie season off on the right lead foot. Read more