Fast Five (10/4/2011)

Rated PG-13 for intense sequences of violence and action, sexual content and language.

Starring Vin Diesel, Paul Walker, Jordana Brewster and Dwayne Johnson

Directed by Justin Lin (Fast and Furious (2009) and The Fast and the Furious: Tokyo Drift)

Just sit back and enjoy…well try to.

In the fifth installment in the Fast and Furious series, former cop Brian O’Conner (Paul Walker) partners with ex-con Dom Toretto (Vin Diesel) on the opposite side of the law. Since Brian and Mia Toretto (Jordana Brewster) broke Dom out of custody, they’ve blown across many borders to elude authorities. Now backed into a corner in Rio de Janeiro, they must pull one last job in order to gain their freedom. As they assemble their elite team of top racers, the unlikely allies know their only shot of getting out for good means confronting the corrupt businessman who wants them dead. But he’s not the only one on their tail. Hard-nosed federal agent Luke Hobbs (Dwayne Johnson) never misses his target. When he is assigned to track down Dom and Brian, he and his strike team launch an all-out assault to capture them. But as his men tear through Brazil, Hobbs learns he can’t separate the good guys from the bad. Now, he must rely on his instincts to corner his prey…before someone else runs them down first.

O.K. let’s be honest…this is the FIFTH Fast and Furious movie. If there is any chance you are thinking maybe this one has a good story or an emotional scene that will cause you to tear up…stop it right now. This movie is about as silly as a 3:00 a.m. conversation at a middle school weekend retreat…but it’s also just as fun!

Let’s start with the cast. Vin Diesel and Paul Walker are back along with familiar faces from the other four films. Jordana Brewster, Matt Schulze, Sung Kang, Tego Calderon and Don Omar are all back from the first film. And Ludacris and Tyrese Gibson are back from 2 Fast 2 Furious. Oh yeah, and The Rock…a.k.a. Dwayne Johnson is in it too…and he’s HUGE. Seriously they are not much of actors but they all look pretty cool.

Even Eva Mendes and Michelle Rodriguez make quick cameos…but you need to stay through the credits to see them. And no big surprise, looks like we can expect a 6th movie. Not sure if I should celebrate or roll my eyes.

So what would bring the team all together? Well besides the real money they got from Universal Pictures, there is the $100 million heist. Of course they are stealing it from Brazil’s biggest criminal so we have to root for the “other criminals.” Yeah they went with that same old story. One of the biggest Hollywood clichés…“Just one more job.” I won’t tell you how it ends…because I doubt that you would even care. Honestly the only reason we go to see a movie like Fast Five is for the mindless entertainment. And this movie has plenty of that. Between the beautiful people, the car chases and the stuff blowing up…you get your money’s worth. Although I can’t prove this right now, I think there were more bullets fired than words spoken. So yeah it’s that kind of movie.

I really did enjoy the two hours and ten minutes of nonstop action, and truthfully the only reason it didn’t get a Theater Worthy Score was because once again the film doesn’t have a true hero in it. Almost every character is a criminal. Even Hobbs and the lone Brazilian cop who is not on Reyes’ payroll are flawed. So I have to go with “Rental.”


SHOULD KIDS SEE IT?
My guess is your kids, especially your boys are going to want to see Fast Five, but you should be careful. Not only is the storyline a concern, there are several scenes involving women wearing next to nothing. And with most action films, there is a heavy dose of violence.


Conversation Starter
Three Simple Questions (with Answers You May Be Looking for):

Q: What’s the message/theme of this movie?
A: The plot of the film involves stealing over $100 million dollars that belongs to Brazil’s most notorious criminal. Several scenes in the film involve the characters asking what they will do with the money, so a fun opening question might be, “What would you do with $100 million?”


Q: How do you suppose we—as serious Christ-followers—should react to this movie?
A: There is no mistake about what the characters want. We could even say they are obsessed with money and will do just about anything to get it. Sadly our culture not only condones that behavior, they often celebrate it.

But I Timothy 6:6-10 takes a different approach to life. “A devout life does bring wealth, but it’s the rich simplicity of being yourself before God. Since we entered the world penniless and will leave it penniless, if we have bread on the table and shoes on our feet, that’s enough. But if it’s only money these leaders are after, they’ll self-destruct in no time. Lust for money brings trouble and nothing but trouble. Going down that path, some lose their footing in the faith completely and live to regret it bitterly ever after.”

Money is not bad. Some people do great things with their money; like donating to charities or relief efforts. But the love of money is very bad…in fact the Bible calls it evil.

Setting goals for your life is a virtuous thing to do, but sacrificing friendships, your honor and integrity to achieve those goals is shameful.


Q: How can we move from healthy, Bible-based opinions about this movie to actually living out those opinions?
A: We need to be careful we don’t get sucked in by greed that we lose our footing in the faith completely and live to regret it. So ask your child/student some follow up questions like:

1.On a scale of 1-10 (1 being not important at all and 10 being all I think about), how important is money to you? Why?
2.What are some ways we can guard ourselves from becoming greedy?
3.What are some ways we can be generous?
4.What are some ways we can honor God with our money?