Review: 'Fast Five' is a Furious Start to the Summer's Entertainment

Let's just get the engines started. Fast Five is the best film of the Fast and the Furious series. That's actually saying something when you consider the history of fifth installments in established franchises. I'm not going to go through a list, good or bad, but outside of Empire Strikes Back - yes, I know it was really the second Star Wars movie, but I'm making a point here - and Order of the Phoenix, film series have usually gone to scraping the creative barrel by the time the fifth movie comes along. Not so with Fast Five, a non-stop fusion of quick chases, splashy characters, and cracking action set pieces that officially stamps the Summer movie season as open. Sure, said stamp might be a bit plasticized and CGed over, but it hits with style and velocity not previously seen on this level in this franchise.

Fast Five once again teams Vin Diesel and Paul Walker as fast-moving thieves Dominic Toretto and Brian O'Conner, respectively. After breaking Dom out of a prison transport - an opening that carries over straight from the end of Fast and Furious - the team, along with Dom's sister, Mia, played by Jordanna Brewster, goes to Rio where the score of a lifetime awaits. Pulling together a team comprised of various characters from the previous Fast and the Furious movies, they are now going after $100 million of a shady businessman's life savings. It'll be dangerous, and on top of the the challenge laying before them, a federal task force led by Agent Luke Hobbs, played by Dwayne Johnson, is hot on their tail.

Clearly director Justin Lin is not new to this franchise. Fast Five is the third film of the series he has directed, and while he delivered the extremely fast Tokyo Drift, he runs in a different direction with Fast Five making every action scene as furious as possible. Fast Five has some incredible set pieces, and they begin right at the start. That opening break-out scene is simple, quick, but its usage of action design, sound, and a solid utilization of effects both practical and CG sets the tone for the fever that's about to come.

It isn't like the Fast and the Furious movies are bereft of typical bang-bang-shoot-em-up action, either. Aside from Tokyo Drift, they aren't just about street racing. Each of them has a nice mixture of racing and gun-play regardless of how those were individually executed each time out. Lin and screenwriter Chris Morgan aren't interested in toying with the street racing any more. Instead, they load this new movie down with huge explosions, lots of fists meeting faces, and even more bullets hitting bodies. One scene that even teases a street race doesn't even go through the pains of actually showing it. We know what the result will be. Why spend 10 minutes of pointless racing when the suspense can't possibly be present? And what's way more important than all of that, the action Lin and Morgan do include in Fast Five is all presented in an exciting, entertaining, and unforgettable way.

But all that action would be null and void without the characters. Thankfully they understand this, too. They do their best to build the relationships between members of the team especially Dom and Brian, who are fully on the same side for the first time in the franchise's history. Never mind that Diesel and Walker haven't ever found their thespian ways. The characters' bond is strong enough to overcome any histrionic issues we may have in the casting. Bringing characters from past films back in to make up the team was a great idea, too. These are characters we know even if we don't exactly love them. Even so, Tyrese Gibson and Ludacris - neither of whom have been seen since 2 Fast 2 Furious - offer up much of Fast Five's comic relief. Whether it's effective, genuine, or neither, it's still a welcome change of pace from the intensity brought down by the movie's barrage of action scenes.

Johnson is a nice addition to the series, too. He gives the Hobbs character a level of sincerity as well as celebrity clout that makes it easy to see the movie from his side of the action. This isn't a throw-away character put in the mix just because you have to include some idea of law enforcement. He brings something extra to the entire film. While a spin-off probably wouldn't work - I'm just going by law of averages as far as spin-offs go - there are definitely worse ideas the Hollywood machine could come up with.

Loaded down with enough blazing action to fill a Summer blockbuster, Fast Five is the Fast and the Furious movie action fans have been frothing for for years. The cars are there. The races are there. One particular chase scene late in the film brings incredible originality and a stunning execution to the climax of a film that has already delivered oodles of hard-hitting and top-notch action. It's a culmination to a series that has had ups and downs, but it finally feels like the Fast and the Furious series has reached its peak. And while a post-credit sequence delivers up the perfect launching point for a FuriouSix, we can only hope it's Justin Lin at the driver's seat once again.

Jeremy's Rating: 8 out of 10

Dwayne Johnson Producing and Starring in Biopic on Charley Pride?

Earlier this week, we learned that Fast Five star Paul Walker would produce and star in an indie thriller called Vehicle 19. Now another cast member from the franchise sequel is also producing and starring in another lower profile project of his own. The Telegraph-Journal (via The Playlist) has learned that Dwayne Johnson has been lined up to produce and star in a biopic about African-American country music singer Charley Pride whose career blossomed in the 1970's. Apparently the project was previously being developed with Terrence Howard starring and Hustle & Flow director Craig Brewer, but not anymore.

Pride himself revealed this bit of news in an interview with the Telegraph-Journal saying, the project had been developed previously, "But then the ball got fumbled. New management took over the studio that was ready to begin site work on it. And a decision was made to put all their resources behind thrillers—fast actioners. They felt that was where the big box office money was then.” Now Pride says the project is back on track and he even elaborated on the change in casting:

“Now it’s back on track again but with action and comedy star Dwayne Johnson portraying me in the title role. Terrence, it seems, is tied up on other involvements for a few years. Terrence is no doubt a more in-depth actor academically, but Dwayne is such a force on screen. It startled me a little at first, but he flew down to Dallas and spent a day with me just sitting, talking recently. And when he left it was like parting with an old friend. We had such similar views on so many things."

This is quite an unlikely project for an actor who has stayed within the confines of action and comedy (sometimes both of them together), and it shows that he's ready to show he has more than muscles and decent comedic timing. The story of Pride is rife with intriguing details from being a professional baseball player in the Negro leagues to being drafted into the Army. But instead of going back to playing ball, he decided to try his hand in music and while his race was kept secret from listeners (despite the quality of his music), his hit songs Just Between You and Me made a splash on the charts and made him a household name and a Grammy winner. The question is whether or not Johnson has the dramatic talent and the singing chops to pull it off. What do you think?

Arnold Schwarzenegger Also Looks o Take on Drama in 'Cry Macho'

His return to acting already includes an animated superhero known as The Governator, a role in Jee-Woon Kim's next film, and a return to his most iconic role as The Terminator for Fast Five director Justin Lin. Well, how about we throw another project onto the rapidly growing slate of Arnold Schwarzenegger, but this time it's a drama. Vulture reports the action icon will take a role in a drama called Cry Macho from director Brad Furman (The Lincoln Lawyer) and Al Ruddy, producer of such acclaimed dramas as Million Dollar Baby and The Godfather. In fact, it sounds like Cry Macho might be his first real returning to acting.

The plan right now is to shoot the film this summer, but funds still need to be raised at the Cannes Film Festival next month. So what's the story? Apparently it's based on N. Richard Nash's novel of the same name (apparently he also wrote the script before he passed away in 2000) and would have Schwarzengger playing a damaged-goods horse trainer who’s just been put out to pasture by his feckless boss. In exchange for some retirement money, the horseman agrees to kidnap the boss’s 11-year-old son from his rich Mexican ex-wife. Of course, things take an unexpected turn, when the ex-wife is all too glad to be rid of her juvenile delinquent.

Apparently Schwarzenegger was involved with the project over a decade ago before politics became his primary focus. Could be a nice departure from the action everyone is expecting from Schwarzenegger upon his return. I've never been entirely convinced by his dramatic chops, but I'm willing to give it a shot. Hell, if Dwayne Johnson is looking to play a country singing sensation, then Schwarzenegger can try this out without my having a gripe. What do you think?

Check This Out: Sultry Poster for Cannes Selected 'Sleeping Beauty'

We've already seen quite a beautiful and even eerie trailer for Sleeping Beauty, the directorial debut of author Julia Leigh, and next month our own Alex Billington should be seeing the film as part of the 64th Cannes Film Festival. Now we have a look at a simple, but sultry poster for the film starring Emily Browning as a high end prostitute. Though there's no real nudity in the poster (which The Playlist discovered at Recent Movie Posters), it's a bit provocative of a snapshot showing some skin so be careful where you're viewing it. The trailer has me intrigued so I can't wait to hear the buzz in Cannes next month.

Here's the poster for Sleeping Beauty (click for a larger version):

A haunting erotic fairytale about Lucy (Emily Browning), a University student drawn into a mysterious hidden world of beauty and desire with prostitution, where her specialty is the 'Sleeping Beauty chamber.'

Sleeping Beauty is both written and directed by first-time Australian filmmaker Julia Leigh, who is a novelist making her major leap into cinema with this film. Sleeping Beauty is being presented by legendary Oscar winning director Jane Campion. The film was just slated for a Cannes Film Festival 2011 premiere, so there's plenty more to come as the festival gets underway in May. Stay tuned for updates from The Croisette.

Steven Soderbergh to Direct Channing Tatum in Male Stripper Story

Though we've heard that director Steven Soderbergh would be retiring following his work on the forthcoming Liberace biopic with Matt Damon and Michael Douglas and a big screen adaptation of The Man from U.N.C.L.E. with George Clooney attached, it sounds like we might get one more film from him after all. Deadline has learned that Soderbergh has just committed to direct Channing Tatum in a film called Magic Mike, the story of a friendship that blossoms in the world of male strippers (calm down, ladies). Tatum will play the lead, titular character who shows a young dancer the ropes on/off the stage. Read on!

Apparently the story itself comes from Tatum's real-life experiences when he was a male stripper at the age of 19. Soderbergh said of the project, "When Channing talked to me about this, I thought it was one of the best ideas I'd ever heard for a movie. I said I wanted in immediately. It's sexy, funny and shocking. We're using Saturday Night Fever as our model, so hopefully we're on the right track." Tatum followed up saying, "This was a wild and pivotal time in my life and I couldn't be more thrilled to go down the rabbit hole with Steven." Apparently the plan is to shoot this between the Liberace biopic and The Man from U.N.C.L.E. which could still turn out to be Soderbergh's last film. We'll see how that works out in a couple years, I suppose. Anyone interested?

First Theatrical Poster for 'Transformers: Dark of the Moon' Unveiled

Just yesterday we got a really good look at this summer's explosive sequel Transformers: Dark of the Moon by way of a pretty impressive full length trailer. And with all that excitement, Paramount Pictures is looking to keep the hype machine rolling with this new theatrical poster for the anticipated blockbuster sequel. As usual, the poster features a great hero shot of Optimus Prime along with his human companion Shia LaBeouf. There's even room for Rosie Huntington-Whiteley to appear on her first franchise poster. It's not terrible, but Photoshop jobs like this make me long for Drew Struzan's posters again.

Here's the first official poster for Transformers: Dark of the Moon from Yahoo! Movies:

In this movie, the Autobots and Decepticons become involved in a perilous space race between the U.S. and Russia, and once again human Sam Witwicky must help his robot friends defeat enemies like Shockwave.

Transformers: Dark of the Moon is again directed by everyone's favorite explosive director, Michael Bay, of the previous two Transformers movies as well as Bad Boys I and II, The Rock, Armageddon, Pearl Harbor and The Island. The screenplay was written by Ehren Kruger, who co-wrote the Revenge of the Fallen script but went solo this time, and also worked on The Ring, The Skeleton Key and Brothers Grimm screenplays. Paramount is bringing Transformers 3 to theaters everywhere in 3D starting July 1st. Bring on summer!

Watch: First Trailer for Jim Sturgess and Anne Hathaway's 'One Day'

"You mustn't let time slip away..." Focus Features has unveiled a trailer for Lone Scherfig's One Day, the upcoming summer romantic drama starring Anne Hathaway and Jim Sturgess. The trailer is out on Yahoo (via SlashFilm) and I'm not sure it's an official US trailer, but it is a real trailer nonetheless, and for those who've been waiting to see this trailer, here you go. Sadly, I think it's a cheesy trailer that way overplays the sappiness. I know the movie is better than this, just give it a chance, it looks like it's full of the same heart and filmmaking prowess that Scherfig showed with An Education. Catch this new trailer below!

Watch the first official trailer for Lone Scherfig's One Day:

You can watch the One Day trailer in High Definition on Yahoo

After spending the night together on the night of their college graduation, Dexter and Em revisit each year on the same date to see where they are in their lives. They are sometimes together and at other times, not.

One Day is directed by acclaimed British filmmaker Lone Scherfig, of An Education, Just Like Home and Wilbur Wants to Kill Himself previously. The screenplay was written by David Nicholls and is an adaptation of his own very popular novel. This was produced by Random House Films and Film Four. Focus Features will be bringing One Day to limited theaters starting on July 8th later this summer. First impressions?

Anthony Mackie Looking at Roles in 'World War Z' & 'Gangster Squad'

As we've been saying for a while, actor Anthony Mackie (The Hurt Locker, Night Catches Us, The Adjustment Bureau) is on the verge of breaking out and just needs some strong roles. That may be Real Steel but just in case, he's started lining up plenty of other projects to follow that, including Ten Year, Man on a Ledge and Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter. Variety is reporting that Mackie has been offered a role in World War Z, the upcoming adaptation with Marc Forster directing; he's also apparently being "eyed for a role" in Gangster Squad, the crime action-thriller being directed by Ruben Fleischer at Warner Bros.

Variety's story is kind of vague and they don't have any more details to add, specifically what roles he's up for in both of the projects, so we'll have to wait for updates on that. And of course, the casting isn't 100% confirmed, and they even state "Mackie's reps had no comment, nor did Paramount." Goodness. Anyway, I'm glad as always to see Mackie landing roles and I'm happy to see that World War Z is actually moving along to start shooting this summer, though casting has sparse so far. As for Gangster Squad, now that's a project that's getting more exciting every update. The cast already includes Sean Penn, Ryan Gosling, Josh Brolin, and it just sounds like it'll be damn good. As always, we'll continue to keep you updated on casting.

Robert Zemeckis Also Involved with the Time Travel Project 'Replay'

Ever since Disney shut down ImageMovers, director Robert Zemeckis has been dabbling with returning to live-action. Unfortunately, he's just been nibbling at a bunch of projects, including one called Timeless, and another called Flight just last week. Well, Vulture reports there's another new project to add to his list, this one called Replay. It's an adaptation of a 1987 novel by Ken Grimwood about a radio journalist who dies in 1988, but wakes up in 1963, in his 18-year-old body, with all of his memories intact. They say that Zemeckis is "in serious talks with Warner Bros" to direct. I just want to see him commit and start filming!

Replay's story extends beyond just one timeline, as the character always dies that night in 1988, but always wakes up again in '63, allowing him to "make a new sets of choices, resulting in different spouses, progeny, and jobs in each 'life.'" It's actually more of a thriller, where he "slowly learns he can’t prevent his own death, but sets about trying to prevent the death of his daughter." Whoa, that sounds good. Please tell me he's going to cast Tom Hanks in this, as I'd love to see that, almost as a throwback to Big, too. Another throwback apparently in the script includes a reference to Steven Spielberg movie (they don't say which one) that eventually leads "the protagonist to his soul mate, a fellow time-jumper, and the movie's screenwriter." Damn, this just sounds fascinating, I feel like I need to get and read the book right away.

The screenplay was written by screenwriter and TV producer Jason Smilovic, who wrote Lucky Number Slevin (which I absolutely hated) and My Own Worst Enemy. Hmm, it sounds like that will need a bit of work before they actually give this the greenlight, but with Zemeckis on-board I don't think it'll be hard to get some big name writers involved. As for how soon we'll see Replay, Vulture says that although that Flight project with Denzel Washington was just announced last week, "it's unclear if or when Washington will commit to starring in the film, and in the meantime, we're told that Zemeckis seems to be doing Replay first, and then circling back for Flight." We'll have to wait and see what he chooses. Stay tuned!

Hollywood Remake of 'Troll Hunter' Still in the Works with Universal

There's a film this summer that I'm very excited to see released as it kicks ass - Troll Hunter! Just last week we debuted the official US trailer for the Norwegian film about a group of students who follow a troll hunter around as he hunts and kills trolls in the forests of Norway. The remake rights were snagged last year by Universal before many had even seen this, but with no update since, some began to think it wasn't happening anymore. That's not really the case, as JoBlo (via Twitch) posted a few new quotes today from Troll Hunter director André Øvredal confirming it is in the works, just still being negotiated. Read on!

Here's the key quotes from André Øvredal about the Troll Hunter remake and its status via AITH:

"There is a contract negotiation going on," the director said enthusiastically. "But it's taking months, just because of details in the contract. There should be an announcement within several weeks."

"They have to make the announcement, but I am very proud that these people want to do the remake," Øvredal said, referencing mysterious participants whose identities he wouldn't divulge. "I'm very happy about it."

It's always good to hear that people behind the original film are actually happy with the remake, as that means it won't be butchered too much. Øvredal himself confirms that he'll "be an advisor on it of some kind" and that the "mockumentary" style of the film will remain the same. That's all fine and dandy, but this film really doesn't need a remake, and it doesn't even make sense (since the gimmick is that Norway has been keeping these mythical trolls a secret from the world). The only cool concept I can think of would be to continue the storyline and have an American crew go to Norway to see what they were talking about then encounter some trolls on their own. At least that's an idea, but know who knows what they're planning to do.

If you haven't seen the latest trailer for The Troll Hunter, do yourself a big favor and watch it right now. It's one of my favorites this year and it's available On-Demand soon, you'll definitely want to see the entire film.