Fast and Furious 5 Review
Is it ok to take revenge on someone who has wronged you?
Got expectations? Well lower them. Are they kinda low? Well lower them just a bit more…and again. Really low now? Ok good” lower them again. Cool now we are ready to get into it.
What’s the movie about?
If you know any of the previous F&F movies (i can’t believe there are 5!) you will have an idea about this one. F&F5 is now set in Rio and once again our two main characters former FBI agent Brian O’Connor (Paul Walker) and career criminal Dominic Toretto (Vin Diesel) are on the run from the long arm of the US law. This time the law takes the form of Lucas Hobbs (Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson) and his crew of tanked super soldiers. Not only are the feds on their tail but along the line O’Connor and Toretto have fallen foul of Rio drug lord Hernan Reyes (Joaquim de Almeida) who now wants them dead.
Being short on cash and fairly annoyed that Reyes and his army of henchmen want them dead O’Connor and Toretto decide to take revenge by stealing all of Reyes’ cash - all 100 million of it. They put together a crack team of drivers/criminals from all around the world and plot and carry out their revenge all the while having Hobbs breathing down their neck (well breathing and shooting lots and lots of bullets). If you’re thinking you have heard this story before then you are right basically this is a bigger more exotic version of ‘The Italian Job’ with a bit of ‘Oceans 11’ thrown in too.
I demand vengeance!
The core motivation in this film seems to be revenge. Well that and greed but mostly revenge. Our main characters feel betrayed and can’t help but want to take revenge on the man that tried to kill them. Now as Christians this feeling of wanting to get revenge on those who we feel have wronged us is still strong but we know that this is not the way God wants us to act. How does he want us to act? With love! Just like Jesus tells us in Matthew 5:43-44:
“You have heard that it was said Love your neighbor and hate your enemy. 44 But I tell you love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you…”
The world likes to reinforce the idea that revenge is good and it’s the right of anyone wronged to “get even”. Jesus totally goes against the grain - he wants you to love and pray for your enemies! In fact he didn’t just say it he lived it. While we were still enemies of God Jesus died for you and me. Next time you feel like you want to act out some sweet justice on someone just remember Jesus wants you to love your enemy and pray for them.
The final verdict
Considering that the fervr audience is made up of a lot of teens and the target audience for Fast & Furious 5 is largely teenage boys no doubt a few of you will be thinking of seeing this. Keeping in mind it is rated M the good news is that actually aside from the fact that the movie it totally ridiculous ” it’s not a bad action flick and will definitely entertain if you are willing to suspend logic for a couple of hours.
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