Saturday, March 26, 2011

Fast Five

Fast Five (alternatively known as Fast & Furious 5 or Fast & Furious 5: Rio Heist) is a 2011 action film written by Chris Morgan and directed by Justin Lin and the fifth installment in The Fast and the Furious franchise. The film stars Vin Diesel, Paul Walker, Jordana Brewster and Dwayne Johnson and was first released in Australia on April 20, 2011 followed by a United States release on April 29, 2011. Fast Five follows Brian O'Conner (Walker), Dom Toretto (Diesel) and Mia Toretto (Brewster) as they plan a heist to steal $100 million from corrupt businessman Hernan Reyes (Joaquim de Almeida) while being pursued for arrest by U.S. DSS agent Luke Hobbs (Johnson).















For development of Fast Five, a conscious effort was made by Universal Studios to shift away from the street racing theme prevalent in previous films in the series. Emphasis was instead placed on transforming the franchise into a heist action series that utilized cars in an attempt to attract wider audiences that may otherwise be turned off by the series' focus on cars and car culture. Fast Five is considered the transitional film in the series, featuring only one car race with more attention given to action set-pieces such as gun fights, brawls and the heist of $100 million.

Following its release, Fast Five garnered critical praise, becoming the highest rated entry in the franchise, and financial gain, breaking box office records to become the highest grossing opening weekend in an April and the second highest opening weekend in Spring, earning $168 million. The film surpassed Fast & Furious (2009) to become the highest grossing film in the franchise and overtook Rio to become the highest grossing film of 2011. As of May 24, 2011, Fast Five has grossed over $510 million worldwide, placing it #79 on the list of highest-grossing films of all time worldwide - in unadjusted dollars.













When Dominic "Dom" Toretto (Vin Diesel) is being transported to a US prison by bus, his sister Mia Toretto (Jordana Brewster) and friend Brian O'Conner (Paul Walker) lead an assault on the bus, causing it to crash, freeing Dom. While authorities search for them, the trio escape to Rio de Janeiro. Awaiting Dom's arrival, Mia and Brian join their friend Vince (Matt Schulze) and other participants on a job to steal three cars from a train. While aboard the train, Brian and Mia discover the train is carrying DEA agents and that the cars are seized property. When Dom arrives with the rest of the participants, he realizes that one of them, Zizi (Michael Irby), is only interested in stealing one car - the Ford GT40. Dom has Mia steal the car herself while Dom and Brian fight Zizi and his henchmen, with Zizi killing the DEA agents assigned to the vehicles. Dom and Brian are captured and brought to crime lord – and owner of the cars – Hernan Reyes (Joaquim de Almeida), Zizi's boss where he orders the pair be interrogated to discover the location of the car. However they manage to escape and retreat to their safehouse.












While Brian, Dom and Mia examine the car to discover its importance, Vince arrives and is revealed to be working for Reyes when he removes a computer chip from the car. Dom forces Vince to leave and after investigating the chip, Brian discovers it contains details of Reyes' criminal empire including the locations of $100 million in cash. Following the murder of the DEA agents aboard the train, blamed on Dom and his team, U.S. DSS agent Luke Hobbs (Dwayne Johnson) and his team arrive in Rio to capture Dom and Brian. They travel to Dom's safehouse with assistance from local officer Elena Neves (Elsa Pataky), but find it under assault by Reyes' men. Brian, Dom and Mia escape with Dom suggesting they split up and leave Rio, but Mia announces she is pregnant with Brian's child. Dom agrees to stick together and suggests they steal Reyes' money to start a new life. The trio organizes a team to perform the heist, recruiting Han Seoul-Oh (Sung Kang), Roman Pearce (Tyrese Gibson), Tej Parker (Ludacris), Gisele Harabo (Gal Gadot), Tego Leo (Tego Calderón) and Rico Santos (Don Omar). Vince later joins the team after saving Mia from being captured by Reyes' men, earning Dom's trust once more.











Hobbs and his team eventually find and arrest Dom, Mia, Brian and Vince. While transporting them to the airport for extradition to the United States, the convoy is attacked by Reyes' men, killing Hobbs' team and Vince. Hobbs is saved by Dom, Brian and Mia as they fight back against Reyes' men and escape. Wanting revenge for his murdered team, Hobbs and Elena agree to help with the heist. The gang breaks into the police station where Reyes' money is kept and tear the vault from the building using their cars, dragging it through the city with police in pursuit. Believing they cannot outrun the police, Dom makes Brian continue on without him while he attacks the police and the pursuing Reyes, using the vault attached to his car to smash their vehicles. Brian returns to kill Zizi, while Reyes is badly injured by Dom's assault. Hobbs arrives on the scene and executes Reyes. Hobbs refuses to let the pair go free, but unwilling to arrest them, agrees to give them a 24-hour head start to escape. The gang split Reyes' money, with Dom leaving Vince's share to his family, before the members go their separate ways.

In the South Pacific, Brian and now visibly-pregnant Mia relax on a beach, where they are met by Dom and Elena. Brian challenges Dom to a final, no-stakes race to prove who is the better driver.

In a post-credits scene, Hobbs is given a special file by U.S. Customs agent Monica Fuentes (Eva Mendes) concerning the hijack of a military convoy in Berlin. In the file, Hobbs discovers a recent photo of Leticia Ortiz (Michelle Rodriguez), Dom's presumed-deceased girlfriend, revealing she may have survived the events of Fast & Furious.


Saturday, March 19, 2011

Killer Elite

In 1980, hired hitmen, Danny Bryce (Jason Statham), Hunter (Robert DeNiro), Davies (Dominic Purcell) and Meier (Aden Young) travel to Mexico, where they ambush a convoy. In the process, Danny is forced to kill a man in front of his daughter. Affected by this outcome, Danny retires and moves to Australia.

One year later, in 1981, Danny receives a package with a picture of a captive Hunter and a plane ticket. Danny travels to Oman, where he meets The Agent (Adewale Akinnuoye-Agbaje), who tells him that Hunter accepted a $6-million job, but failed to accomplish it and has been captured. If Danny doesn't complete Hunter's mission, Hunter will be executed.














Danny is introduced to Sheik Amr, a dying man who wants Danny to kill three former SAS agents – Steven Harris (Lachy Hulme), Steven Craig, and Simon McCann - who murdered his sons during the Dhofar Rebellion. Danny must videotape their confessions and make their deaths look like accidents, and he must do it before the Sheik dies. If he fails, his son will kill Hunter.

Danny reunites Davies and Meier, who agree to help him in exchange for money. As they break into the house of their first target (Steven Harris) in Oman, Davies interrogates local bar patrons about former SAS members. This is reported to the Feathermen, a secret society of former operatives that protect their own. One of them, Spike Logan (Clive Owen), is sent to investigate.

After Harris confess, Meier breaks his neck using a hammer with tiles similar to those of the bathroom floor to make it appear that Harris slipped and broke his neck.












As they headed to London, Davies discovers the second target Steven Craig who is going through training at a local base. Danny and Davies impersonate civilians having car problems, allowing Danny to infiltrate the base and drug Craig's coffee with chemicals that he stole from a hospital and mimic the symptoms of hypothermia. Craig dies after confessing to Danny.

Going to their last target, Simon McCann, currently a mercenary, they sabotage an oil tanker wit the help of a new team member Jake (Michael Dorman). As McCann is on his way to a fake job interview staged by Danny, Meier and Jake override the truck and cause it to crash against McCann's car, killing him. However, Logan and his men were watching over McCann chase the team who are on their way to the docks to rescue Davies. A brief gun fight ensued and Meier is accidentally killed by Jake in an attempt to kill one of Logan's men.

Danny returns to Oman and gives the Sheik the last tape. Hunter is released and returns to his family, while Danny heads back to Australia and reunites with his girlfriend, Anne (Yvonne Strahovski). There, he is informed by the contact that there is one last man that participated in the Sheik's sons' murders and needs to be executed, and that this man is about to release a book about his experiences as a member of the SAS.














Danny tells Anne to go to France with Hunter to protect her while he carries out the last job. The Sheik’s son confirms that Harris is an innocent man. Logan, meanwhile traced Danny through the contact and sends a team to protect the author but they were distracted by Jake, who is used as a decoy and Danny able to infiltrate the building and killed the author. Logan learns this, chased and captured Danny.

Danny is taken to an abandoned warehouse and was tortured by Logan but was interrupted when an agent from M16 arrived and reveals that the British government is behind in all of these to expose and eliminate the Feathermen's headquarters. They confirm about Danny’s mission because of the Sheik's valuable oil contracts. Danny escapes and a three-way battle ensues. Logan killed the MI6 agent and allowing Danny to escape.

Back in France, Hunter protects Anne from the Agent and his men, shooting the agent in the leg and warning him to stay away. After this, Danny and Hunter head to Oman to give the Sheik the pictures. But Logan arrives first and confronts the Sheikh and telling him the pictures are fake before stabbing him to death. The Sheik's son doesn’t care at all and gave the money to Logan which was intended for Danny and Hunter, who spot Logan leaving and chase after him, along with the Sheik's men.

After taking down the Sheik's men, Danny and Hunter confront Logan. Hunter takes some of the money for his family and gives Logan the rest, claiming that he'll need it to start a new life away from the government, who wants him dead for killing the Sheik and the MI6 agent. Logan and Danny end their feud, and Logan leaves to somewhere unknown, while Hunter returns to his family in England, and Danny meets with Anne in France to start anew.