One viewer's trash is another's treasure

During the last few summers there have been too many absurd superhero fantasies that take themselves entirely too seriously and not enough real-world car chase movies that don’t in the slightest.

“Fast Five” will crash through that void at top speed.

The “Fast and the Furious” franchise has long been the butt of everyone’s jokes, not even being good enough to pass as cinema trash. The street racing gimmick got old fast (and furious); and while there are still more slick cars than you can shake a dip stick at, Director Justin Lin has traded in much of that for a silly but riotous and well-calculated heist thriller.

Dom, Brian and Mia are all hiding out from the Feds in Rio de Janeiro, and they plan to buy their freedom by robbing more than $100 million from a crime boss in the city. To do this, they’ll assemble a dream team of “Fast and the Furious” alums and defy all physics and logic in the process.

But the physics hardly ever matter because although none of the action scenes are what you would call “well-directed,” none of it occurs in excess. Whereas other action movies linger on-and-on in explosions and fist fights, “Fast Five” is richly varied and everything that happens hits you with just the right thrill.

“Fast Five’s” engines really start firing on all cylinders during the last half hour when a chase ensues through busy Rio streets as the boys drag a 10-ton safe behind them, smashing up everything in their paths. I don’t think even your Ford truck with a Hemi can haul that much at three digit speeds, but the scene is so ridiculous and well-done that it’s impossible to look away.

Still, I might have been bored were it not for “Fast Five’s” other pleasures. For example, if there’s one modern-day hulking mass of an actor with a perfectly round, bald head that sounds more ridiculous reciting one-liners in a rumbling baritone other than Vin Diesel, it’s Dwayne Johnson. The Rock proves to be an excellent addition to this ensemble, sounding cool even when reciting God-awful lines of dialogue like “Give me the veggies,” a phrase that makes no sense in or out of context.

“Fast Five” is trash, pure and simple, but one person’s trash is another one’s treasure.