Beautiful cars, fast paced chase scenes, gun fights, explosions, slow motion jumping-through-glass scenes—what more could the action moviegoer ask for? As a fast paced film, Fast Five, directed by Justin Lin, is a fabulous addition to the Too Fast and Too Furious series.

The movie is just one explosion after another. Dominic Toretto (Vin Diesel) is a high profile criminal who has just been sentenced to too many years in prison. Cars appear on the horizon as Toretto is being transported to prison, quickly catching up to the bus.

With a showcase of driving finesse, Toretto’s two accomplices, Brian O’Conner (Paul Walker) and Mia Toretto (Jordana Brewster) manage to flip the bus, causing it to tumble out of control. As wrecked as the bus is, and as improbable as it is that any form of life would have survived such a thrashing, Toretto escapes.

The following scene is of O’Conner and Mia, who we quickly find out to be pregnant with his child, kissing and sweet-talking one another on a train. Yes, a train. What appears, at first, to be a sentimental “give me a break from all the explosions” scene, turns out to segue into another action scene.

The train cargo is a bunch of very expensive cars. And as Mia and O’Conner somehow gain access to the holding car, another vehicle parallels the moving train. Using a plasma cutter, Toretto and his partners in crime blast away the holding car’s side, exposing the valuable cargo.

Unfortunately for the protagonist, his friend O’Connor, whom he had relied on, didn’t hire the most reliable people to help execute the job. Soon enough he’s being shot at, Mia is being shot at, and O’Conner is wrestling a guy with a blow torch on a moving vehicle, which eventually crashes into the side of the train, only making matters worse for Toretto.

Eventually, Toretto puts his game face on and, finishing off the last of the traitors with his Glock, revs the engine of his stolen racecar and drives it out of the moving train. No big deal, right?

But things get even more action-packed when O’Conner, who is still hanging onto the train to save his life, realizes that there is a bridge up ahead. Toretto, displaying his masterly driving skills, pulls his car beside the train, allowing O’Conner to jump inside. They are unable to break in time to prevent themselves from being hurled over a cliff, only to land without a bruise in the ocean with one of the cars they worked so hard to steal in the first place.

But that car doesn’t matter. It’s the blue and white striped Ford GT that does. It has within it a chip that contains the delivery schedule, belonging to Rio’s most notorious and wealthy drug lord, Hernan Reyes (Joaquim de Almeida). And he wants it back.

Moreover, the film’s protagonists have found themselves on the other side of the law, accused of theft and murder. And, to make matters worse, they are hunted by the “Rock” (Dwayne Johnson), who is more than just an overconfident cop. He is the leader of the elite task force DSS for the FBI who, as Paul Walker’s character describes: “Never misses his mark, blood bullets, wrath of God. Thats his style.”

Hunted by Reyes and the “Rock,” O’Conner and Toretto realize that time is running out if they ever want to “get out.” So the two of them think up a new job. They plan to steal all of Hernan Reyes money. Working together, they arrange a team of “the best.” With Mia’s pregnancy, O’Conner realizes that everything depends on the success of the job, everything hinges on the fast five.

Overall, Fast Five is a superb action flick, with great special effects and a dynamite cast. I give this movie four out of five stars.