When the first film of what became the cornerstone for this series debuted in 2001, I was not impressed.  I rated the first film one star and compared it to the Cannonball Run films of the early 1980s, while acknowledging that the car stunts were cool. Well, the car stunts are still cool — they are stupendous, in fact — and the main characters have now been around for so long that I kind of like them, too.

The scope of the movies has widened each and every time out, moving from street racing to robbery to drug trafficking to, in this case, the attempted theft of a military secret potentially worth billions.  Along the way, criminal Dominic Torretto (Vin Diesel) and ex-cop Brian O’Conner (Paul Walker) and their family and friends have alternated using their talents for profit, revenge and patriotism — with profit always a primary consideration.

Director Justin Lin, who has helmed each of the last four installments, ramps up the action yet again, while managing to give each of the characters some key moments and keeping the dramatic focus on those characters rather than an extraneous plot. This is popcorn cinema, to be sure, but it sure is tasty when a military convoy is attacked on a Spanish bridge, leading to the sight of a tank disrupting and destroying traffic as it rumbles along.  Perhaps it goes too far when the big Russian jet is trying to take off on what would be the longest runway in the world as it is attacked by the fast and furious crew in their sports cars.  But even so, it’s a fun ride, and for a film like this, that is enough.  ☆ ☆ ☆.  11 June 2013.