Box office Fast Five grossed $209.8 million (33.5%) in the United States and Canada and $416.3 million (66.5%) in other territories for a total of $626.1 million. The film reached a peak of number 55 on the list of all-time highest-grossing films worldwide in October 2011. but was out-grossed in all three cases by
Fast & Furious 6.
United States and Canada According to Box Office Mojo,
Fast Five is one of the most successful sequels of 2011, when taking into account that it is one of few to have outperformed the immediately-preceding installment of its franchise in the US and Canada. By the end of its opening day, it had accrued a total of $34.4 million (including midnight earnings), setting an April opening-day record, replacing
Fast & Furious ($30.5 million), In total,
Fast Five earned $86.2 million during its opening weekend, an average of $23,655 per theater, and for films released in April). It also achieved the third-largest spring opening, behind
The Hunger Games and
Alice in Wonderland. (, ranked at number 6
Roger Ebert gave the film 3 out of 4 stars, praising it as "a skillfully assembled 130minutes at the movies, with actors capable of doing absurd things with straight faces, and action sequences that toy idly with the laws of physics", while
Richard Corliss of
Time considered it "maybe the first great film of the post-human era".
The New York Times said it deftly combined action and humor, stating "The only time you won't be watching the screen is when your eyes have squeezed shut because you're laughing so hard."
The Telegraph appreciated the presence of Johnson and Diesel together, calling it a "cosmic event", and added that director Lin had revitalized the series, saying "the start and finish here, defying every imaginable law of physics, are series highs."
Empire also heaped praise on Johnson, saying "How to re-ignite an ageing franchise? Drop [Johnson] on it. The best thing, by far, in
Fast Five ... Dwayne Johnson hulks through the movie leaving testosterone trails in his wake." However,
Empire took the view that the film itself was "not, by any normal criteria, a good film", arguing that it was too long, although conceding that the action scenes, in particular the final car chase, made the film "the most entertaining in the series." Anna Smith of
Time Out London also commented that the film was too long and criticized the simplistic characters and dialog, but she called the film "slick" and stated that these criticisms could be overlooked because "it doesn't take itself too seriously."
Variety focused on the roles of Johnson and Diesel, lamenting the current lack of 1980s-style "brawny" leading men and of the "manly men" typical of the 1950s and 1960s, and calling their pairing "a welcome injection of tough-guy vigor".
Variety commented that, based on
Fast Five, a "sixth entry could be something worth waiting for".
The New Yorker called the action scenes "spectacular", praising director Lin by saying his "direction and the sharp editing never confuse or lose momentum", but also found the film too long and criticized the dialog, labeling it "subpar ''
Ocean's Eleven-style banter". On the characters, The New Yorker'' considered Walker and Diesel "serviceable", but singled out Johnson for praise for bringing a "hip, comic knowingness to his role ... his enjoyment is infectious and keeps the movie speeding along."
Total Film welcomed the return of Ludacris and Tyrese Gibson to "[inject] the film with much-needed laughs" and felt that Johnson fit into the established cast with ease, though it believed the film itself was "no mould-breaker."
Peter Travers of
Rolling Stone, who disliked the previous movies, gave the film 2.5 stars out of 4, praising the transformation of the series into a heist film ("Damn it, it works"), commenting favorably on scenes between Johnson and Diesel, and judging that "
Fast Five will push all your action buttons, and some you haven't thought of." The
Los Angeles Times felt that scenes shared by Diesel and Johnson were the "best moments" and appreciated the humor, but considered the pacing a "strange mix", switching between exposition, comedy scenes and then sudden action. The reviewer echoed other critics' sentiments concerning the running time of the film, but concluded that "the sheer audacity of "Fast Five" is kind of breathtaking in a metal-twisting, death-defying, mission-implausible, B-movie-on-steroids kind of way", labeling it the "best" of the series. Both
Empire and
Variety noted that the final chase scene of
Fast Five contained allusions to
Bad Boys II (2003): Variety stated that the scene "seems inspired in part by a similarly spectacular scene in
Bad Boys II";
Empire said that it "nearly out-Bad-Boys-2s Bad Boys 2". Not all reviews were positive.
Film4 criticized both the film's long running time and its treatment of female characters, remarking "Some cameo strikingly in buttock form. Others actually have first names". But Film4 praised Johnson's role as DSS agent Luke Hobbs, saying he "provides a more credible anti-antagonist to our anti-heroes than the straight up villains can manage". The
Boston Herald gave a more mixed reaction: it derided the lack of realism as removing any sense of threat to the protagonists, but conceded that "these films may be robustly anti-intellectual and deplorably commercialized, but they are the envy of the rest of the world." Despite giving the film a positive review and praising the action,
The Hollywood Reporter was critical of its stars, saying "it's clear the budget wasn't used on acting lessons for the cast."
Time Out New York stated that "The
Fast and the Furious movies haven't exactly gotten better as they've gone along" but gave the director a backhanded compliment, saying "Justin Lin, taking his third turn behind the franchise's wheel, is at least a competent hack." Ebert was more complimentary, saying "Justin Lin is emerging as a first-rate director in this second-rate genre" and
Rolling Stone managed "Justin Lin, who misdirected the last two sequels, finds his pace this time, staging dynamite action."
Brazilian critics Brazilian reviewers criticized the use of Rio de Janeiro in the film, claiming it was stereotyped as "dominated by heavily armed drug traffickers, corrupt police, and sexy women".
O Globo accused the producers of using "aerial shots and quick editing" to "deceive the viewer" into believing that the criminal acts take place in Rio.
Globo also reacted negatively to the use of "foreigners" to represent Brazilians, "speaking Portuguese with laughable accents".
Veja agreed with
O Globo, saying, "The city of Rio and the Rio Film Commission supported the production. But the image that will spread across the world is exactly what the city doesn't want."
Accolades In December, 2011, Richard Corliss ranked the film number 10 on his list of the Top 10 Best Movies of 2011, saying, "A carnival of roguish heroes and pretty girls, car chases and cliffhangers,
Fast Five is as much a tribute as
The Artist or
Hugo to the cinema's primal thrills."
Empire placed the film number 20 on its list of the Top 20 Films of 2011, while
IGN named it the "Best Action Movie" of 2011.
Fast Five was listed as the number 1 most illegally downloaded film of 2011 on
BitTorrent with approximately 9.3 million downloads. ==Sequel==