If you have ever wondered if two Dodge Chargers could drag a bank safe down a busy city street, the answer is yes. This is possible, at least in the universe of “Fast Five,” the first major motion picture of the summer season. “Fast Five” is a summer blockbuster in every way, complete with spectacular car crashes, sweaty fist fights and a cast of tough guys and girls that talk fast and drive faster.

Film continues the fast and furious saga

“Fast Five,” as you may have gathered, is the fifth film in the “Fast and the Furious” series. It picks up where the fourth movie left off, sharing many of the same characters. If you missed the last few sequels, you’re probably not missing much. “Fast Five” stands alone as a self-contained, thoroughly entertaining story.

For the uninitiated, “Fast and the Furious” movies are all about cars –– racing and stealing them. It doesn’t take long to get caught up on the details and where the characters are in their respective lives. Vin Diesel is back as the bald, wife-beater-wearing Dominic Toretto he first made famous in the original film of the series.

Action starts early

For Dom, the story starts him off on a prison bus to the Lompoc penitentiary. His old pal Brian (Paul Walker) and his sister Mia (Jordana Brewster) jump in their cars and run the bus off the road. They take off for Rio where it’s not long before the gang gets caught up in a car theft heist that gets them all into trouble. In one of the more original action sequences, they hijack a moving train to steal some fancy automobiles right off the back train cars. When things go south, they discover that they are dealing with the ruthless drug lord Hernan Reyes, played intelligently by Joaquim de Almeida in a role he’s perfected over the years.

The team gets thrown up on the “Most Wanted” list and DEA agent Luke Hobbs is sent to track them down. Duane “The Rock” Johnson shines as the no-nonsense, shoot-first agent Hobbs, and has many of the best one-liners.

For the rest of the plot, the band of thieves find themselves being pursued simultaneously by the drug cartels, crooked cops and the feds. All that heat doesn’t deter them from hatching another scheme to steal all the money from the cartel in order to run to a far off island without fear of extradition. This particular plan calls for a group with very specific talents and skills, so Dom and Brian assemble a dream team of carjackers from around the world and previous sequels. The new team members bring comic relief in truckloads, and each member gets their own special tasks to perform.

Audience thrown into film’s world

The movie moves quickly, not taking too much time to introduce us to the characters or the world in which they live. Even still, the world of “Fast Five” is very easy to get into, and the characters are so entertaining that you don’t mind the hasty introductions. In fact, most characters stand out in their own unique ways, in true heist movie fashion. The ensemble is as endless as it is varied, a true international cast that fits well together with good chemistry.

Rio de Janeiro looks as exotic as it ever has, showing off all its well-known landmarks and features. The Cristo Redentor statue, the beaches, the hillside Favelas, are all filmed stylishly if not excessively.

Film formulaic, but fun

The heist inevitably hits a few snags and the crew finds themselves relying on help from unexpected places. It’s all very predictable and sticks close to the formula, but is fun nonetheless. The aforementioned bank safe car chase extravaganza closes the film out with gratuitous metal carnage. Interestingly, innocent people rarely get hurt –– just the bad guys. With occasional violence, language, and sexuality “Fast Five” is a very summer-friendly PG-13. There’s definitely more car wrecks than body counts.

Be sure to sit through the credits if you want to see even more surprise appearances from past movies. If you’re anxious for the first round of the popcorn season to begin, drive as fast as the traffic laws allow to “Fast Five.”