The film stars Vin Diesel as Dominic Toretto and Paul Walker as Brian O'Conner, alongside Jordana Brewster, Tyrese Gibson, Gal Gadot, Chris "Ludacris" Bridges, Matt Schulze, Sung Kang and Dwayne Johnson.

Fast Five is considered the transitional film in the series, featuring only one car race and giving more attention to action set pieces such as brawls, gun fights, and the central heist.

The production mounted a comprehensive marketing campaign, with the film being advertised through social media, virtual games, cinema chains, automobile manufacturers, and at NASCAR races.

Principal photography began that July and lasted until that October, with filming locations including Atlanta, Puerto Rico, and Rio de Janeiro.

In a mid-credits scene in Washington, D.C., Hobbs is given a file by Monica Fuentes concerning the hijack of a military convoy in Berlin, where he discovers a recent photo of Dom's wife, Letty, who had been presumed dead.

[a] The central cast is rounded out by Puerto Rican singers Tego Calderón and Don Omar as Leo and Santos respectively, members of the heist team, reprising their roles from Los Bandoleros and Fast & Furious.

[20] Alimi Ballard, Fernando Chien, Yorgo Constantine, and Geoff Meedy portray Hobbs' team members Fusco, Wilkes, Chato, and Macroy.

[23][24] Moritz said that, following the success of Fast & Furious (2009), which had reunited Diesel, Walker, Rodriguez and Brewster from the original film, the production wanted to bring them back again for the next one.

The main cast were required to travel to Rio at the behest of Lin, who felt it important to understand the area and its culture to give the film a good sense of place.

"[33] The Rio film unit captured aerial shots of the city including Sugarloaf Mountain, Fort Copacabana, Ipanema Beach, the Dona Marta lookout point and the Christ the Redeemer statue.

The island's mixture of tropical greenery and wide streets allowed the production to re-create the densely populated favelas of Rio while completing the larger action and external scenes without incident.

[35] A foot pursuit in which Diesel, Brewster and Walker are chased across favela rooftops by Johnson and his team was filmed over the course of a week in the small hillside town of Naranjito, Puerto Rico.

Padelford also developed a top-mount dual-drive system for the Chargers that allowed a stunt driver to control the vehicle from the roof, while the actor focused on their performance inside the car.

It features many reggaeton and rhythmic Latin tracks, including songs by Don Omar, Busta Rhymes and many others, with three pieces from Tyler's original score for the film: "Assembling the Team", "Mad Skills" and "Fast Five Suite".

[45] Music guide AllMusic awarded the album 3 stars out of 5, commenting that "The goal here is to accompany a picture that, as usual, is packed with driving sequences involving flashy cars, beautiful, scantily clad women, and muscled men.

Car Town allowed players to view the trailer for the film in an REG-branded, in-game drive-in theater and race around a virtual Rio de Janeiro.

The game also featured missions and locations based on the plot of the film, while allowing players to race against Fast Five characters and take part in a bank heist.

By buying these tickets in-game, players were given promotional codes which in turn allowed them to unlock a virtual 1970s Dodge Charger, used by Diesel's character in the original film.

[4] The Blu-ray versions contains several exclusive additional features, including behind-the-scenes footage, cast and crew interviews, a "virtual car garage" that provides further details on the vehicles used in the production, and music tracks from the film.

[60] To promote the release of the DVD and Blu-ray, Universal Studios Home Entertainment sponsored the first race of the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series, at the Chicagoland Speedway.

[96] Across all markets, the film scored Universal's highest-grossing opening weekend in Russia, Spain, Turkey,[97] Argentina, Brazil,[98] Chile, France,[98] India, Italy,[98] Malaysia, Mexico,[98] the Netherlands, Thailand, the United Arab Emirates and Vietnam.

The website's critical consensus reads, "Sleek, loud, and over the top, Fast Five proudly embraces its brainless action thrills and injects new life into the franchise.

[108] 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".

[109] 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.

[113] 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.

"[114] 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.

"[115] 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.

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".

[117] 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.

"[118] 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.