Do the Baldy Bossa Nova: Fast And Furious 5 (Official Trailer) HD

Within the first 20 minutes of this maddeningly popular and utterly pointless street racing action franchise, a prison bus and sections of a passenger train have been totalled.

It goes rapidly downhill from there.

having wreaked havoc in Miami, Tokyo and the desert southwest, the action this time around shifts to the "location du jour" Rio de Janeiro. A word here to the obviously hard-working locations promotions people in Brazil: after five overhead passes, even the Christ of the Andes loses its fascination.

But, on to our story, what little there is. This is little more than a class reunion for the alumni of the previous four films, lorded over by Diesel as "honourable criminal" Dominic Toretto. Jordana Brewster is only sightly less of the cardboard cutout she has previously been as Toretto's sister and the love interest of rival and partner Paul Walker, a former FBI agent gone rogue. R n' B and hip-hop stars Tyrese and Ludacris enliven the proceedings  in their respective roles.

The target this time is a Brazilian drug lord (Joaquim de Alameida) who is mixing benevolence with murder and mayhem to keep his grip on the favelas  - and a $100m fortune - secure. To complicate matters, and to set up a much-anticipated "battle of the baldys" Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson is thrown in as an extra-Federal marshal. Armed witha trademark steely look and terse dialouge, he's out to haul in the racers. And, oh yeah, there's Matt Schulze as Vince, Toretto's "bonafide" who may or may not be out to double-cross him.

None of these plot elements are handled with any real flair  or intelligence, but hey, you knew that. You're just in it for the nitro and the racing stripes. And gear heads will find several varieties of auto antics and antagonism - even police cars get in on the act (wouldn't our squad love a few of those).

The citywide climactic car chase sets a new precedent for callous excess and by the credits roll, the discerning viewer (aka, the minority) will have a sense of relief and lingering malcontent akin to emerging from a root canal job at the dentist.

For hardcore (and hardheaded) loyalists only.