Hot off his revenge-bent role in Faster, Dwayne Johnson brings a similar persona to Fast Five, the fifth installment of the high-octane, high-testosterone series that has raced to nearly a half-billion dollars domestically since the hot-rodders hit the big screen in 2001.

Johnson will play Hobbs, a cop on the trail of street racers Vin Diesel, Paul Walker, Tyrese Gibson and the familiar crew of the Furious franchise, which has managed to retain much of its talent over the years. The movie is schedule to arrive in theaters on April 29.

“One of the things I’ve always loved about the franchise — the reason I think it’s been so successful over the years — is that they never stop trying to up the action,” Johnson says.

Justin Lin, who has been directing the series since 2006′s The Fast and the Furious: Tokyo Drift, says the challenge has been in trying to top its muscle cars and muscled stars.

“If you’re going to do a Fast and Furious movie, you’ve got to go bigger each time,” says Lin. “People thought it would be impossible to get Dwayne. But he didn’t show up looking to cash a paycheck.

“That’s pretty amazing, for a star like him to join the fifth part of a franchise. That says a lot about him and the fans.”

Indeed, few movies have had the consistency of Furious, a rare series about the working class. The films, which have averaged $122 million in North America, have a devoted following in the Latino community.

“I think what keeps it going is that it’s not really about cars,” Lin says. “I have to be honest: I’m not a big car guy. At the core, Fast and Furious is about family and how to create them.”

One reason to bring on Johnson, Lin says: Someone has to chase Diesel’s leadfoot character Dom Toretto and Walker’s ex-cop Brian O’Conner, both of whom went on the lam in last year’s hit Fast & Furious, which tallied $156 million.

Of course, it’s not a movie without plenty of sheet metal, and Johnson will wield the most with his Gurkha, a 10-ton armored military vehicle that looks like a Humvee on steroids.

Lin says that while Furious has long subsisted on chemistry, “the vibe was electric when Dwayne walked on set. The whole crew was buzzing with him, Vin, and all these other huge action stars on one set. It was like having (Sylvester) Stallone and (Bruce) Willis in the same movie.”

But who would take it in an all-out street scuffle?

“Let me be direct,” Johnson says. “Put your hard-earned dollar on me.”

credit: usatoday