I regard this movie as an admission of the failures of the acting careers of Diesel, Johnson & Walker. The main stars pulled out of the franchise earlier, but had to come crawling back & the Rock & Diesel's careers have been so eerily similar (I give you "The Pacifier" and "Tooth Fairy" that this match-up is hardly a surprise, and there is just something fitting about Johnson's joining the party at this point. Given the ending, they are definitely trying to set this up for more films.

Speaking of your comparison to the first movie, I watched it this weekend, and believe it or not, the acting has almost universally improved in the returning characters. Although in some cases that means they simply appear to have accepted their limitations and stopped trying to emote complicated feelings. In the latest, Diesel sticks with grunting & posturing, Brewster limits herself to smirking or staring and Walker... well, he's still Paul Walker. Who'd have thought that of all the actors in the first movie, Michelle Rodriguez turned out to be the one least in need of sequels. There might not be roles for vaguely ethnic meatheads, but there will always be a place for a tough chick in a wife-beater in all sorts of movies and TV shows.