Fast & Furious 6

While most franchises lose their steam with each succeeding sequel, the Fast and the Furious franchise is that rare exception where its later films breathe in new life into the series. Once a franchise about car racing, "Fast Five" took an unexpected turn as a bank heist thriller in the vein of Steven Soderbergh's "Ocean's 11," a welcomed change as seen by its huge box office earnings and critical success. Now, "Furious 6" is neither about car racing nor bank heists, but rather a terrorist threat with obvious inspirations from "The Dark Knight." Like "Fast Five," the results are immensely satisfying and undeniably entertaining.

The key to the franchise's upward turn in quality is due to director Justin Lin. He is a skilled action director, and many filmmakers can learn a few things or two from him: The action sequences are impressive, engaging, comprehensible, and well-shot, with practical effects to boot. There is a sense of danger, verve, and life in these scenes rarely found in other films, despite how over-the-top and ridiculous they may be; and yes, they often drift into gratify-defying territory. While I usually don't react out loudly when watching a film, this film had me gasping, jaw dropping, laughing, and applauding, sometimes all at once!

Another ingredient to the film's success is the chemistry between the cast members. We have grown to love these characters over the course of the series that one cannot help but cheer on for them. In particular, Tyrese Gibson and Ludicrous have such a terrific rapport with each other that they provide some of the film's biggest laughs and memorable one-liners. Additionally, Luke Evans is definitely a step up above the previous film's antagonist, and Gina Carano provides some great ass-kicking moments, although not much performance-wise. On another note, I want to mention how refreshing it is to see minority actors fill these roles. Certainly, the film's use of a diverse ensemble cast should be commended. As for the story, it's nothing special, but I dare you not to act surprised when several plot twists are revealed; I did so more than I would like to admit.

If there's one thing to learn about this franchise, it's that some change can be a good thing. While the later sequels do focus away from the car racing, they still featured cars, which helped retain old fans while bringing in new ones. "Furious 6" is terrific entertainment, and judging by yet another dazzling cliffhanger and the audience's reaction, "Fast & Furious 7" will be an amazing finale for the series. Unfortunately, Justin Lin won't be back around for the last installment, but someone please get this man to direct every and all upcoming action flicks.

Bigger, faster, crazier — that's the motto of the "Fast & Furious" franchise six films in. If you thought the action, scale and stunts were off the charts in "Fast Five," prepare to have your mind blown by "Fast & Furious 6."

The previous films were an acceleration, and the series hit full throttle with "Fast Five." The road was open and endless for Universal, and returning writer Chris Morgan and director Justin Lin. What they opt to do in "F&F6" is bend the limits of reality to their will. From the initial London chase to a highway tank sequence to the grand finale, which involves a massive cargo plane, this is an action movie jacked up on steroids. In fact, there are a couple references to Marvel "Avengers" characters — a not-so-subliminal suggestion that Universal would like you to think of Dominic Toretto's crew/family as a team of superheroes.

The trouble is for every "wow!" moment there are twice the number of "what?" moments. The action is so ludicrous that you lose all sense of what's happening. They're like little blackout moments as you drink more and more of the movie's high-octane Kool-Aid.

Morgan pulls together a perfectly viable plot. Dom's (Vin Diesel) presumed deceased former lover, Letty (Michelle Rodriguez) has been spotted in association with a criminal mastermind named Owen Shaw (Luke Evans) whose ex-military crew is essentially the shadow image of our heroes. Dobbs (Dwayne Johnson) presents this info to Dom in hopes that it'll persuade Dom into doing him favor in taking Shaw down. It naturally works, and the crew must put a hiatus on their quiet life spending all the cash they stole in the last film; when the patriarch of the family calls, you answer.

The movie doubles down on the notion of the crew as family. Shaw is supposed to be the antithesis. He doesn't care about allegiances but about precision and planning. He's cold and calculated, whereas the "family" is warm and spontaneous. It's cliché, but at least time is spent on the characters. There is only one newbie in former MMA fighter Gina Carano as Hobbs' new right hand, meaning the character time is invested in the existing characters, which is good, though the script doesn't pierce beyond the surface traits we're already familiar with.

It also bears mentioning that at one point the script reveals a twist that's solely for the purpose of a twist. This "surprise" makes no sense and has no actual bearing on what happens in the film. Morgan wanted a surprise moment to keep things interesting and it's a nice moment — but then you realize it's actually meaningless and changes nothing. Another example of how flash without substance is the M.O. of this series. You have to like flash for the sake of flash to be a big fan.

Of course any scene in which an engine of any kind is not running only matters so much in these films, but "Fast & Furious 6" will start to really separate out the pure action junkies who've been hooked on this series from those who prefer some plausibility and gravity —literally and figuratively — in their blockbusters. Lin's sensibilities would probably be of more use in a sci-fi or fantasy movie where he could break all laws of common sense and completely get away with it. In this movie, depending on your taste, it will either get you stoked or spoil the moment.

One could argue that this franchise has found a niche in larger-than-life action movies — that there's a viable space for films that maintain the trappings of the real world but play by the rules of a superhero movie. That's fair, but in many ways by blowing the ceiling off what's possible, they've created another ceiling. If anything is possible, at some point we will no longer be surprised by the impossible. The films would be better served by maintaining some thread of connection to the laws of physics, then when they broke them a little, it would have a bigger impact. "Fast Five" did this well and it's a shame this movie takes such a tremendous leap in believability.

Nevertheless, there's an undeniable adrenaline rush that comes with Lin's style of direction and the size and stature of the stunts and action sequences. It's three-fold true in this entry. That's the kind of thrill that maintains a sufficient baseline for enjoying these moves.

~Steven C

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I don't think many other franchises has been as turbulent and uneven as The Fast and the Furious films. Things started off pretty earnestly with Rob Cohen's first film, but quickly careened into odd directions, with the ever-cheesy 2 Fast 2 Furious taking off and running with one main character while leaving the other in the dust, and with Tokyo Drift drifting away with totally different characters altogether. Thankfully, Fast & Furious realigned the series with its roots. But it wasn't until Fast Five when I really began to give a darn about this series. Granted that all films have had their fun moments, the fifth film magically tied in every single strand from every single film, and made every single character relevant. Best of all, it did so with a great sense of fun: it had great pacing, amusing comedy, great action, and it made the characters stand out as a collectively outstanding cast.

So now Fast & Furious 6 has come out, reuniting the entire gang once more to take on bigger stakes. The spectacle in this film tries its best to be even bigger, more absurd, and more awesome than before: the film is effectively book-ended with two massive action setpieces. The first involves a decently destructive car chase in London, where the villain effectively uses his custom-built ride to launch other cars all over the place. The film's final act features a really crazy sequence in which a tank roars across a highway, crushing other cars and blowing up bridges. This all culminates with all the muscle cars banding together to bring down a massive cargo plane in a fiery blaze of glory. In between, the film slows down a bit, but there's frequent fist-fights and pursuits, a few scenes of witty comedy, and there's one decent car-racing scene.

Whether or not you really dig this film may depend on how well you dig the characters and all their dynamics. It definitely helps to watch and understand the events of the first five films, because at this point, they've all been through so much and changed so much; for a late-comer like me, who never was invested in the characters until the last film, it can be confusing to remember who was who and what their history was. Fortunately, the film does insert some flashbacks and reminders for the audience's benefit. If you are keeping up with things, then the film will reward you with a cast of endearing and heartfelt characters, and the film's plot generally revolves around their continuing struggles. As far as the actual plot goes, it's pretty brainless and absurd action-movie fodder, and there are plot holes to be found. However, the film does have the merit of presenting a cast of villains to directly oppose the cast of heroes, and the story pulls out a few surprising twists.

The film generally looks good, but many of the action scenes are hectically shot and edited, and it can be hard to tell what's going on in certain scenes. What you can see is awesome, but sometimes, it's just aggravating. Acting is generally fun and enjoyable from the whole cast. Writing gets the job done well enough. This production uses a plethora of quality sets, props, and costumes, with loads of flashy cars at its disposal, and some okay-looking special effects. This film uses some cool hip rap and techno music, while the music score is pretty cool (sounds a lot like Brian Tyler's work from Tokyo Drift, which was one of my favorite soundtracks).

Best recommended to fans of the series, especially if you've been following the last few movies.

4/5 (Entertainment: Good | Story: Pretty Good | Film: Pretty Good)

The sixth instalment in The Fast and the Furious franchise, Fast & Furious 6 follows into the footsteps of its predecessor and continues the series' new-found mantra of departing from its original street racing theme to move further into the heist thriller sub-genre. And even if it's not as refreshing & impressive as Fast Five, it nonetheless succeeds as another thrilling, ridiculously entertaining & undeniably fun extravaganza.

The story of Fast & Furious 6 concerns Dominic Toretto & his crew, all of whom have retired to a comfortable life following the heist they pulled off in the previous chapter yet they still remain wanted fugitives in their homeland. But when Hobbs asks for their services to take down a skilled mercenary organisation in exchange for clearing their criminal records, Dom accepts the deal and reassembles his team to finish one last job.

Directed by Justin Lin, Fast & Furious 6 is his final stint with this franchise and he decides to go out on a high note by delivering a picture that's far too enjoyable to worry about the laws of physics being bent here on few occasions. The screenplay packs in an interesting plot filled with excellent use of humour but it isn't as tightly gripped as the last instalment and is a slight step down in comparison. But a few elements do get an upgrade.

The technical aspects follow the same formula that was applied in Fast Five and there isn't much to complain here for the set pieces look spectacularly detailed, the action sequences benefit a lot from its energetic camera-work, brilliant editing & more use of practical effects just like the last chapter although at times the action goes way too over-the-top yet not so exaggerated for most viewers to suspend disbelief. And the background score is fitting for the most part.

Coming to the performances, the entire main cast that was present in the last one reprises its role, Michelle Rodrigues also returns to join the gang and Luke Evans is the new addition who plays this chapter's antagonist. Vin Diesel & Paul Walker do their usual best as Toretto & O'Conner, Dwayne Johnson continues to impress as Hobbs, However, Evans doesn't get enough screen time to show his mettle and his characters turns out to be a generic villain. The rest of the cast chips in with fine contributions.

On an overall scale, Fast & Furious 6 builds upon the very ingredients that worked in favour of Fast Five and, barring a couple of issues, manages to stay on the track for the most part. Although not as amazing as the previous entry, this is nevertheless an immensely enjoyable blockbuster material that promises a lot of fun & thrills, and effectively delivers it. Definitely more style than substance although the margin isn't as vast as it had been in the first four chapters of this franchise, Fast & Furious 6 comes delightfully recommended.

Well, this was unexpected! Going into this film I found myself with no hype at all. I expected a good, fun and cheesy movie time and I came out of the theater happy and surprised. While this isn't a masterpiece of filmmaking it does achieve what it sets out to do. To entertain you. And it does this quite good and sometimes it goes further than this by showing us some amazing set pieces and action sequences. For example one car, tank chase sequence! This is achieved by the gigantic production value of the film. You can literally smell the money that comes out of these guys. The whole movie you have this sense of scale, and I mean BIG scale! The amazing sound mixing and design including the music pumps you up and puts you in the mood! While the acting isn't Oscar worthy it is very fluid and it doesn't always feel forced. The chemistry between the cast is very solid and credible. Diesel and "The Rock" where pretty solid along with the secondary characters, and the villain was surprisingly tolerable. Another thing that solidifies the movie are the effects. These are outstanding along with the camera-work! The things that brought the movie down for me a little bit where some of the stunts, and weirdly some of these I found pretty amazing but although I understand this movie isn't supposed to be taken seriously there were some stunts that were just plain unbelievable, specially in the third act of the movie. And finally, the plot. While not groundbreaking it did have its interesting points but it doesn't drift away from the cheese factors. Overall I was quite surprised by what this movie did and how the director and producers exploited and used their huge production value. This is an example of a good quality action flick.