Fast & Furious 6

Back in 2001, I went to the movies and saw The Fast and the Furious.  And I hated it.  Then came the stupidly titled 2 Fast 2 Furious.  It's a slightly better film than the first but not really that enjoyable.  Then came The Fast and the Furious: Tokyo Drift.  This always felt like a racing movie that had the Fast & Furious title slapped on it in order to sell it.  Yet, I felt that this was the best of the series.  And when Tokyo Drift is the best a franchise can do, it's time to walk away.  So when the 4th and 5th installments came out, I just stayed away.  But the word was that the series had shaken up its format and had become crazy and awesome action films.  Knowing that I'd be reviewing Fast & Furious 6 soon enough, I caught up on the previous two movies.

 

Continuing their tradition of poorly titled movies, the fourth film is called Fast & Furious.  It's just easier to say "the fourth one" so people don't confuse it with "the first one."  Well, I'd like to congratulate "the first one" on not being the worst of the series anymore!  Fast & Furious is awful.  It was so bad that I actively feared putting in the disc for Fast Five.  But I'm glad I did, because it's awesome!  Fast Five isn't a masterpiece.  It is, however, a super fun movie.

 

Now that the franchise finally had a really good entry under its belt, I was ready for (and I never thought I'd say this about this series, but I was actually anticipating) Fast & Furious 6.  While this newest movie isn't quite as good as the last one, it still kicks a lot of ass.

 

After the events of Fast Five, the crew are scattered around the globe living off the money they made from the previous movie (which for some appears to be hundreds of millions of dollars and for others maybe enough for the deposit on a new apartment).  After a former British Special Forces soldier and his team of car-based criminals attack a Russian convoy, DSS Agent Hobbs decides the only way to catch a team of car-based criminals is with a team of car-based criminals.  So, he offers Dom and his crew a full amnesty in exchange for their help.  The team agrees (but on their terms) and much car crashing and talk about the importance of family ensues.

 

Fast & Furious 6 has some great action sequences.  And it should, because that's what you're watching it for.  I loved every scene with the ramp car.  It's literally a ramp on wheels and the film makes the most of it.  There's also a great chase toward the end involving a tank.  All the action is superbly executed.  The editing is a bit fast but the camera tends to stay in wide and medium shots, especially during fist fights.  You can always see exactly what's going on.  Also, like in Fast Five, the majority of the action sequences involve real cars and stuntpeople with CGI acting as a support for the thrilling chases on screen.  This installment has the best action scenes of the series.

 

But the script is still dreadful.  The dialogue especially is really, really bad.  The jokes and one-liners are so relentlessly bad and delivered with such sincerity that it's charming.  And speaking of charming sincerity, Vin Diesel delivers all his lines about family as if his words are going to change the world.  It's hilarious and endearing to listen to Diesel say lines that wouldn't make the cut on a Lifetime Original Movie.

 

There is tons of unintentional hilarity that I could point out, but I'll leave it all up to you to discover.  And you should discover it.  Fast & Furious 6 is a great way to spend two hours on the couch.

 

7.5 out of 10  

 

P.S. It's very appropriate that Gal Gadot should be announced as Wonder Woman in the upcoming Man of Steel sequel.  She's pretty good in Fast & Furious 6.  She looks great and she holds her own in action sequences.  She may be a little skinny, but that's what exercise is for.  And she may not need to bulk up for the role.  I get the impression that Zach Snyder likes the art of Michael Turner and this informed his casting decision.

Looks about right to me. 

P.P.S. Now, for the elephant in the room.  Paul Walker died recently leaving this franchise on an indefinite hiatus.  He wasn't the best of actors, but he was in some pretty good movies.  His character in the Fast & Furious franchise may not be the most interesting but he always felt like an essential piece.  In this newest movie, the supporting members of the team have vastly more screentime than Walker or The Rock or Vin Diesel.  And they're fun to watch.  It gave me confidence that the series can survive without him, but it won't ever be completely right again.  As corny and saccharine as the constant droning about family is in these films, the actors have made it feel real.  And it's never easy to lose family.