Justin Lin's "Fast & Furious 6"

Deviss wrote:"Ride or die, remember?"

• Story: Four Stars
  
• Acting: Three and a half Stars
  
• Directing: Three and a half Stars
  
• Visuals: Four Stars
  
• Overall: Four Stars

I don't know about you, but I have been a fan of the Fast and Furious series from the beginning. All the way back in 2001, with the movie that started it all, "The Fast and The Furious". Who would've thought that a movie about street racing would grow into the franchise it's become today? Definitely not me. I loved the first installment, but the following two were... less than stellar and it's a wonder this series managed to come back at all. However, I'm increasingly happy that it did.

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After toppling a drug kingpin's empire and making off with 100 million dollars, Dominic Toretto (Vin Diesel), Brian O'Conner (Paul Walker), and the crew have scattered themselves across the world, just as they said they would. However, the inability to return home, living forever on the lam, leaves everyone's lives incomplete. In another part of the world, DSS agent Luke Hobbs (Dwayne Johnson) is hunting a group of lethally skilled mercenary drivers, led by Owen Shaw (Luke Evans), across twelve different countries. Realizing that no ordinary crew will be able to match Evans' group, Hobbs tracks down Dom and enlists him and his crew for help. The stakes are higher than ever, with Dom's old girlfriend Letty (Michelle Rodriguez) supposedly alive and aiding Shaw, but should they succeed in bringing him down, they will get the one thing that has seemed impossible to attain: full pardons for everyone.

Let me pose a question to you. What comes to your mind when you think of the Fast and Furious film series? Scantily clad women? The near-titular fast cars and race scenes? Or something else entirely? From what I have seen and read, this film series seems to inspire the whole gamut of human response, ranging from vocal distaste and total indifference to casual enjoyment and energetic enjoyment. For myself, I would say that I fall in between the latter two of those responses. As I said above, I've been a fan ever since the beginning, but I'm also cognizant that each movie has their own respective flaws. No movie is perfect, regardless of how much the fans may claim it to be so.

Looking back on what this movie presented, one very noticeable flaw, or rather one that is very unforgettable once thought of, is what exactly were Shaw and his crew planning to do once they acquired all of the parts for their "blackout device"? We were told, in a roundabout way, that the device could be used to effectively shut down an entire country for twenty-four hours and that the loss of life would be horrendous by one of the movie's protagonists in a way that could come across as being halfway suppositional. Unless I missed the line, the movie's antagonist never said what he was going to do with said "blackout device" once it was built. While I didn't realize that the first time, it became apparent to me the second time around and now I can't not think about it.

Another thing that became more and more obvious to me as the movie went on was that the physics of the real world just do not apply in this world. Someone's suspension of disbelief has to be rather high for this movie. One scene in question are two people are launched from moving vehicles, intersect with each other (in mid-air), and then land on another moving vehicle and suffer no injuries whatsoever. Another is when one of the film's protagonists car is rear-ended by the antagonists super-charged tank, that we just saw crush car after car after car into some form of metallic paste, and yet manage to have a solid four to five minutes to do something before their car is also crushed.

In any other movie or film series, these things would be a deal breaker for me, but with the Fast and Furious series... there is something about them that is just so damn enjoyable. The acting is what we've come to be used to for a movie like this; most every actor sticks to their set emotion(s) and rarely do they deviate from them. Dom is as gravely-voiced as ever, Hobbs is rigidly stern in his demeanor and facial expression, only rarely cracking any semblance of a smile, but those things are enjoyable to a point where they are okay.

The one thing that stands out the most in this movie, and if it didn't then... there is no other word for that than "Fail", is the action scenes. Director Justin Lin's cinematography during the car chase/actions scenes is nothing short of breathtaking. More than once I felt like I was right there in Dom's or Brian's car as it turned, accelerated, or was launched into the air. One other thing that just came to mind that was also very well done was the usage of CGI, something that was very obvious and just not enjoyable. CGI in "Fast & Furious 6" was used sparingly but when it was, it was near seamless.

So in retrospect, while this movie had its hiccups, it was nothing short of enjoyable. It was fun. If given the opportunity, I would see it again. Would I recommend it to someone else? I would, but only if they have seen one or more of the previous installments, particularly the first, fourth, and fifth movies.

This was a review by tMG, thank you for readin-*Engine rev and screeeeeching tires*

Deviss wrote:That is a fair complaint Churm, but like I said in my review I'm coming from the very first movie. So, it wouldn't be hard to see how I would be more receptive or "forgiving" of what the overall story is and, more specifically, what Furious 6 presented.

Now that you mention it and I think about it again... I think I could've set it at a three point five instead of a four. But whatever, I'm a fan

frang wrote:Those who stayed behind, they began to die in car wrecks, they were put in jail on drug charges. They were all used up in just a few years.