★★½
Who would have thought after 2001’s summer hit “The Fast and
the Furious” that we’d be looking at a sixth installment twelve years later?
The original film was dry and the second was terrible. Once director Justin Lin
took over the franchise with “Tokyo Drift” in 2006, it became pretty evident that
we had a franchise on our hands. At the same time, the creativity when Lin took
over seemed to hit the breaks. But people continue to come to these movies
whenever they’re released, and “Fast & Furious 6” will probably be no
exception. More fast cars and special effects, what else can you expect from
this franchise?
“Furious 6” takes place some time after the events in “Fast
Five.” Dominic Toretto (Vin Diesel), Brian O’Conner (Paul Walker) and the rest
of the crew are living their lives as newly minted multi-millionaires. Brian
now has a child with Mia (Jordana Brewster), Dom’s sister. Life is good and
simple for the whole crew.
Then one day “Fast Five’s” nemesis Hobbs (Dwayne Johnson)
shows up on Dom’s doorstep looking for his assistance. Hobbs and his new
partner (UFC’s Gina Carano) are after a highly trained group of thieves lead by
an ex-solider named Owen Shaw (Luke Evans). Shaw and his crew have been
stealing military equipment to build a device that would greatly hinder an
army’s ability to fight in the field. They only need one more component to make
it operational. Oh, and one of the members of Shaw’s crew is Dom’s
ex-girlfriend Letty (Michelle Rodriguez) who was thought to be dead.
Dom can’t resist going after Letty, and neither can his crew.
Along with Brian, Dom gets the whole team back together: Roman (Tyrese Gibson),
Tej (Chris ‘Ludacris’ Bridges), Han (Sung Kang) and Gisele (Gal Gadot). The
team assembles in London, armed with more fast cars, advanced gadgets and full
pardons if they successfully bring down Shaw.
The rest of the film is pretty standard stuff. The highly
choreographed car chase sequences loaded with shaky camera movements and
staccato editing techniques are what people want to see when they come to these
movies. “Furious 6” absolutely delivers in that regard. This is Justin Lin’s
fourth film in a row with this franchise and his ability to construct these
action sequences continues to improve with each outing (although he is not
signed on to direct the forthcoming seventh installment).
There is some disconnect in the action sequences, however.
Throughout the epic climax sequence, there are so many different individual
things going on that it’s kind of hard to keep track of what’s going happening.
At times the cuts come so fast, its difficult to tell who was punching whom, or
which car just crashed and burned.
And when Lin decides that he wants his film to have depth
and emotion, he really drops the ball. Numerous moments in “Furious 6” drag on
and on for longer than needed. A family-first mentality is one of the themes
that’s hammered throughout the film, but every time its brought up it feels out
of place. In the middle of action sequences when lives are on the line is
really not the time to remind the guy hanging on by a thread he needs to do it
for the family.
The sentimental moments are monotonous and laughable.
Everything feels scripted. Everything feels forced. The dialogue is cheesy. The
comic relief – thanks mostly to Tyrese and Ludacris – works well, even if there
really isn’t a need for comic relief in a high-octane action flick such as
this.
But lets be honest, you can’t just throw together a two-hour
movie with only cars zinging by at top speeds through the crowded streets of
London. I suppose you probably could but then it would just look like you were
watching someone playing “Gran Turismo” on the PlayStation for two hours. Not a
whole lot of fun. There needs to be some kind of narrative in there. But why
spend a whole lot of time on the story when you know everyone is just there to
see the fast cars?
“Furious 6” is yet another example of one of those movies
where the built in audience is going to get exactly what they wanted to see. There’s
no depth, but plenty of special effects and stunt driving. The size and scope
of the action sequences pretty much warrant a required viewing in a big
theater. I doubt the same effect will come across at home. As long as
expectations are curbed, “Fast & Furious 6” is exactly what’s advertised.
Nothing more and nothing less.
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