"Fast & Furious 6" - directed by Justin Lin
Up until recently if you'd told me that I would consider a Fast and Furious movie amongst my top ten of any year I'd have spat my coffee out and aimed for your face.
But I did in fact put "Fast and Furious 5" down as my fifth favourite movie of 2011.
And why not?
It was a very well crafted rollercoaster ride mixing shootouts, car (and foot) chases and fist fights with hot women and even hotter cars.
In fact an awful lot of people seemed to agree because it made a very tidy $626,000,000 - more than five times its production budget.
It injected new life into a series that I had long given up on, adding extra muscle in the form of a ridiculously beefed up Dwayne Johnson, plenty of suitably lovely co-stars and locations (Elsa Pataky, Brazil) and that more varied action that I mentioned.
Working on the normal studio theory that more of the same is just what the box office ordered, the cash had not even got cold in the exec's pockets when we had an announcement of not only a sixth movie but a seventh too.
And here we are two years later with the sixth movie starring the same cast and directed by the same man.
The budget is 30% bigger, Dwayne Johnson looks about 10% bigger and after less than two weeks it has made more than twice its money back.
But is the quality similarly expanded?
Starting exactly as it should with a high speed car chase, the tone is set immediately.
This is going to be high octane, over the top stuff.
We find Dom (Vin Diesel) and Brian (Paul Walker) happily ensconced with their ladies in Spain.
Racing along some very narrow roads and putting the locals and themselves at great risk it is Mia (Jordana Brewster) and Brian's newborn son that they are en route to see.
Hobbs (Johnson) arrives soon after with a file full of photos of the presumed dead Letty (Michelle Rodriguez) and a request that Dom's crew help him track down international criminal mastermind Shaw (Luke Evans).
Why the hugely driven and efficient Hobbs needs anyone's help is a bit of a head-scratcher but I'll put it down to a combination of sequel script requirement and the fact that his entire squad were killed in the previous movie.
Although he does now have a suitable partner in Gina Carano.
If nothing else this film wastes no time in advancing the plot.
With less than 30 minutes on the clock we will have been to Russia and Spain, moved the entire cast to London and be in the thick of a very loud and expensive looking car chase involving the villain, a very weird car and a bunch of explosions and building demolitions.
There is enough carnage in those first thirty minutes to service an entire movie.
But there is more to come.
Much, much more.
This is a sequel - pure and simple.
It subscribes to the theory that bigger is better.
And good lord is it bigger.
The action in this latest installment makes anything in the previous movies seem believable.
I am not going to throw words like absurd or ridiculous at this film because really - it is sort of the point.
It does give one pause when 50 calibre Barrett M107 rounds shred cars that are then driven away and human bodies are subjected to punishment several times more than enough to break necks and spines.
Whereas "Fast and Furious 5" got away with it because it was at heart one big very tightly paced chase the sequel doesn't quite so much because it is considerably looser in that department.
The plot hops about here and there from action scene to action scene with barely an establishing shot between.
Like I said - it wastes no time advancing proceedings.
Often this results in some characters being discarded clumsily.
Elsa Pataky gets it worst as she gives Dom a free pass to pursue his ex.
Right.....
So that whole deep and meaningful connection from the last film wasn't actually so deep and meaningful then?
This can be an issue with sequels - they don't really care about what has happened previously in their desire to come up with a story that can be bolted on.
Again, it is somewhat pointless to raise plot holes or story weaknesses but it is interesting that this film can seemingly get away with existing purely because the last one made so much money when apparently many people are reluctant to allow "The Hangover III" to do the same.
Each films premise is about as solid as the others.
And I enjoyed both about as much as the other.
All criticism of over-the-topness and weak plotting aside there is no denying that "Fast and the Furious 6" is a bag of fun.
It runs over two hours but it flies by.
The action scenes are nicely done with only one really suffering (a little) from confusing editing.
All of the same mix of car chase, shootout and absurd finale are here from the last film and it is all much, much bigger.
Not often better - but good enough for sure.
I was hoping for more gun mayhem but although it teases us with glimpses of FN SCAR-L's and H&K MP5K's the team mostly poses with them rather than actually using them.
Still- Gal Gadot looks mighty good doing so.
What "Fast and Furious 6" proves yet again is that bigger is not always better in a sequel but that almost as good is sometimes good enough.
I enjoyed every second of this even when I was tut-tutting and raising an eyebrow at how silly it all was.
It is clearly not as good as "Fast and Furious 5" and it won't find itself on my 2013's Top Ten List but there is no denying that you get your moneys worth.
A highlight is either of the two pretty intense and nicely choreographed fights between Rodriguez and the remarkable Gina Carano.
The grand finale sets a new standard for ridiculousness but I defy you not to love it anyway.
Luke Evans is perfectly fine as the villainous Shaw. The part is underwritten in the extreme but he does well with it regardless.
There is plenty of humour courtesy of Tyrese Gibson and Ludacris during the brief moments where there is no action and the net result is a rollercoaster ride that zips by in a most pleasant fashion.
Besides - I could look at any of the female cast - Carano, Pataky, Brewster, Rodriguez or Gadot for two hours without getting bored.
With the addition of a joke or two and an insane amount of crazy action this movie ticks all of the boxes.
And make sure to stay for an extra scene during the credits.
It might be the worst kept cameo secret in recent memory but it is an undeniably good 'un that looks to be leading nicely into part 7.
But I did in fact put "Fast and Furious 5" down as my fifth favourite movie of 2011.
And why not?
It was a very well crafted rollercoaster ride mixing shootouts, car (and foot) chases and fist fights with hot women and even hotter cars.
In fact an awful lot of people seemed to agree because it made a very tidy $626,000,000 - more than five times its production budget.
It injected new life into a series that I had long given up on, adding extra muscle in the form of a ridiculously beefed up Dwayne Johnson, plenty of suitably lovely co-stars and locations (Elsa Pataky, Brazil) and that more varied action that I mentioned.
Working on the normal studio theory that more of the same is just what the box office ordered, the cash had not even got cold in the exec's pockets when we had an announcement of not only a sixth movie but a seventh too.
And here we are two years later with the sixth movie starring the same cast and directed by the same man.
The budget is 30% bigger, Dwayne Johnson looks about 10% bigger and after less than two weeks it has made more than twice its money back.
But is the quality similarly expanded?
This is going to be high octane, over the top stuff.
We find Dom (Vin Diesel) and Brian (Paul Walker) happily ensconced with their ladies in Spain.
Racing along some very narrow roads and putting the locals and themselves at great risk it is Mia (Jordana Brewster) and Brian's newborn son that they are en route to see.
Hobbs (Johnson) arrives soon after with a file full of photos of the presumed dead Letty (Michelle Rodriguez) and a request that Dom's crew help him track down international criminal mastermind Shaw (Luke Evans).
Why the hugely driven and efficient Hobbs needs anyone's help is a bit of a head-scratcher but I'll put it down to a combination of sequel script requirement and the fact that his entire squad were killed in the previous movie.
Although he does now have a suitable partner in Gina Carano.
If nothing else this film wastes no time in advancing the plot.
With less than 30 minutes on the clock we will have been to Russia and Spain, moved the entire cast to London and be in the thick of a very loud and expensive looking car chase involving the villain, a very weird car and a bunch of explosions and building demolitions.There is enough carnage in those first thirty minutes to service an entire movie.
But there is more to come.
Much, much more.
This is a sequel - pure and simple.
It subscribes to the theory that bigger is better.
And good lord is it bigger.
The action in this latest installment makes anything in the previous movies seem believable.
I am not going to throw words like absurd or ridiculous at this film because really - it is sort of the point.
It does give one pause when 50 calibre Barrett M107 rounds shred cars that are then driven away and human bodies are subjected to punishment several times more than enough to break necks and spines.
Whereas "Fast and Furious 5" got away with it because it was at heart one big very tightly paced chase the sequel doesn't quite so much because it is considerably looser in that department.
The plot hops about here and there from action scene to action scene with barely an establishing shot between.
Like I said - it wastes no time advancing proceedings.
Often this results in some characters being discarded clumsily.
Elsa Pataky gets it worst as she gives Dom a free pass to pursue his ex.
Right.....
So that whole deep and meaningful connection from the last film wasn't actually so deep and meaningful then?
This can be an issue with sequels - they don't really care about what has happened previously in their desire to come up with a story that can be bolted on.Again, it is somewhat pointless to raise plot holes or story weaknesses but it is interesting that this film can seemingly get away with existing purely because the last one made so much money when apparently many people are reluctant to allow "The Hangover III" to do the same.
Each films premise is about as solid as the others.
And I enjoyed both about as much as the other.
All criticism of over-the-topness and weak plotting aside there is no denying that "Fast and the Furious 6" is a bag of fun.
It runs over two hours but it flies by.
The action scenes are nicely done with only one really suffering (a little) from confusing editing.
All of the same mix of car chase, shootout and absurd finale are here from the last film and it is all much, much bigger.
Not often better - but good enough for sure.
I was hoping for more gun mayhem but although it teases us with glimpses of FN SCAR-L's and H&K MP5K's the team mostly poses with them rather than actually using them.
Still- Gal Gadot looks mighty good doing so.
What "Fast and Furious 6" proves yet again is that bigger is not always better in a sequel but that almost as good is sometimes good enough.
I enjoyed every second of this even when I was tut-tutting and raising an eyebrow at how silly it all was.
It is clearly not as good as "Fast and Furious 5" and it won't find itself on my 2013's Top Ten List but there is no denying that you get your moneys worth.
 |
| left - right... Jordana Brewster, Michelle Rodriguez, Gina Carano, Elsa Pataky and Gal Gadot |
The grand finale sets a new standard for ridiculousness but I defy you not to love it anyway.
Luke Evans is perfectly fine as the villainous Shaw. The part is underwritten in the extreme but he does well with it regardless.
There is plenty of humour courtesy of Tyrese Gibson and Ludacris during the brief moments where there is no action and the net result is a rollercoaster ride that zips by in a most pleasant fashion.
Besides - I could look at any of the female cast - Carano, Pataky, Brewster, Rodriguez or Gadot for two hours without getting bored.
With the addition of a joke or two and an insane amount of crazy action this movie ticks all of the boxes.
And make sure to stay for an extra scene during the credits.
It might be the worst kept cameo secret in recent memory but it is an undeniably good 'un that looks to be leading nicely into part 7.
| Rated | M for violence |
| Running Time: | 130 minutes (2hrs, 1 minute without end credits) |
| Starring: |
| Vin Diesel | --- Dominic Toretto |
| Paul Walker | --- Brian O'Connor |
| Dwayne Johnson | --- Hobbs |
| Jordana Brewster | --- Mia |
| Michelle Rodriguez | --- Letty |
| Tyrese Gibson | --- Roman |
| Sung Kang | --- Han |
| Gal Gadot | --- Gisele |
| Ludacris | --- Tej |
| Elsa Pataky | --- Elena |
| Gina Carano | --- Riley |
| John Ortiz | --- Braga |
| Luke Evans | --- Shaw |
| Clara Paget | --- Vegh |
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