Having pulled off a successful heist in Rio, Dominic Toretto (Vin Diesel) and his team have retired to spots around the world....for the time being. Having worked with and against Dom and his crew in Rio, DSS agent Luke Hobbs (Dwayne Johnson) has tracked them down. He needs their help to take down Owen Shaw (Luke Evans), a former British special forces soldier who with his own crew of specialists has been stealing the pieces necessary to build the technology that could cripple a nation. Hobbs enlists Dom with offers of pardons for his past crime, but there's more. Dom's former love, Letty (Michelle Rodriguez) -- who was believed dead -- is working with Shaw, giving Dom all the motivation he needs to take Hobbs' offer. Dom seeks out friend and fellow driver Brian O'Conner (Paul Walker) and his team to help him, but even his crew's unique driving talents and criminal abilities will be put to the test against the likes of Shaw's crew.
Where Fast Five left off, '6' picks up without missing a beat. It does seem a long ways off from the street racing origins of the first film, but again, this is the rare series that gets better and better as it develops. I think much of that success can be attributed to director Justin Lin who quite simply just knows what he's doing. Since taking over the series with the third film, Tokyo Drift, Lin has helped take 'Fast and Furious' to different places than the first two movies. Yes, there's ridiculously exciting car chases and action and hand-to-hand fights and awesome cars and beautiful women and tough guys being tough and.....Yeah, I think that's it. That description could sound very common denominator, even stupid, but Lin has made an art of that formula. He takes these familiar genre conventions, throws them in a blender and comes up with these ridiculously entertaining popcorn flicks.
I will devote plenty of words to the action on display here (of which there is a ton), but I'm going to mention again what takes these movies up a notch beyond pure action flicks. It's the characters. If you've made it to the sixth entry in the series, you like something enough to stick with it. Yes, the cars and chases and action is awesome, but I genuinely like the characters and am rooting for them. I love the dynamic among Dom, Brian and the team, especially when you throw Johnson's Hobbs into the mix again. The script is far from Shakespearean, but it also knows these characters inside and out. At 130 minutes, you can't have all action (well, I suppose you could), but as was the case with 'Five,' some of the best moments come from the quieter moments as members of Dom's crew interact, bust each other's balls or even.....just talk!?! I know, crazy, right? Kudos to screenwriter Chris Morgan for turning in an underrated script.
Let's face it though. These are some pretty cool characters, and there's a whole lot of them. The original stars, Diesel and Walker, are the basis for it all, enemies turned friends turned family. Neither are considered great thespians, but they are great tough guys, great action stars. Their back and forth is natural, not forced, and flows effortlessly. Johnson again is a great addition to the series, and he also looks like he could tangle with a dozen or so grizzly bears and come out on the winning side. Jeez, look at his arms! Also returning to round out the team is Tyrese Gibson as Roman, the motor-mouthed driving specialist, Sung Kang as Han, the master thief and chameleon extraordinaire, Gal Gadot as Gisele, Han's girlfriend of sorts, weapons specialist and precision driver in her own right, and Chris 'Ludacris' Bridges as Tez, an electronics and tech whiz. Jordana Brewster and Elsa Pataky also return in small, cameo-like parts as the love interests.
With so much talent assembled, new names aren't necessary, but the new stars are gems here, especially Evans as Owen Shaw, the brutally efficient, ice cold master thief/criminal who finds himself working against Dom and Hobbs. As a villain, he's the best the series has seen mostly because he's a more than worthy opponent for our heroic anti-heroes. His one-on-one scene with Diesel near the midpoint of the film is a gem. Evans isn't a huge physically imposing bad guy, but his intensity goes a long way. Also joining the crew is Gina Carano as Riley, Hobbs' assistant in the developing case. She isn't given a ton to do, but she does get not one, but TWO fight scenes with Rodriguez (who's "death" in Fast and Furious is explained in somewhat believable fashion). It's tough to find fault with that statement.
Blah blah blah talking and dialogue and scripts blah blah blah. FAST CARS! EXPLOSIONS! CHASES! I thought 'Five' had set the bar at a pretty unattainable level.....well, yeah....I was wrong about that. Things get ratcheted up even more with three amazingly choreographed set pieces. The first has Dom, Brian, Hobbs and Co. racing through the night streets of London in pursuit of Shaw. An excellent sequence in itself, but just the start. The follow-up is a chase along a Spanish highway overlooking the sea. Oh, and there's a tank, and American muscle cars, and crashes, and ridiculous collateral damage. It features stunts so ridiculous, premises so beyond reality that it's almost laughable. You know what? I didn't care. Just sit back and watch it develop. This scene defies the laws of physics countless times, and it doesn't matter.
Both of those set pieces could make a movie worthwhile to watch on their own, but then there's the finale. Shaw is making his escape via an airfield (apparently the longest runway in the history of aviation) as an immense cargo plane tries to land to pick him up. Dom, Hobbs, Brian and the entire team are racing behind him in a variety of souped-up muscle cars trying to keep the plane on the ground. This extended sequence is schizophrenic in the best sense of the word. Cars zipping around at inordinate speeds, fistfights and brutal hand-to-hand fights, explosions left and right, it's an incredible, adrenaline-pumping scene. It goes on for something like 15-20 minutes, and It....Is....Nuts. It's hard to give audiences an action scene we haven't seen before, but Lin and screenwriter Morgan find a way to improve on the finale chase in 'Five,' but yep, they completely succeeded. And credit to Lin, he cuts the action so you can see it, always keeping tabs on what's going on. At no point it is an indecipherable blur.
That's enough rambling movie crush for now. Having just watched this newest entry earlier today, I feel like it's too soon to compare the films. I think I liked Fast Five a tad bit more, but it's really close. The more I think about this one, the more I like it, and here's why. This is a movie that knows exactly what it is and isn't trying to be anything else. It is a popcorn flick that will hopefully get your adrenaline pumping. It is fun from beginning to end whether it be the cast (who appear to be having a ball) or the ever-increasing and ridiculous action. It's just fun. If it isn't The Godfather or Citizen Kane or an all-time cinema classic, so be it. Sit back and enjoy it.
Oh, and yes, there will be a sequel. Much the same way Fast Five led into this film with a post-credit scene, so does '6' and it is a doozy. It ties the series all the way back to Tokyo Drift with a mystery that has baffled some series fans about the fate of one of the key characters. There's a huge star added to the mix -- no SPOILERS here -- setting the series up nicely for future ventures. I, for one, am most definitely psyched to see where it goes.
Fast & Furious 6 (2013): ****/****
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