Fast and Furious 6 Review

Over ten years ago the Fast and Furious series brought illegal car racing and heists speeding into the movies and since then has moved more into typical action fare. The series has always prided itself in ridiculously over the top stunts and it does it again here in a fairly solid sixth outing.

Picking up from where the previous film left off, Dominic Toretto (Vin Diesel) and his family of retired thieves are living peaceful lives in Europe among other locations with Brian O’Connor (Paul Walker) and Mia (Jordana Brewster) having had a baby, Tej (Chris Bridges) and Roman (Tyrese Gibson) enjoying playboy lives and Han (Sung Kang) and Giselle (Gal Gadot) relaxing in Tokyo. The team is called back together when Officer Luke Hobbs (Dwayne Johnson) offers pardons to the team in exchange for tracking down Owen Shaw (Luke Evans) and his highly specialised team of criminals that includes Dom’s former girlfriend Letty (Michelle Rodriguez) who somehow survived the events of the fourth film. Moving away from the large scale heist of the previous film, Fast and Furious Six instead jumps into the action straight away, maybe a little too quickly; the opening does stick out as it assumes that the entire audience has seen the previous film which doesn’t provide a good introduction for series newcomers. Rather than provide introductions for each character Lin and the production crew reused the video montage that flashed through the most recent films in the series; this worked well in Fast Five given the series ten year anniversary at the time but here it seems to be substituted in for proper character introductions again not appealing very well to newcomers. Despite the lacklustre opening the remainder of the movie proceeds well with many strong action sequences mixed with hints of the investigative and street racing the series focused on initially. Fast and Furious 6 also has far more humour and comic relief through Roman’s constant mishaps that previous entries didn’t have, providing a more well rounded focus overall.

Fast and Furious 6 doesn’t veer far from the simple yet likeable characters at its centre though there are some exception that work both for film’s good and it’s detriment. Diesel and Rodriguez are certainly developed are given enough interaction time between all the car chases that occur as are Brian and the rest of the supporting cast; giving enough reason to care about the players involved in the action sequences. On the other hand most of the new characters, particularly the primary antagonist Shaw lack the development that made previous villains of the series more memorable while certain characters including Hobbs and his new partner Riley (Gina Carano) are not developed much further to fit smoothly with the rest of the cast. The theme of family that mattered so much in the previous film is also downplayed in favour of action in that Mia is reduced to a disappointingly small role in the film. Hobb’s previous partner Elena (Elsa Pataky) also makes an appearance but it’s far too brief and underdeveloped to properly impact the plot; a wasted opportunity to draw out tension in Dom’s life.

Of course the main reason audiences watch Fast and Furious is for the action and the sixth entry does not disappoint. Vehicle warfare is brought into the series with a chase through London against repurposed cars that flip police cars around like ragdolls and a frenetic showdown against a tank on a Spanish motorway being just some of the ridiculous situations the characters find themselves in. Most of the sequences are shot with a good frame of the action (though the last sequence does get a bit dark at times) and are often punctuated with death defying stunts and impactful hand to hand combat. The music continues the series trend of hip-hop and electronic tunes with DeadMau5, Ludacris rounding out the track list to provide a strong backdrop to the action. The luxurious cars continue to glisten and shine in all their glory and are as ever, pushed to their limits in the action sequences.

Fast and Furious 6 proves that the series has no signs of slowing down; a few missteps in pacing and character development are easy to overlook when the series continues to do pull off what it does best and above all else it’s another action packed flick fuelled to entertain.

Rating: 3.5/5 Stars