Fast & Furious 6 is currently at the top of the box office during this summer movie season, but should we all follow the hype and agree with the mass reception of this film?
As usual, I'm more than happy to offer my two cents on this entry in the series.
The Plot: (Full Spoilers)
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| Look! It's a BLACK Superman sighting! |
Diplomatic Security Service (DSS) agent Luke Hobbs and his partner Riley investigate the destruction of a Russian military convoy by former British Special Forces soldier Owen Shaw and his crew. Hobbs tracks down Dominic and persuades him to help take down Shaw after showing him a recent photo of Letty Ortiz, Dominic's former girlfriend, whom he thought was dead. Dominic gathers his crew together and they accept the mission in exchange for full amnesty for their past crimes, which will allow them to return home to the United States; Mia and Elena remain with Jack.
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| I know I've been with like two other girls in the last two films but Letty, I want you back... |
Dominic's crew investigates a Shaw subordinate who reveals Shaw's connection to Arturo Braga, a drug lord imprisoned by Brian. Brian returns to the United States as a prisoner to gain access to Braga, who discloses how Letty survived the explosion that was thought to have killed her; Shaw attempted to finish her off but after learning of her amnesia, he took her in. Aided by a former ally in the FBI, Brian is released from prison. In London, Dominic challenges Letty in a street racing competition, and afterwards returns her necklace he had kept.
Tej tracks Shaw's next attack to a NATO base in Spain. His crew assaults a military convoy carrying a computer chip to complete the Nightshade device. Dominic's crew interferes, destroying the convoy while Shaw, accompanied by Letty, commandeers a tank and begins destroying cars along the highway. Brian and Roman manage to flip the tank; Letty is thrown from the tank and Dominic risks his life to save her from falling to her death. Shaw and his men are captured, but he reveals that he has kidnapped Mia. The crew are forced to release Shaw, and Riley (revealed to be working for Shaw) leaves with him; Letty chooses to remain with Dom. Shaw and his crew board a large aircraft while it is in motion on a runway as Dominic's crew gives chase. Dominic, Letty, Brian, and Hobbs board the craft; Brian rescues Mia and they escape using a car onboard. The plane attempts to take off but is held down by excess weight as Han, Gisele, Roman, Tej, Brian, and Mia tether the plane to their vehicles. Gisele sacrifices herself to save Han from one of Shaw's henchemen. Letty kills Riley and both she and Hobbs leap to safety, but Dominic pursues Shaw and the computer chip. Shaw is thrown from the plane as it crashes into the ground; Dom drives one of the remaining cars through the nose of the exploding plane and reunites with his crew, giving the chip to Hobbs to secure their amnesty.In the aftermath, Dominic and his team return to the United States. Hobbs and Elena (now working with Hobbs) arrive to confirm the crew are free; Elena accepts Dominic has chosen Letty over her. As Dominic's crew gather to share a meal, Dominic asks Letty if the gathering feels familiar; she answers no, but that it feels like home.
In a post-credits scene, while Han is racing in Tokyo, he is hit by an oncoming car; the car explodes, killing Han. The other car's driver walks away from the scene and calls Dominic, leaving him a threatening message: "You don't know me, but you're about to..."
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| Dear viewers, this is the last time you will see anything like this that relates to street racing in our future films... |
The Verdict:
(Whistles) Where to begin on this one? I'm going to start off and say that this film, contrary to popular belief, pales in comparison to Fast Five.
Instead of the Dom's makeshift team being a one and done ordeal, it is transformed into a mock version of Ocean's Eleven, where they pack in as many celebrity cameos and has-beens from the last few films as fan service. Instead of committing a crime, they are assisting Hobbs (Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson) in capturing a criminal who is pretty much taking over on their old line of work.
The plot here is almost borderline laughable. It gets so ridiculous that even Roman (Tyrese Gibson) makes a joke about it during the briefings: "Look at these guys... we're literally up against our evil doubles!" From start to finish, you can't help but think that this film is trying to be recreate the magic that made last summer's Avengers so popular. You are bound to immediately jump to the Avengers references when Tej (Ludacris) calls Hobbs (The Rock) a "Samoan Thor" - who in turn, spends most of the film tossing people around like ragdolls as if he were Thor or the Incredible Hulk.
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| Dom, how can you leave this pretty face at home? If you don't want her, I'll gladly take her off your hands, sir. |
Ladies, let me ask you one question. Would you let your boyfriend/husband leave you and drop you once he finds out that his old fling is back in town? Of course not, but in the case with this film's narrative, poor Elena (Elsa Pataky; shown to your left) is stuck at home while Dom chases down Letty. Dom, how can you drop Elena like a bad habit like that? That's just cold, man. The whole ordeal of bringing Letty back just seemed like fan service and borrowed another stale cliche from soap operas as she is struggling with amnesia. I can understand their history together - along with Vin Diesel and Michelle Rodriguez's onscreen chemistry, but her revival pretty much made all of the risks taken and sacrifices made in the last two films pointless as a result.
All jokes aside, the main thing they do get right are the stunts and action. From the opening sequence with Shaw's custom racer to the ending sequence where the entire team is taking down an aircraft carrier with cars and tow cables, it's pretty damn bad ass, but at the same time, pretty hard to fathom as this sequence spans the last 15+ minutes of the film. I still say it's not as impressive as the city-wide chase while dragging an entire bank vault at the end of Fast Five.
The tank sequence was beyond idiotic. Why are the villains driving a tank when they don't have the common sense to fire the cannon and blow up the hotshots in the cars? It shouldn't be that hard to kill them and everyone else in that traffic. Instead, the tank is more intent on running them over than actually focusing on blowing shit apart. Plus, where is the military when they KNEW Shaw was going to strike here? I have seen Saturday morning cartoons with better writing than this. Someone please explain to me where is the logic?
The tank sequence was beyond idiotic. Why are the villains driving a tank when they don't have the common sense to fire the cannon and blow up the hotshots in the cars? It shouldn't be that hard to kill them and everyone else in that traffic. Instead, the tank is more intent on running them over than actually focusing on blowing shit apart. Plus, where is the military when they KNEW Shaw was going to strike here? I have seen Saturday morning cartoons with better writing than this. Someone please explain to me where is the logic?
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| You KNOW you are dead when Vin Diesel and The Rock tag team on you and deliver the damn Doomsday Device. |
The Rock seems like he hasn't left the set of GI Joe: Retaliation at all as he reprises the role of Hobbs from Fast Five. You could almost assume this film and GI Joe are his audition tapes for a possible role in the Marvel Cinematic Universe as there's rumors floating around that he would love to play Luke Cage in a future film. He's already got the look down for sure.
Tyrese Gibson (Roman) and Ludacris (Tej) continue to steal the show with their love-hate relationship throughout these films as the main source of comedy. Michelle Rodriguez (Letty) continues to play the tomboy bad girl that everyone is accustomed to her portraying, so that's nothing new in the least. Gina Carano (Riley) isn't going to receive any awards for her acting here, but at least her delivery is better than it was in Haywire. Rodriguez and Carano manage to have some of the best hand-to-hand combat sequences as it's obvious that Carano was allowed to bring her natural MMA talents into the mix for the fight choreography. Still, it's still pales in comparison to her fight sequences in Haywire.
Sadly, both Jordana Brewster (Mia) and Elsa Pataky (Elena) are almost non-existent in this film, despite their core roles in Fast Five.
Gal Gadot (Gisele) comes across as this mock team of Avengers as the Black Widow of the team as she continues to impress here - that is until she dies during the finale of the film and literally no one in the film cares but Han. If Scarlett Johansen is stupid enough not to sign on for Avengers 2, I suggest Marvel look in to hiring her. Gadot has the look and is more believable for playing that iconic character. Sung Kang (Han) is just there this time around as it's apparent his character is ready to be killed off for this series can finally acknowledge Tokyo Drift as part of the franchise. For those wondering, the end credits teaser finally does that, but I'm wondering if they are going to bring that film's cast on board with the rest of Dom's team. Han is a waste of space in this entry though as he just hanging around and doesn't really offer anything to the story than continuing his lackluster relationship with Gisele. I have to say how quickly they wrote off Gisele and the lack of concern from the rest of the cast during the finale was just horrible. It was like the director literally half-assed the ending just to tie in Tokyo Drift for the next sequel.
Luke Evans doesn't manage to skip a beat as main baddie, known as Owen Shaw. If he wasn't the main antagonist, he could easily be one of the staple characters for this series. He was definitely cast to mirror Toretto's role as the leader of this unlikely team of misfits. The biggest mistake for this film was stopping Shaw in the finale. The cut-off/cliffhanger should have been that his reveal that Riley was his girlfriend and he had Mia and Elena in his custody. Shaw was strong enough of a villain to stick around for next installment or across several films if they truly wanted to drive the point home that he was Toretto's equal. Instead, this film goes with a rushed conclusion that comes off as a complete mess in execution and only functions to showcase Vin Diesel, The Rock, and Gina Carano's craft in hand-to-hand combat.
Not many franchises can say that they are still successful going into their sixth film on the silver screen, with both Fast & Furious 7 AND 8 already in production. Is it time to hit the brakes on this franchise and realize that it's out of gas?
Let's be serious here for a minute. Most girls will be firmly in their seats just for The Rock and Vin Diesel in the same film again, no matter how absurd the plot is, while the average douchebag male will be invested from start to finish with the mere promise of fast cars and faster women, with a sprinkle of stuff blowing up. But for the rest of us, that isn't enough to keep us interested for the long haul, unless mindless action is your cup of tea.
Where Fast Five gave this series a much needed breath of air, Fast & Furious 6 seems to take things a few steps backwards while it suffers with an identity crisis. On the surface, this series was about street racing and fast cars. With each new installment, these films are migrating farther and farther away from what made them popular to begin with. Now with this current outing, these films are leaning more and more towards becoming Ocean's Eleven or like a makeshift cop melodrama, such as Die Hard. As a result, the fast cars and street racing is almost non-existent, while the drivers shift into the roles of the law enforcement officers who catching over-the-top villains that they would have called one of their own in their past profession. I hope these films will revert back to their former glory but for now, I'm giving Fast & Furious 6 a 7.5 out 10.
Where Fast Five gave this series a much needed breath of air, Fast & Furious 6 seems to take things a few steps backwards while it suffers with an identity crisis. On the surface, this series was about street racing and fast cars. With each new installment, these films are migrating farther and farther away from what made them popular to begin with. Now with this current outing, these films are leaning more and more towards becoming Ocean's Eleven or like a makeshift cop melodrama, such as Die Hard. As a result, the fast cars and street racing is almost non-existent, while the drivers shift into the roles of the law enforcement officers who catching over-the-top villains that they would have called one of their own in their past profession. I hope these films will revert back to their former glory but for now, I'm giving Fast & Furious 6 a 7.5 out 10.
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