Fast & Furious 6 (C+ or 2/4 stars)
Ohhhh boy! Another Fast & the Furious movie! The 6th (directed by Justin Lin)! Can you tell how excited I am!? Thaaat's sarcasm. That said, this film high-stakes actioner kind of bludgeoned me into submission. It's not a good film. But I actually like it 2nd best out of all the movies in this franchise. Vin Diesel, Paul Walker & Dwayne 'The Rock' Johnson lead the returning ensemble cast: Jordana Brewster, Tyrese Gibson, Chris 'Ludacris' Bridges, & Michelle Rodriguez (!!) are now joined by newcomers Luke Evans & Gina Carano. The gang is all retired now that Brian (Paul Walker) & Mia (Jordana Brewster) have a baby girl. But Agent Hobbs (Johnson) tracks down Dom Toretto (Diesel) with some incredible news: his girlfriend, Leti (Michelle Rodriguez), who had been presumed dead, is actually alive.
She's now working for an international mercenary baddie named Shaw (Luke Evans), whom Hobbs is desperately trying to catch. The only way to stop this criminal outfit is to outsmart and/or outmatch them at street level. So Hobbs, Dom, & the rest of Dom's old crew (including other Fast & the Furious veterans Sung Kang & Gal Gadot) join forces once again to take down the villain - and hopefully bring Leti home. Among the many roadblocks - pun intended - to getting Leti home, however, is that she has amnesia and doesn't remember Dom or his team. Crazy car/tank/plane stunts ensue.
For me, 'F&F6' is on the level of the last film (perhaps a bit better), and certainly better than the atrocity that was the 2nd film, Tokyo Drift. I enjoyed bits & pieces of this movie. But it seemed that every other few minutes were intermittently wow-worthy or disappointing. When it was good, it was very good. And when it was bad, it was pretty bad. To start, the super-macho, testosterone-fueled dialogue & ain't-I-awesome behaviors felt 'forced' and make little sense within the narrative. I mean, if you start asking questions about what anyone is doing in this story, it kinda falls apart. i.e., why does Brian (Walker) have to travel all the way from London to L.A. to break into prison to obtain info that he already knows? Another issue I have with the film is that it lacked an actual suspenseful heist story.
I mean, the set pieces are ABSOLUTELY amazing; almost too amazing, stretching credulity. But I felt more suspense in the plot with the previous Fast & the Furious film ... which I liked less than this. That goes to show how un-enamored with the story I am, this time. Alllllll that said, I repeat ... it's my 2nd favorite film in this franchise. I'd rank 'em 1, 6, 5, 3, 4, 2. I recall 2 cool moments in this that brought a smile to my face 1) the unbelievable car chase on a highway overlooking a canyon. Our heroes must try to flip a tanker (with our villains inside). There's a leap that Dom must make to save a particular character that is utterly ridiculous, yet utterly entertaining. And 2) Dom flies through the air and head-butts one of our villains. It's just SO ridiculous, and yet, I laughed out loud at the fun absurdity of it.
She's now working for an international mercenary baddie named Shaw (Luke Evans), whom Hobbs is desperately trying to catch. The only way to stop this criminal outfit is to outsmart and/or outmatch them at street level. So Hobbs, Dom, & the rest of Dom's old crew (including other Fast & the Furious veterans Sung Kang & Gal Gadot) join forces once again to take down the villain - and hopefully bring Leti home. Among the many roadblocks - pun intended - to getting Leti home, however, is that she has amnesia and doesn't remember Dom or his team. Crazy car/tank/plane stunts ensue.
For me, 'F&F6' is on the level of the last film (perhaps a bit better), and certainly better than the atrocity that was the 2nd film, Tokyo Drift. I enjoyed bits & pieces of this movie. But it seemed that every other few minutes were intermittently wow-worthy or disappointing. When it was good, it was very good. And when it was bad, it was pretty bad. To start, the super-macho, testosterone-fueled dialogue & ain't-I-awesome behaviors felt 'forced' and make little sense within the narrative. I mean, if you start asking questions about what anyone is doing in this story, it kinda falls apart. i.e., why does Brian (Walker) have to travel all the way from London to L.A. to break into prison to obtain info that he already knows? Another issue I have with the film is that it lacked an actual suspenseful heist story.
I mean, the set pieces are ABSOLUTELY amazing; almost too amazing, stretching credulity. But I felt more suspense in the plot with the previous Fast & the Furious film ... which I liked less than this. That goes to show how un-enamored with the story I am, this time. Alllllll that said, I repeat ... it's my 2nd favorite film in this franchise. I'd rank 'em 1, 6, 5, 3, 4, 2. I recall 2 cool moments in this that brought a smile to my face 1) the unbelievable car chase on a highway overlooking a canyon. Our heroes must try to flip a tanker (with our villains inside). There's a leap that Dom must make to save a particular character that is utterly ridiculous, yet utterly entertaining. And 2) Dom flies through the air and head-butts one of our villains. It's just SO ridiculous, and yet, I laughed out loud at the fun absurdity of it.