Fast & Furious 6 (PG-13) ★★★1/2

life as we know it

Sung Kang, Chris ‘Ludacris’ Bridges, Gal Gadot, Vin Diesel, Paul Walker and Tyrese Gibson star in “Fast & Furious 6.” Photo Credit: Universal Pictures


No Switching Gears Here – Fast & Furious 6 Still Supercharged

 

The Universal Pictures’ franchise continues full Nos ahead with no chance to hit the breaks in “Fast & Furious 6.” Director Justin Lin is back for his fourth film in the series and is undoubtedly unstoppable.

 

In this sixth installment, Dwayne “the Rock” Johnson (“Pain and Gain” 2013) joins the cast as Luke Hobbs, an Interpol officer who uses blackmail and amnesty to convince a formerly tight-knit pack of international criminals to leave their individual blissful lives and get back to work with their crew. Their mission is to capture volatile former Special Forces agent Owen Shaw (Luke Evans, “The Raven” 2012) who possesses a top-secret military chip worth billions that could do more damage than a tank approaching at full speed.

 

The stellar cast is back and more powerful than ever with the new addition of former mixed martial artist Gina Carano (Riley) who dominated in “Haywire” (2011) as a black ops agent. Once they get back to business it is as if time never passed for the diverse crew: Vin Diesel (“Fast Five” 2011), Paul Walker (“Fast Five”), Jordana Brewster (“Fast Five”), Chris ‘Ludacris’ Bridges (“New Years Eve” 2011), Michelle Rodriguez (“Resident Evil: Retribution” 2012), Tyrese Gibson (“Transformers: Dark of the Moon” 2011), Sung Kang (“Bullet to the Head” 2012), Elsa Pataky (“All Things to All Men” 2013) and Gal Gadot (“Fast Five”).

 

The film has something for everyone – romance, action, adventure, crime, thrills, fast cars, girl fights and comedy. The scenery is stunning and the adrenaline pumping soundtrack makes the destinations even more desirable. The pack travels to the Canary Islands, Moscow, Tokyo and London, where a majority of the film takes place. The comedy is entertaining and intertwined throughout. Harmless jabs are frequently aimed at one another as if they are all brothers and sisters.

 

Although the action is spectacular, it can get outlandish and unrealistic at times. There are plenty of scenes where bodies fly out of speeding cars or planes and they somehow only walk away with a few scratches. Clearly, these “only in Hollywood” scenes don’t stop audiences for loving every second, however. There is an illegal road race through the busy, confined streets of London’s West End and it’s incredibly impressive to see how Lin pulls it off.

 

Evans is awesome as Shaw the villain, he’s dark, mysterious and conniving. Rodriguez who’s allegedly been dead since the fourth film returns a traitor as Shaw’s agent. Her gritty and tough role as Letty is certainly worthy of noting. Diesel, the lead protagonist is the classic, determined muscle man, Dom. Johnson didn’t dominate the movie nor did he take anything away from Vin Diesel. He was absent from just enough scenes and they worked well together. Gibson and Ludacris can be credited for much of the humor as Roman and Tej. Gibson comes across as almost too dumb in certain scenes, however, which isn’t believable.

 

Audiences were laughing and gasping throughout this action-packed thriller. Hobbs had some great one-liners, including, “If you want to catch wolves, you need wolves. Let’s go huntin’.” While walking into an interrogation room to question a bad guy with leads to Shaw, Riley tells Hobbs, “We’ve got five minutes with this guy.” Hobbs boldly responds, “I only need two.” He only says a few words and then proceeds to beat the living daylights out of the man.

 

The series is trekking at full speed as the seventh installment will bring us back to Tokyo in 2014 and the new character is bound to shock audiences. Stay until the end and you’ll catch a glimpse of the next bad guy.

 

Bottom Line? There is a reason this series is on number six. There is also a reason why you can’t miss seven. “Fast & Furious 6” is a true joyride. Universal is not pumping the breaks anytime soon and I don’t blame them.

 

Cast: Vin Diesel, Paul Walker, Michelle Rodriguez, Dwayne Johnson, Luke Evans, Chris ‘Ludacris’ Bridges, Michelle Rodriguez, Tyrese Gibson, Sung Kang, Jordana Brewster, Elsa Pataky, Gal Gadot

 

Credits: Screenplay by Chris Morgan; Directed by Justin Lin

 

Studio: Universal Pictures

 

Run Time: 130 minutes

 

Jessica Aymond © May 20, 2013