Fast & Furious 6 is the latest installment in the Fast and Furious franchise, a franchise that started with 2001’s The Fast and the Furious. While the early entries in the franchise were basically stand-alone films, Fast 6 picks up the story from Fast Five while bringing in loose threads from the other films in an attempt to tie all of the Fast films together. The extra work in bringing all of the strains together in Fast 6 almost gets in the way, but the charisma of the cast and the loud, flashy, and thrilling action set pieces smooth out any rough edges.
Dom (Vin Diesel) and Brian (Paul Walker) are still on the run from their antics in Fast Five. The successful heist has given them the chance to start new lives in the Canary Islands. Brian and Mia (Jordana Brewster) welcome their son, Jack, to the world, and Dom is still with Elena Neves (Elsa Pataky). The others seem to be doing fine as well. Roman Pearce (Tyrese Gibson) is living it up on his private jet, Tej Parker (Chris Bridges) has his Ferrari and shares the wealth with the people of a village, and Han Seoul-Oh (Sung Kang) and Gisele Yashar (Gal Gadot) have been traveling the world. Missing the action this time are Tego Leo and Rico Santos, but a quick line reveals the duo are living it up in a casino.
Brian (Paul Walker) and Dom (Vin Diesel) think about helping Hobbs.
Dom and Brian are wrestling with the urge to start a new life and the pull of the old. Life in the Canary Islands is great, but Brian confesses that it doesn’t feel like home. Dom tells Brian that once he walks through that door into fatherhood, everything that they knew must be put aside. They want to believe, but the moment the past comes calling, Dom answers. Bringing the past to Dom is DSS agent Luke Hobbs (Dwayne Johnson); Hobbs has proof that Letty Ortiz (Michelle Rodriguez) didn’t die during the events in Fast & Furious (2009). Letty is running with Owen Shaw (Luke Evans), an ex-special forces military guy who has been stealing components to make a Nightshade device that can cause a blackout in an entire region. Dom and Brian agree to help (“You’re stronger together,” Mia tells them) on the condition that they bring in their crew and get pardons for everyone involved.
The Shaw and Nightshade plot are the background for the real thrust of the film: getting Letty back into the fold. “We don’t turn our back on family; even if they do,” Dom says. Letty has amnesia; she knows her name, how to fix cars and how to drive them, but she doesn’t remember Dom. One of the best scenes in the film is after Dom and Letty race. They’re alone, and he tells her about her past by telling her the stories behind her scars. The last film got the Fast formula right—small character moments in-between car chases and other outrageous stunts, and Fast 6 continues this tradition.
The crew reunites to help Hobbs and get Letty back.
Every character has at least one great moment. Roman banters with Tej and teases Han about being in love. Han and Gisele smolder, proving to everyone that there is no doubt why they’re together. Hobbs even mingles with more than Dom this time; Hobbs and Tej have a great scene at a car show, and what they do to the snobby British guy is hilarious. Although she has a baby, Mia gets in on the action. The director, Justin Lin, spends time with Shaw and his crew. Roman dubs Shaw’s crew their “evil twins” because Shaw’s crew is diverse and has similar skills to Dom’s crew. Letty is our window into Shaw’s world. Letty might not remember Dom, but by seeing Dom again makes her question Shaw and his tactics, which are cold and cruel. Shaw views his crew as cogs in a well-oiled machine; everything is all business, and he thinks Dom’s code of family first is a weakness. Shaw nonchalantly threatens Dom’s family, but Shaw pays for his cockiness.
There is a lot here for fans of the franchise. The standard street racing scene is present, including many lovely ladies. One of the reasons I like the Fast franchise is that even though there are shots of scantily clad women, women are seen in other roles as well—Letty is a mechanic and Gisele kicks some major ass in this film. The minor quibble I have is that there are a lot of callbacks to the previous films, going back farther than Fast Five. If your first experience with the Fast franchise was Fast Five, then you will miss many references. If you haven’t seen Fast & Furious, then you won’t know who Braga (John Ortiz) is, and it’s great that the scenes at the end finally place Tokyo Drift in the Fast timeline, but if you haven’t seen Drift, then, again, you won’t get the importance of those scenes. All of this is great for fans, but those new to the series might feel lost in places.
Fans will enjoy all of the high-octane action
Fast 6 is not as flashy and sleek as Fast Five. This film is doing more work than Fast Five had to do. Bringing back Letty is done really well. The action is on par with what Fast fans want, and the fighting scenes have a roughness to them that add to the darker tone of Fast 6. This film feels like the traditional dark second chapter of a trilogy, and if you aren’t familiar with the Fast franchise, then parts of the film will not have much meaning for you. The cast is stellar. Johnson gets more time to develop Hobbs, and he shows off his WWE background with some great moves during key fight scenes, signaling that he will probably return for Fast 7, which is in preproduction now. Fast 6 does what it is meant to do: continue the story from Fast Five and thrill us with great action set pieces. All of the action is outstanding, but don’t expect anything groundbreaking. When the film ended, I was satisfied, but I also realized that Fast 6 is a bridge, setting us up for a grander, bigger experience in Fast 7. While I’m not disappointed, I do wish the filmmakers hadn’t pressured themselves into trying to make the entire Fast franchise fit into a cohesive story.
Check out out other reviews of Fast & Furious 6:
Dave Howlett’s Review
Iain McNally’s Review
