Dom Toretto officially becomes a superhero in Fast 6. Director Justin Lin is back at the helm for the 6th installment (he also did 4 and 5), and he oversees the transition of the Fast & Furious franchise to full-on self parody. Fast 6 shreds any ounce of character development and connection in favor of over-the-top dialogue and ramping up the last 30 minutes to an extended stupendous action sequence. If you ignore the first hour and just skip to the two chases, Fast 6 delivers. That first hour, even with some cool fights, is still too long. Just watch the trailer, its got all the best parts of the movie anyways.
Fast 6 takes place a little bit after Fast Five. Dom (Vin Diesel) is living in the Canary Islands in Spain with Brian (Paul Walker) and Mia (Jordana Brewster), who now have a kid together. Hobbs (Dwayne Johnson) and new partner Riley (Gina Carano) come to Dom with a proposition: help Hobbs stop current enemy Shaw (Luke Evans) and his whole team gets a pardon. Dom doesn’t accept until he finds out that Letty (Michelle Rodruiguez) is part of Shaw’s team (Leddy was thought to be dead from the 4th film). Dom assembles the rest of his team including Roman (Tyrese Gibson), Tej (Ludacris), Han (Sung Kang) and Gisele (Gal Gadot) join forces with Hobbs, take down Shaw, and get Letty back.
Fast 6 will be remembered as the film where logic is completely thrown out the window. This creates a very mixed bag. The plot holes in Fast 6 become gaping caverns. Hobbs makes a decision late in the proceedings that his character would NEVER make the way he is set up in the franchise, which he would only make to keep the plot going. The worst part is Hobbs’s choice exposes a mole, when the mole could just have exposed themself and that would have driven the plot logically. That being said, the final 30 minutes would not have been nearly as breathtaking if forced to abide by the laws of gravity. The plane scene is equally enjoyable due to suspended disbelief. Fortunately for Fast 6, the last 30 minutes delivers, justifying the logic gaps for the most part; however, simple subtle changes could have made the plot gaps smaller and made the crazy ending that much more satisfying.
Fast 6 gets these women more in on the fighting. Gal Gadot gets some really cool set pieces in the big chase sequences. Gina Carano (a welcome addition) is a former MMA fighter who can hold her own with anyone – man or woman – in a fight. She and Michelle Rodgriguez get two really well choreographed fight sequences. Luke Evans is so uninteresting as the main part of me wishes Carano was the main villain since she could have brought real doubts to the men who had to fight her. The Fast and Furious franchise has been very macho driven; it is nice to see that in this world of underground racing that women aren’t just prizes, they can also be good participants.
Acting has never been the franchise’s strong suit, no more evident here. The bright spots are Dwayne Johnson – who is in on the joke and relishes his cheesy lines – and Carano who is more macho than most of the men in this film. Michelle Rodriguez is also not terrible; she is probably the most able actress and she wisely gets the most character development in the film. Vin Diesel and Paul Walker give the fans what they want, but they both look pretty bored doing so. Ludacris and Tyrese Gibson have fun banter and don’t get enough screen time or could be excised altogether. Luke Evans is a faceless entity as the villain, a problem corrected by the next film (and it’s a good one).
Fast 6 delivers exactly what the trailer shows: crazy action and terrible dialogue. It gives the fans what they want and nothing more. I take that back: it gives the fans a new drinking game. Any time a character mentions family, you take a shot.