Movie Review: Fast, furious and more ridiculous

Fast and Furious 6 

 
English (U/A)       ***
Director: Justin Lin
Cast: Vin Diesel, Paul Walker, Dwayne Johnson, Michelle Rodriguez, Jordana Brewster, Tyrese Gibson, Chris Bridges, Sung Kang, Luke Evans, Gina Carano, John Ortiz

In the sixth installment of a successful franchise, Dominic Toretto (Diesel) and his team are summoned by agent Luke Hobbs (Johnson) to thwart a seemingly invincible bunch of hijackers intent on stealing military components that could disable satellites and cause destruction. Fugitives after a successful heist (F&F5), Hobbs offers amnesty if Dom and his crew can bring down Owen Shaw (Evans) who is the mastermind.

From a street-action racing film, F&F6 has moved into the spy thriller genre. Fans of XXX (2002), where Diesel is a secret agent will not mind, but what disappoints is — how did Dom and team develop fighting skills overnight to take on hard-core thugs that even the military will not mess with; after all, weren’t they into stealing cars and drag racing? It is clear that the franchise is gradually running out of steam, and to keep it alive so that fans come back, Letty (Rodriquez), Dom’s crush who died in F&F4 returns. There is an interesting drag race between the two across the London streets, and later when we find that Letty has amnesia, there is no clarification on Letty’s disappearance from the earlier film.

The highlight of each F&F film has been its interesting climax, be it the unforgettable heist car chase in F&F5 or the drag race over the railway track in F&F1.

In F&F6, apart from the ridiculous chase scenes and a Bond-esque plot, this time it’s Shaw who steals an army tank and drives on the highway crushing cars. With a sloppy script, F&F6 is a downer. Go for it only if you are an F&F fan.