With the introduction of Dwayne Johnson in Fast Five, this franchise cemented its place as a must see film among the summer blockbusters; something for die hard action fans. After the commercial and critical success of the fifth installment it left fans wondering just how Fast & Furious 6 would top it? The solution: add a tank, add an aeroplane, bring back Michelle Rodriguez and just generally up the stakes. So what of the result?
“Give them a reason to stay.”
Fast & Furious 6 struggles to find its feet for a while, it’s as if the franchise isn’t quite sure how to better itself or what direction to take. Is it supposed to up the ante with the action sequences or focus on the family side of things and Brian O’Conner’s (Paul Walker) newborn baby. As a result the two strands of action and emotion are ruthlessly combined and don’t quite pack the punch expected, leaving Vin Diesel, Michelle Rodriguez and, most surprising of all, Tyrese Gibson to help the film pull through and come out well on the other side.
Enter Owen Shaw (Luke Evans). As Hobbs (the retuning Johnson) reliably informs us, he has been chasing Shaw and his crew across 12 countries stretching over four continents. Right from the off these are set up as some big time criminals, meaning that Hobbs has to put a team together capable of catching criminals like these. And the only team good enough is led by Dom Turetto (Diesel). When Roman (Gibson), Tej (Ludacris), Han (Sung Kang) and Gisele (Gal Gadot) return there is no time for reacquaintance as they are introduced to their target and the real reason Dom has agreed to play for the law this time round: Letty (Rodriguez) is still alive.
“I can reach out and break you whenever I want”
Soon enough the slow emotional parts of the film are eased out and instead of being told “we’re a family”, “you’re a family” over and over again, the real action begins. The team find themselves in London, racing through the streets of the English capital (although how anyone manages to elicit an illegal street race through the center of London is anyone’s guess) and the fights fly. The pick of the bunch early on is seeing Rodriguez go toe to toe with new addition Gina Carano.
The cars get faster, the action gets better and the stunts get bigger throughout and appears to peak in the incredible tank sequence; taking out cars is one thing but when there’s a criminal mastermind manning a tank, firing a cannon down the motorway and not afraid to crush however many innocent people it takes, then it’s going to be difficult going. And just when you think the story is coming to an end it takes another turn…
“This is something we don’t do”
And you end up on what must be the longest runway in the world with Shaw attempting to flee via a plane and Toretto’s crew not having any other option than to bring it down! That’s right… taking out a flying plane with just a handful of cars and Dwayne Johnson’s muscles. The adrenaline pumping finale takes all the worries you had and politely tosses them out as you’re sucked into the exciting ending where the stakes are higher than ever!
The one thing the Fast & Furious franchise has lacked so far in its existence has been that a real defining villain has never really been seen. Shaw has all the makings of it: he’s emotionally cold, he’s as intelligent (if not more so) than our heroes and he’s physically able to hold par with anyone, as seen brilliantly in his brief fight with O’Conner. However, when you leave the screening not really knowing what the villain’s plan was all along, then something has clearly gone wrong. The potential was never reached with Shaw.
“Maybe the Letty we once knew is gone”
But if the post/mid/beginning credits teaser was anything to go by, Fast & Furious 7 will have the real villain it deserves.
My Rating: 7/10
So there are three main rumours that are doing the rounds at the minute and I’ll start with the most sensible of the three (in my opinion). Luke Evans has been linked with the role of the villain in the sixth film and the series would be a good fit for him and vice versa. Above all things, the Fast and Furious films are high budget, adrenaline fuelled action films; Evans has appeared in big budget films before such as Immortals, Clash of the Titans and will be appearing in The Hobbit so should be a good choice for the film.
The next choice is an interesting one. David Tennant, Scottish actor. I am a big fan of David Tennant and I think he has been brilliant in BBC series’ like Casanova and Doctor Who and there is no doubt that he brings an unchallenged enthusiasm to every role he undertakes (even the adverts he does) but is he really right for such a film as this? I don’t think I’m the only one who has trouble imagining David Tennant in a drag race with Vin Diesel or having a hot scene with Jordana Brewster.
There is such a thing as being TOO ridiculous, and this is just an outrage! Rihanna has also been linked with a baddies role in the next film. Rihanna is not an actress; it is bad enough that she forces people to listen to horrible songs that all sound the same and talk about her sex life all the time in her lyrics but now she has to punish us more by appearing in films? What is her problem? What does she dislike about the human race so much that she feels like she has to continually punish us? I get that Fast and Furious has to include the sexy women and what not but at least Jordana Brewster and Michelle Rodriguez have a bit of acting credibility to their name!
The Movie Universe 