If you would have told me three years ago that not just fans of fast cars would be eagerly awaiting the reason of a sixth "Fast and the Furious" film but that critics would be excited as well, I would have easily bet my "pink" (title to my car) that you were wrong. Of course, you would have gotten a rundown 1999 Ford Escort but at least you would have had the American ride that Vin Diesel's character Dominic Toretto prefers. Of course, that Escort did 0 to 60 in "Ehhhh" miles-per-hour so he would have probably prefered the Charger he drives in the series. Not only does his Charger make a return but the full cast of the last film and even a character we thought was dead. Trailers and TV spots have aired since the Super Bowl, promising cars that drive even more fast than before and ridiculous explosions. At this point, it is what the fans of the series and action fans in general are expecting. They expect to see decent one-liners, fast cars, shocking displays of the ignorance of physics, and Dwayne Johnson something getting bigger and stronger every movie. The problem that "Fast and Furious 6" has is that it seems to be directed by the Justin Lin who brought us "Fast and Furious" (the 4th film in the series) and not the Justin Lin who brought us "Fast Five", the 2011 sequel that surprised audiences and critics by being "'Oceans Eleven' with cars" and completely legitimizing a film series that had become the bane of so many jokes. Lin uses his inflated budget and expanded reign on the film to set some impressive action scenes. The problem is that we have seen every one of these scenes for months now in ads and most of the non-action scenes are either implausible or riff on past scenes in the series that desperately try to add gravitas to the "family" aspect that Toretto has been preaching since the first film but nobody has ever truly believed. Like back-from-the dead Letty (Michelle Rodriguez), "Fast and Furious 6" hit its nitrous oxide far too early and has nothing new to show us and it crosses the finish line far behind "Fast Five".
When we last left Toretto (Diesel), O'Conner (Paul Walker), and his crew (Tyrese Gibson, Chris 'Ludacris' Bridges, Sung Kang, and Gal Gadot) had pulled off an impressive heist and were hiding overseas. "Fast and Furious 6" starts like most action film sequels do with someone, in this case Special Agent Hobbs (Dwayne Johnson) giving them a reason to come out of hiding and fight... err... drive again. It turns out that Letty (Rodriguez), former girlfriend of Toretto, didn't actually die as we had assumed in "Fast and Furious" (again, the fourth film). She has been working with a criminal named Shaw (Lee Evans) who runs a group of mercenaries which Gibson hilariously points out look like the evil versions of our gang of "good guys". It is up to the group to help Hobbs track down Shaw, explain to the amnesia-stricken Letty about her past, and hopefully receive a pardon for the crimes they have committed.
Justin Lin again shows that he can film an interesting driving sequence. As is to be expected, "Fast and Furious 6" features some rather impressive stunts. One featuring what can most easily be described as an armored F1 racing car (all apologies to people who actually know something about cars if I got this wrong) is especially well-done. Another scene involving a tank and a busy highway is surprisingly well put-together and actually far more sadistic than we have seen in this series. The problem lies with the total lack of realism in these action scenes. It is difficult to fault the "Fast and Furious" films for psychics or logic issues. It is a movie about cars driving very fast. When we see someone project themselves out of a car, catch another person, land hard into another car, and walk away untouched we aren't supposed to question it. The problem lies in the visual effects. Far too often, any time a car or a human being does something that is impossible it is displayed using some very weak CGI. These second-rate effects completely take us out of the moment. We believe someone like Iron Man can fly because we buy the effects. It is difficult to believe that the cars are pulling off a great deal of the stunts in "Fast and Furious 6" because the effects don't make us believe.
Another large misstep in "Fast and Furious 6" is the filming of hand-to-hand combat scenes. Lin seems so used to cutting his shots fast for the car sequences (most likely to give them a feeling of being truly faster than possible) that he carries this bad habit along with the scenes of people fighting outside of cars. One of the brightest additions of "Fast Five" was that it featured some very impressive hand-to-hand combat, presented perfectly in the modern-day classic fight between Hobbs and Toretto. Unfortunately, nothing in "Fast and Furious 6" comes close to that fight and any attempts fall extremely short. The quick cutting makes these fights difficult to follow and, much like the visual effects in the car action sequences, make them very difficult to believe.
Some have suggested that the "Fast and Furious" films have become a form of "comic book movie" that has no comic book past. It features caricatures of humans, both good and bad, beautiful women, one-liners, fast cars, gorgeous locations, and action sequences that are simply impossible. That is all fine and good but you need to have the presentation to back it up. We are no longer impressed or surprised with the jabs between Tyrese Gibson and Chris "Ludacris" Bridges. All of the good dialogue they seem to be able to write was featured in "Fast Five". On the action front, nothing here comes close to the fight between Diesel and Johnson or the finale involving a large stolen safe being drug through city streets. You can tell them "Fast and Furious 6" is trying to reach those heights but it simply can't. Instead what we have is a sloppy story that relies on a character coming "back from the dead" with amnesia in order to advance the story. It plays like a television show that has gone on just a bit too long. It is still entertaining but it seems to be doing whatever it can to leave a cliffhanger and to get picked up for another season. The end credits of "Fast and Furious 6" make a grand promise for a "Fast Seven". One hopes that we get the Lin who made "Fast Five" back again and that someone tells him that sometimes less is more.
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