Review of Fast & Furious 6 (2013) by Thegodfatherson — 23 May 2013

Fast and the Furious 6 is mind blowing entertainment. It's official. The title of the sixth film in the Fast and the Furious anthology is, at least here in the states, Furious 6. It's Fast and Furious 6 in foreign markets, but it doesn't take long to realize the Fast part of the title is gone.

Furious 6 is never as exhilarating as its most recent predecessor, Fast Five, but it's difficult to keep up with that thrill-a-minute spectacular. Still, lack of pace doesn't keep this entry from being a rock-solid action extravaganza with a few genuine tricks up its sleeve.

Furious 6 revs up slow, but just like the franchise's muscle-car-loving muscle head lead, it knows when to hit the nitrous: a bit later in the race. Also cool, very cool indeed, is Furious 6's final 40 minutes.

Much of the film plays with the mystery, keeps the good-guy crew constantly trying to get the upper hand on the bad-guy crew, and throws in stylized car chase after stylized car chase. The comedic banter much of Dom's crew throws at one another is typical but keeps the pep always up in the room.

It all rides smoothly until those final 40 minutes, when all hell breaks loose, tanks and giant cargo planes included. Lin is a wizard at crafting pulse-pounding, engaging, and highly inventive action pieces.

It takes a while for Furious 6 to get to them, but when it does, it's best to be strapped in. The action in Furious 6 energizes the audience, but the story here energizes the bonds of all of these characters.

That's needed where Furious 6 ends up, full circle to Tokyo Drift and evidently the end of Lin's run at the steering wheel. His four-film arc has allowed the Fast and the Furious series to transcend beyond the entertainment value of the first film as well as the general laziness of 2 Fast 2 Furious, the second film.

These last two films, however, have set the bar extremely high for future directors to take over. At least we know, from Furious 6's post-credit scene, the villain in The Fast and the Furious 7 is going to be a doozy.