Review of Fast & Furious 6 (2013) by Cameron J — 17 Apr 2015

"Fast & Furious 6" is the best film the series so far from a technical viewpoint, with gorgeous sweeping helicopter shots of winding mountain roads and ridiculous stunts that top the most extreme in the series so far.

But, despite a once again great cast, it doesn't feel quite as fun, quite as fast and furious, as some of the past films. One of the main problems, for me at least, is that while the cast is pretty much the same lineup as it has been for the last few films, with a few additions here and there, they aren't all used as effectively as they were in the fifth film. Ludacris still has a relatively important job as the tech guy, and Tyrese Gibson is still there for comic relief, but they don't feel as vital to the success as the team as before. The same goes for Sung Kang and Gal Gadot, who here have perhaps their most important arc of the series, despite seemingly having very little importance to the success of the mission itself. Paul Walker's also away from the gang for a chunk of the film, interrogating a past villain in American prison to get information that really doesn't ending up amounting to too much considering the risk to get it.

This is, though, the best film yet for both The Rock and Michelle Rodriguez, who is of course back from the dead (though it was pretty obvious she wasn't actually dead in the first place). Vin Diesel is also great as always.

The biggest addition to the cast is Lee Evans as yet another criminal villain, though he's not quite as interesting as past villains for two reasons: 1. while he's involved in just as many car chases as you'd expect from the villains in this series, he doesn't seem to have the same affection for cars and racing that past villains have, and so the conflict doesn't feel as personal, or as juicy, and 2. he's not given the same level of personality the best villains in this series have had, partly due to some pretty weak and even awkward dialogue.

"Fast & Furious 6" is worth watching for the exciting stunts, camerawork and editing alone. It's also quite vital for the overall arc of the central group of the series, and will be good enough fun for fans of the series. The final action sequence at an airport is especially incredible. But, in context, it's one of the least narratively energetic films. There's no street racing - in fact there's only one real "race" in the entire film - and this time there is no ambiguity as to who the "good guys" are. Obviously we should be rooting for the protagonists, but there's no real sense of mischief here, either, and they seem to, for once, do pretty much everything they should be doing under their level of jurisdiction while working for The Rock. The change, or maturing, of pace is welcome in places, but a lot of the time it takes away from the free-spirited nature of the film.