I am not your typical car enthusiast by any stretch of the imagination.
Of course I have my "Become a Super-Hero/Win-the-Lotto Car Wish List"
which encompasses my all time favourite '67 Mustang and the neon green
Gallardo, and I'm addicted to arcade racing games such as Need For Speed and Daytona (which often
transcends to my actual driving techniques, much to my parents dismay).
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| #1 on my wish list - '67 Mustang |
But I think in some ways I'm a closet-petrolhead...given my father's
love for Formula One, my brother's ability to change a clutch without
having been taught and my boyfriend's penchant for sending me pictures
of cars titled "your birthday gift has arrived" and his not so secret
crush on
Jeremy Clarkson, is it any wonder that I found myself
completely enthralled in
The Fast & The Furious 6?! Not only was it my favourite in the franchise (After
Tokyo Drift.. haha... Jokes!) ... but it's now got a place near
Fight Club in my Top 15 favourite movies ever. Please be advised that there may be some spoilers in the text to follow...
The sixth installment of the Fast series picks up just after Dominic
Toretto and his gang have gone their separate ways after making a big
heist in Rio, in which they all acquired millions, in
Fast 5. The
"retired" criminals now live all over the world in varying degrees of
opulence and luxury. The opening scene shows Dom (
Vin Diesel) and Brian
O'Connor (
Paul Walker) completing a race they had bet on in the previous
film, they end at O'Connor's new home where Mia (
Jordana Brewster) has
just gone into labour. The opening credits also includes a montage of
scenes from the previous films, highlighting all the important moments
in the series. The movie centers around Security Service
agent Luke Hobbs (
Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson) who tracks down Dom
and persuades
him to help take down Shaw (former British Special Forces soldier)
whose crew is wanted for the destruction of a Russian military convoy
and other criminal activities. Hobbs entices Dom to reunite his crew by
showing him a recent photo of Letty
Ortiz (
Michelle Rodriguez), Dom's former girlfriend, whom he thought was
dead. Dominic
gathers his crew together and they accept the mission in exchange for
full pardons for their past crimes, which will allow them to return home
to the United States.
What I liked about the film was that it actually had a well-thought
out script as opposed to aimless racing. The scenes shot on location
were well choreographed, the use of CGI has improved dramatically and
authentic looking fight scenes (my boyfriend's favourite was of course
The Michelle Rodriguez (who he thinks I look like) vs
Gina Carano fight scene in the London Underground) all added to the experience. There were
many moments that had me gripping my chair What the directors have
created in the feel of Dom's "family" makes the audience care about what
happens to the characters, and not just the lead protagonists, but the
others too. By creating a bigger group they have also introduced
different levels of relationships and friendships and therefore, more
action and "side" stories. The relationship between Han (
Sung Kang)
& Gisele (
Gal Gadot) adds an element of romance, while the often
childish yet humorous banter between
Ludacris' character Tej and
Tyrese Gibson's Roman adds some comedic relief in a fast-paced, action-packed
and downright fun movie!
Either way you look at it, fans of the
franchise will most definitely enjoy this movie and the others will
probably only be mildly entertained.
What some other critics had to say:
Richard Corliss (Time movie critic): "Five movies after
The Fast and the Furious, the 2001 original
(which was a loose remake of a 1955 film produced by Roger Corman),
what’s left to do with cars? Well, this, from
Fast Five: Dom
drove a ’66 Corvette Grand Sport sideways out of a speeding freight car
to race the train toward an imminent cliff. Then Dom’s blond buddy Brian
(Paul Walker) leaped off the train and into the car milliseconds before
it plummeted off the cliff and into a river far below. The bonding of
the two autoholics was impressive, but not nearly so much as the
teamwork of the
Fast Five stunt team. In a movie era when
dramatic ingenuity is close to evaporating, the complex, split-second
choreography of men and cars is an expression of medium-to-high film
art.
Read more:
http://entertainment.time.com/2013/05/20/furious-6-faster-crazycars-thrill-thrill/#ixzz2VQhgo2qj"
Barry Ronge: "This time, however, they
have moved well beyond cars. There are multiple trucks, a military-tank
and even chase between the cars and plane trying to leave the runway. If
you are looking for credible stories, human emotions and moral
boundaries, stay away from this film. It’s all about excessive
destruction of vehicles of all kinds, but you cannot fail to be amazed
by a string of chases, accidents, pile-ups and every kind of destruction
you can think of.
The pace is hectic but the
stunts are stunning and even though it has a running time of two-hours
plus, you don’t feel the length of the film, and nor do you have the
time see how entirely impossible and implausible the film is."
Tom
Charity (CNN, on
Rotten Tomatoes): "Ludicrous, but undeniably fun and
surprisingly affectionate, this is really all you could ask of a car
crash movie, and more."
Some Fast & Furious Fun:
http://www.ew.com/ew/gallery/0,,20483133_20703023,00.html#21333056
