Review: Fast and Furious 6

There is a substantial segment of the film criticism/movie news community that is in love with the Fast and Furious franchise.  In the lead up to the release of Fast 6 (or Furious 6, as the filmmakers would apparently like us to call it) Twitter was aflutter with excitement from some very respectable commentators.  I was baffled by this early buzz. Confession time!  I had never seen a Fast and Furious film until my dear sister dragged me to a showing of Fast Five when she was visiting two years ago.  I went in with high expectations because of the 78% rating it had on the Tomatometer (a sky high rating for a movie geared to teenagers, I thought).  I was shocked at how bad the acting and dialogue were and laughed out loud more than once at its open-faced silliness.

So, when I decided to go see Fast 6 I had conflicted expectations.  On the one hand, I expected the terrible dialogue and acting as well as outlandish action scenes that will defy any sense of realism.  But, on the other hand, I wanted to undergo what many folks experience when seeing these movies.  My encounter was something else entirely.

The Good
The action scenes are extremely well executed.  In fact, I would daresay that the action sequences in Furious 6 are the best since Casino Royale.  I found myself entirely engaged with the actors and their escapades.

It is also well shot.  The camera is well placed and expresses a scene fairly accurately.

The characters are quite fleshed out and are actually very funny at times.  The parts that are funny are very funny and work well.

The Bad
Apparently the folks in the world of film criticism I look up to most have no problem suspending disbelief when enjoying these movies.  There is a plethora of scenes that not only break the laws of probability, but also break the laws of physics and reality.  Early on in the film, I just expressed incredulity inwardly or to my brother-in-law (whom went to the movie with me) about how ridiculous a scene was.  Then, as the film progressed, I found myself laughing out loud at just how absurd a stunt was.  By the end, I was laughing so hard that it apparently became infectious because everyone around me was laughing as well.

In my mind, there is a motion picture pantheon of probability that goes like this:

Bond films

Superhero films

-

-

-

-

Fast and Furious 6

You will notice that there are four layers between the Superhero genre and this movie.  That's how much disbelief must be suspended in order to enjoy this movie.  

The acting wasn't absolutely terrible, yet there were some painful performances.  Gina Carano stood out like a sore thumb, which is too bad because I really liked her in Haywire.  I guess this shows that having a character-driven director like Soderbergh really makes a huge difference. 

The emotional closure/climax scenes in this particular piece of cinema are worse than just about anything I can think of right now.  It is on the level of Eragon, which I consider to be the bottom of the barrel of fantasy films.  

Conclusion

Overall, the movie is fun and pretty much defines the popcorn flick genre.  When compared to other popcorn films, it's quite good and well worth your time.  However, when I try to compare it to other cinema this summer, it falls very much short.  I'll recommend it to those who have enjoyed the other films in the franchise, but to none else.  2.5/5 Disco Balls. 

Parents Guide

While there is no explicit nudity, there is an awful lot of skin.  I felt that the violence was pretty mild, with very few people actually dying.  With that being said, that is a lot of hand-to-hand combat and some very tense chase scenes.