“Ride or die, remember?”
Fast Five back in 2011 was a crazy jump start for an auto-action franchise that was in danger of running out of gas.
Now the series blasts back and instead of misfiring, Fast & Furious 6 – yes, with the ‘& Furious’ back in the title – sees loveable street racers Dominic Toretto (Vin Diesel) and Brian O’Conner (Paul Walker), plus their pals Roman (Tyrese Gibson), Han (Sung Kang) and Tej (Ludacris) getting in over their heads. Again.
Director Justin ‘Community’ Lin somehow manages to create a plot that allows for the vehicular warfare to go further over the top than anything we’ve seen on a big screen before.
It revolves around the Fast gang – now fugitives living the high life after their successful Rio heist of Fast 5 – being recalled by hard ass cop Hobbs (Dwayne Johnson) to help him take down a new threat in the form of Shaw (Luke ‘The new Crow’ Evans).
It seems that evil Shaw, working with a gang of nasty mercenary drivers, is stealing parts to construct a super weapon, which would be worth over a billion dollars, by attacking military convoys.
He only needs one more part and so Hobbs and his new partner Riley (Gina Carano) are desperate enough to offer full pardons to Dom and crew if they can help nail Shaw – and save the world.
Cue high speed chases, tons of auto-destruction – some of which involves a battle tank on a Spanish motorway – all ending with a climax that would be perfectly at home in a Die Hard movie.
The action globe hops round the world with segments in the US, London, Spain and Tokyo – each is well used and as a Brit it was especially cool to see the London scenes, although the good ol’ UK coppers aren’t any match for the hotshot street racers or their new enemies.
The car action is what has always been the beating heart of the Fast & Furious films and it pays off again here.
That does mean that the ‘acting’ has to take a back seat to modified vehicles going incredibly fast and crashing.
There is an awkward subplot about Dom trying to win back the heart of Letty (Michelle Rodriguez) who was thought to have been killed in an earlier film but who survived, lost her memory and is now working for the bad guys.
So sure, it’s nonsense – but it is highly entertaining high octane nonsense which certainly keeps the engine of this turbocharged series revving nicely!