Movie review: Fast & Furious 6 - Just plane crazy

Fast & Furious 6 sends your head spinning with its reality-defying action sequences.

Tighten your seatbelts as Fast & Furious 6 prepares to crush any semblance of reality, this time with a giant tank. To raise the bar in the sixth instalment, the speedsters pull all the stops by embarking on a chase that screeches to a halt on the runway with a large aircraft, the Antonov AN-225, being blown to bits.

Written by Chris Morgan, Fast 6 shows the gang flexing their car muscles for a completely different reason. The theme of love and family reigns supreme as the speed-demons are persuaded by the buff Agent Hobbs (Dwayne Johnson) to come out of retirement. Their mission is to help capture the master criminal Owen Shaw (Luke Evans) and to rescue Dom’s ex-girlfriend Letty (Michelle Rodriguez) who was presumed dead in an earlier film. Owen and his team (including Letty) are trying to create a Nightshade device which can disable power in an entire region, which they intend to sell to the highest bidder. What are they promised in return for this alliance? Full pardons.

Although director Justin Lin challenges himself by trying to make the stunts as realistic as possible, they never cease to insult your intelligence. Dom’s (Vin Diesel) hair-raising leap off the roof of a moving car to rescue Letty during the attack of the tank is one of the many examples of madness that surface from time to time in the movie. However, to maintain sanity, some believable action sequences have also been spaced out strategically, especially the hand-to-hand combat between Letty and Riley (Gina Carano), Hobb’s sidekick, in the London Underground.

Along with the anticipated appearance of tanned beauties, who don’t disappoint with their well-toned bodies in tiny Daisy Dukes and bodycon dresses, one anxiously waits for the throbbing sound of the engine and fumes from the nitro injection to set the heart beating in synch with the speeding cars. The custom-designed sports cars have a new target to chase this time, intimidating, not because of their size but armour-plated front ends, that can throw any vehicle off the track with a single knock. The formidable tank also makes a bold entrance during one of the car chases and crushes every car that dares to challenge the beast.

Alongside the boneheaded entertainment and head-spinning car chases, the movie also guarantees moments of uncontrolled laughter with Tyrese Gibson joining forces with Paul Walker to steal the show with his supreme comic delivery. Also, if you’re a fan of Rita Ora then you’ll be pleasantly surprised by her cameo appearance as the head girl of a London racing crew. Before the movie concludes, it also establishes a clear link with Tokyo Drift by revealing the true face behind Han’s (Sung Kang) death — it’s Ian Shaw (Jason Statham).

Reality check! Fast and Furious 6 is still a notch above its predecessors and its sequel’s future seems bright with the promising teaser in the end credits.

Extreme schemes

The Italian Job



The original 1969 movie is the one to watch. It stars Michael Caine, who upon being released from jail gathers a team of bandits to rob a van full of gold. The movie involves one of the best car chases with Mini Coopers.

Gone in 60 seconds



The 2000 action film stars Nicolas Cage as a former car thief, forced to return to his trade to steal fifty specified cars for his crime boss Christopher Eccleston. In exchange, Christopher promises to spare his brother who had taken the contract but failed to fulfill it.

Drive



The 2011 crime movie stars Ryan Gosling who plays the role of a stuntman/mechanic who also has a secret job as a getaway driver for robberies. Despite isolating himself from everyone, he becomes emotionally attached to his neighbour, Carey Mulligan, and agrees to help her ex-con husband rob a pawn shop to pay off his debt.

Published in The Express Tribune, Sunday Magazine, June 30^th, 2013.

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