2013 | Dir. Justin Lin | 130 Minutes
"Your brother never told you never threaten a man's family? That's a pretty stupid thing to do."
DSS Agent Luke Hobbs recruits Dominic Toretto and his crew to take down a group of elite mercenaries who have Letty in their ranks, who has lost her memory. Hobbs agrees to clear the group's criminal records and allow them to return to America upon completing the mission.
Series stars Vin Diesel, Paul Walker, Dwayne Johnson, Michelle Rodriguez, Tyrese Gibson, Chris 'Ludacris' Bridges, Sung Kang, and Gal Gadot return, with Jordana Brewster and Elsa Pataky mostly on the sidelines. The film also features Shea Whigham as Agent Stasiak (Brian breaks his nose again), and John Ortiz as Braga from Fast & Furious in a brief subplot that explains Letty's fate. Former mixed martial arts fighter Gina Carano appears as Riley Hicks, Hobbs' highly-skilled second-in-command.
Criminal mastermind Owen Shaw and his team of mercenaries are introduced when Dom's crew chases them through the streets of London in an intense action sequence involving electronic disruption devices and modified race cars built to flip other vehicles on the road at lethal speeds. As resourceful and full of character as the Toretto gang but much more ruthless, Shaw's group consists of deadly flip-car driver Vegh played by the magnetic Clara Paget, sniper Adolfson played by Scottish actor Benjamin Davies, expert hand-to-hand fighter Jah played by Indonesian action star Joe Taslim, precision driver Denlinger played by Samuel M. Stewart, team muscle and hacker Klaus played by Danish bodybuilder Kim Kold, and gunman Ivory played by British actor David Ajala. Shaw himself is played by Luke Evans with panache, perhaps the first formidable foe encountered by Dom's crew.
The three major action sequences in this film, including the London sequence, are instant series highlights. About halfway through the film, a thrilling chase sequence takes place on a Spanish highway in which the Dom's gang takes on a tank, and Dom leaps to Letty's rescue in what may remain the most ridiculous stunt in the series. In the explosive climax, the team takes down a massive carrier jet plane using their cars equipped with reinforced steel cables on what appears to be an endless airstrip at a NATO base.
The hand-to-hand fight scenes are vastly improved as well, some of the best in any action film. Gina Carano takes on Michelle Rodriguez in two spectacular fight scenes showcasing Carano's MMA skills, Joe Taslim gets his moment to shine as he takes apart Tyrese Gibson and Sung Kang at the same time, and topping things off is a grudge match in which Vin Diesel and Dwayne Johnson team up to throw down with Luke Evans and Kim Kold. The filmmakers even worked in the obligatory street race scene, with Dom reconnecting with Letty doing what they do best.
With Fast & Furious 6, the series continues its upward trajectory, with bigger and more dynamic action set pieces, seamless callbacks to previous films for loyal fans, and the new threat of truly interesting and diabolical villains. It is the perfect sequel to Fast Five, both movies belonging in the canon of modern action cinema.
MID-CREDITS STINGER
Setting up the next film in the series, and firmly moving the series continuity forward, we revisit the chase through Shibuya Crossing from The Fast and the Furious: Tokyo Drift. The driver that crashed into Han is revealed to be a vengeful Englishman played by action star Jason Statham. As Han's car explodes, he calls Dom on his cell phone with a threat.
FRAGMENTS
- The series' tradition of assigning unconventional titles to its sequels continues, and while the title for this one is officially Fast & Furious 6, which is straightforward enough, the title inexplicably appears as simply Furious 6 in the film itself
- In Japan, the title for this film is Wild Speed: Euro Mission
- Clearly with longtime fans of the series in mind, after a brief cold open centered around what may be one of the happiest (and smallest) moments of the series, the film flashes to what is essentially a television-show-style opening featuring clips from the first five films, recapping what the heroes have been through so far
- A track by MC Jin (who had who had played Tej's mechanic Jimmy in the second film) is briefly featured when we catch up with Han and Gisele in Hong Kong
- During the London chase sequence, there is a brief shot of a small child on a bus witnessing the mayhem occurring on the streets; a recurring visual from the previous film
- Closing the loop on Han's backstory, director Justin Lin takes the narrative back to his first film in the series, coming full circle as he steps away from the franchise
- The shots setting up the big four-character fight scene, Tekken Tag Tournament immediately comes to mind
- The way Gisele is enveloped in darkness as she meets her tragic fate also felt like something straight out of a video game
- No stranger to genre cinema, Luke Evans has appeared in 2010's Clash of the Titans as Apollo, Tarsem Singh's Immortals as Zeus, Peter Jackson's Hobbit film trilogy as Bard the Bowman, and the titular horror icon in Dracula Untold
- For more Gina Carano cinematic ass-kicking, check out Steven Soderbergh's Haywire
- For more Joe Taslim gritty martial arts action, and an overall kick-ass action film, check out Gareth Evans' The Raid
SUPPLEMENTAL STUFF
- Podcast: How Did This Get Made? Episode #63: Fast & Furious 6
MCU CONNECTIONS
- Vin Diesel (Groot in Guardians of the Galaxy, Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2, Avengers: Infinity War, Avengers: Endgame, Thor: Love and Thunder, and Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3)
