Furious 6 (***½)

Directed by: Justin Lin

Starring: Vin Diesel, Pal Walker, Dwayne Johnson, Michelle Rodriguez, Jordana Brewster, Tyrese Gibson, Chris Bridges, Sung Kang, Luke Evans, Gina Carano, John Ortiz, Gal Gadot

Seen: May 27^th 2013

***½ Out of ****

After taking the series in a different direction with Fast Five, director Justin Lin is back with a bang with Furious 6. Where the first four movies were almost strictly based in the street car racing world, instalment five is a heist movie and instalment six a pure high adrenaline action movie. The first movie in the series, even though almost a carbon copy of Point Break (Paul Walker even sounded like Keanu Reeves), with a few substitutions and modifications, was an instant classic. After that the series barely made it through the 1^st and 2^nd sequels before the 4^th movie, while not great, revitalised things and made the fantastic 5^th and 6^th movies possible.

Furious 6 follows on the events of Fast Five, with the crew having disappeared after the massive Rio heist, enjoying their money but staying in non-extradition countries. Luke Hobbs (Johnson) and his partner Riley Hicks (Carano) are investigating an attack on a Russian military convoy by villain Owen Shaw (Evans). Hobbs believes Dominic Toretto (Diesel) and his team can assist him in capturing Shaw, and offers him a grand incentive: life back home, no more wanted status on their heads; and if that’s not enough, he reveals to Dom that Letty Ortiz (Rodriguez) is not dead as believed, but working with Shaw. Shaw is busy building a super-weapon, “obtaining” all the parts in daring high-speed heists, and Hobbs believes that Dom and his team are uniquely qualified to help.

Furious 6 is packed with wall-to-wall vehicular mayhem, breath-taking stunts, and awesome action. Vin Diesel and Dwayne Johnson lead the combined team of officers and convicts with daring bravado through multiple excessively impressive action set-pieces. The characters are a family by now, and this is evidenced in the fight for Letty and in a surprisingly heartfelt prayer at the dinner table to end the movie with. Paul Walker is still a big part of the movie and he delivers as Brian O’Conner, but Diesel and Johnson definitely take centre stage. Every cast member forms a natural part of the team, and everyone has their moment to shine, some delivering some real crowd-pleasing humour (Bridges and Gibson), while others really bring the action (Rodrigues and MMA fighter Carano). The action sequences are ludicrous, and the final set-piece is spectacular, even though it features the longest runway in aviation history.

Furious 6 is a great action movie and I pity those who stopped watching the series after the 2^nd and 3^rd movies who still thinks the 1^st movie was the only worthwhile one. If you haven’t seen this one yet – get all six of them and prepare for some mayhem!