‘Fast & Furious 6’ Owns It

Turn off your brain and start your engine, for mindless, high octane adventure in Justin Lin’s Fast & Furious 6. This shamelessly over-the-top action flick is the most unpretentious movie of the summer, and maybe even the year. Fast & Furious 6 gets away with it though, because the film fully embraces its silliness. Quite fittingly, its opening theme is the upbeat rap anthem “We Own It” by 2 Chainz and Wiz Khalifa. And boy, do the director and his cast own it.

The film picks up not too long after Fast Five, with former cop Brian O’Conner (Paul Walker) and his wheelman buddy Dominic Toretto (Vin Diesel) retired from their life of crime. They’re both filthy rich from their last job, and Brian is welcoming a newborn with Dom’s sister Mia (Jordana Brewster). Life is good, that is until the arrival of Hobbs (Dwayne Johnson), the tenacious federal agent who has been chasing them. Instead of busting them however, Hobbs asks for their help collaring an elusive evil mastermind named Shaw (Luke Evans), who is stealing the components to assemble a catastrophic weapon, which he plans to sell to the highest bidder.

To make matters worse, Hobbs has proof that Shaw is in cahoots with Letty (Michelle Rodriguez), Dom’s girlfriend, previously believed to be dead. With the newfound hope of rescuing her, Dom and Brian reluctantly assist Hobbs, calling on their old crew (Sung Kang, Gal Gadot, Tyrese Gibson, and Ludacris) for reinforcement. Together they’ll travel to Europe to stop Shaw, and try to convince Letty to switch sides.

Playing off the quest to save Letty, a major theme in the movie is the importance of family, natural and adopted. The writers lean heavily on the idea that Dom and Brian’s crew is its own familial unit, a point constantly illustrated by cheesy sentimental dialogue like “Ride or die.” and by sibling-like rivalry. Ludacris and Tyrese’s characters specifically have a hilarious brotherly rapport. Also, since we’ve been watching all these characters over the course of several films, their familiarity is starting to make them feel like family to us in the audience. As a result, we can’t help rooting for them, because they’re our brothers and sisters too.

From its opening shots through its climactic showdown with Shaw, Fast & Furious 6 is impeccably paced. Unlike Fast Five, which felt too long, this movie flies by due to its wall-to-wall car chases, shootouts, fistfights, and awesome scenes that combine them all three. The flick’s white-knuckle sequences are beautifully crafted, using zippy helicopter shots to capture the hot pursuit from above. Plus, the driving portions themselves are seamlessly choreographed, with cars moving deliberately like synchronized swimmers. Perhaps the most impressive feat that Lin accomplishes as a director, is successfully integrating large-scale set pieces like a tank and a cargo plane. Many folks laughed incredulously when they saw these vehicles during the film’s first trailer on Super Bowl Sunday, but they feel totally appropriate and acceptable in the moment during Fast & Furious 6.

As entertaining as Fast & Furious 6 is, it still has several shortcomings. Its villain and his motivations are thinly explained, the dialogue is stupid as heck, and the film’s physics would cause Isaac Newton to turn in his grave. What’s amazing is that even with weak writing and unbelievable stunts, this movie is so damn entertaining that you can’t help deliberately overlooking its flaws. Not only is it the best film in this franchise to-date, but it just hits all the right sweet spots at once. Fast & Furious 6 is an amusing, uncomplicated flick that reminds me exactly why I’m a popcorn movie guy.

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