This is oddly enough, the 6th movie in the fast and the furious franchise. They have changed so much though from where the franchise started. The first 2 films were very big on car culture, but that is a thing of the past. The newer films are more action orientated, with the cars taking a back row seat to the actual characters themselves. I don't see anything wrong with that, but I do wish they would put more focus on the vehicles moving forward. This movie had some very cool cars in it, but you only really see them for a few minutes. Worse, they don't even tell you what some of the more obscure ones are. While I did really enjoy this movie, every new one just makes me miss the early days of the franchise. For a series that used to be about street racing, and driving sequences, this movie is lacking in both areas. We have 1 race between Dom and Letty that shows more in car shots then exterior. Thankfully the other driving portions of the movie more then make up for it, even if they do have a few problems.
For those not familiar with the story, they do a really nice re-cap of the first few movies in the opening. This movie deals with Dominic Toretto's (Vin Diesel) ex girlfriend Letty though. In one of the earlier films she is murdered, however we never actually see her being killed. We witness it in a very odd moment were Dom is looking at the scene of the crash and piecing everything together in his mind. Apparently his CSI skills are lacking, and he was a little off. In the last film we learned she was alive, and Brian (Paul Walker) was running her as a undercover informant before her alleged death. For this movie however, she is finally back and running with the bad guys crew. The Rock reprises his role as Hobbs the super-cop and gets the help of Dom and his team to capture said villains.
One thing I really like about these movies are the messages. Dom is very big on family, and he brings that to each film. The entire point of this one was "You never give up on family." Even after Letty sides against them and tries to take out a few of the heroes, he refuses to give up on her. While there is a lot going on during the film, the real story is about those 2. The whole team vs team car battle is just a secondary plot. We also get to see Brian's kid in this movie, and some of the more enjoyable scenes come from that. Seeing Dom and Brian argue over what the kids first car will be for example. Family is a constant theme in this movie, and the driving point for the good guys through out.
Normally I would talk about the acting, but you know what to expect from these kind of movies. We do get MMA fighter Gina Carano though as Agent Riley, playing along side the Rock. I have not seen anything she was in before, but she held her own nicely. And the MMA experience came in handy in the fight scenes. Seeing her hit a flying armbar was pretty damn neat, and she seemed far more scrappy then the others. The Rock on the other hand was almost painful to watch in some of his scenes. They tend to want him coming off like the Hulk, so when he fights he tosses people around. They over sell it though, and it just looks horrible. Seeing him toss a guy from the ground to the ceiling for example, you can clearly see the flight path the wires used. It just looks so unnatural, it honestly made me laugh the first time. After that though it was just a eyesore. The best fights are from the oddest sources though. Paul Walker has a nice prison brawl that looked very well done. And Tyrese Gibson and Sung Kang (Roman and Han) have a great fight in the subway. They should take the minimalist approach they put into those, and use it on the others. Just because the Rock is huge, doesn't mean everything has to be exaggerated to the extreme.
Next, the vehicle scenes, because that is what we all care about. There are 3 big ones, and a few smaller ones. The first major one introduces the villains and shows them battling the good guys in some custom flip cars. The flip cars look like very low profile dragsters that have amazing handling and speed. Fun fact, the flipping portion is fully functional. They wanted the cars to really work to make it more believable. They can drive at another car, and get underneath them. The front is ramp shaped, and has a directional wing they can use to toss the car in a certain direction. We get a crazy chase scene where the bad guys are tossing cars at Dom and the others, very cool stuff. The first sequence was pretty well done, but had no where near the hectic pace of the finale. Without spoiling anything, it involves a air strip that seems to go on forever. We have them driving at high speeds for about 10 minutes without running out of landing strip. Not very believable, but fun non the less. You have teams moving from vehicle to vehicle, vehicle to plane....really they are just all over the place. While these tend to be over the top, and contain the most unbelievable moments, they really are a lot of fun and are pulled off well. There is also a part with a tank that really took me by surprise. All in all great action, and that makes a good movie.
Closing thoughts. A good movie does not play it safe, and this movie does not do that at all. It kills off some of the good guys, and ends on a big negative. Han finally goes to Tokyo at the end of this film, which if you are a fan of the franchise you will remember from Tokyo Drift. The final scene during the credits is actually taken from that movie. They finally put the films in order and fit his death into the main series. Seeing one of the better characters die is rough, but they alter the scene to be a murder instead of a accident. We get the villain of the next film stepping out of the car afterwards. If you still don't know who that is, I won't tell you, but it made a sad moment rather nice in the end. It is odd to think that scene first showed up in 2006, and only now 7 years later actually occurs. Because of that they are able to set up another movie, which is already set to be released in 2014.
This movie had good action, decent story, good messages, and cool cars. If you are a fan of the others films, I have no trouble telling you to check this one out as well. If the last few did nothing for you though, give it a pass. For me though, it was a
For those not familiar with the story, they do a really nice re-cap of the first few movies in the opening. This movie deals with Dominic Toretto's (Vin Diesel) ex girlfriend Letty though. In one of the earlier films she is murdered, however we never actually see her being killed. We witness it in a very odd moment were Dom is looking at the scene of the crash and piecing everything together in his mind. Apparently his CSI skills are lacking, and he was a little off. In the last film we learned she was alive, and Brian (Paul Walker) was running her as a undercover informant before her alleged death. For this movie however, she is finally back and running with the bad guys crew. The Rock reprises his role as Hobbs the super-cop and gets the help of Dom and his team to capture said villains.
One thing I really like about these movies are the messages. Dom is very big on family, and he brings that to each film. The entire point of this one was "You never give up on family." Even after Letty sides against them and tries to take out a few of the heroes, he refuses to give up on her. While there is a lot going on during the film, the real story is about those 2. The whole team vs team car battle is just a secondary plot. We also get to see Brian's kid in this movie, and some of the more enjoyable scenes come from that. Seeing Dom and Brian argue over what the kids first car will be for example. Family is a constant theme in this movie, and the driving point for the good guys through out.
Normally I would talk about the acting, but you know what to expect from these kind of movies. We do get MMA fighter Gina Carano though as Agent Riley, playing along side the Rock. I have not seen anything she was in before, but she held her own nicely. And the MMA experience came in handy in the fight scenes. Seeing her hit a flying armbar was pretty damn neat, and she seemed far more scrappy then the others. The Rock on the other hand was almost painful to watch in some of his scenes. They tend to want him coming off like the Hulk, so when he fights he tosses people around. They over sell it though, and it just looks horrible. Seeing him toss a guy from the ground to the ceiling for example, you can clearly see the flight path the wires used. It just looks so unnatural, it honestly made me laugh the first time. After that though it was just a eyesore. The best fights are from the oddest sources though. Paul Walker has a nice prison brawl that looked very well done. And Tyrese Gibson and Sung Kang (Roman and Han) have a great fight in the subway. They should take the minimalist approach they put into those, and use it on the others. Just because the Rock is huge, doesn't mean everything has to be exaggerated to the extreme.
Next, the vehicle scenes, because that is what we all care about. There are 3 big ones, and a few smaller ones. The first major one introduces the villains and shows them battling the good guys in some custom flip cars. The flip cars look like very low profile dragsters that have amazing handling and speed. Fun fact, the flipping portion is fully functional. They wanted the cars to really work to make it more believable. They can drive at another car, and get underneath them. The front is ramp shaped, and has a directional wing they can use to toss the car in a certain direction. We get a crazy chase scene where the bad guys are tossing cars at Dom and the others, very cool stuff. The first sequence was pretty well done, but had no where near the hectic pace of the finale. Without spoiling anything, it involves a air strip that seems to go on forever. We have them driving at high speeds for about 10 minutes without running out of landing strip. Not very believable, but fun non the less. You have teams moving from vehicle to vehicle, vehicle to plane....really they are just all over the place. While these tend to be over the top, and contain the most unbelievable moments, they really are a lot of fun and are pulled off well. There is also a part with a tank that really took me by surprise. All in all great action, and that makes a good movie.
Closing thoughts. A good movie does not play it safe, and this movie does not do that at all. It kills off some of the good guys, and ends on a big negative. Han finally goes to Tokyo at the end of this film, which if you are a fan of the franchise you will remember from Tokyo Drift. The final scene during the credits is actually taken from that movie. They finally put the films in order and fit his death into the main series. Seeing one of the better characters die is rough, but they alter the scene to be a murder instead of a accident. We get the villain of the next film stepping out of the car afterwards. If you still don't know who that is, I won't tell you, but it made a sad moment rather nice in the end. It is odd to think that scene first showed up in 2006, and only now 7 years later actually occurs. Because of that they are able to set up another movie, which is already set to be released in 2014.
This movie had good action, decent story, good messages, and cool cars. If you are a fan of the others films, I have no trouble telling you to check this one out as well. If the last few did nothing for you though, give it a pass. For me though, it was a
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