REVIEW: FURIOUS 6

Furious 6

2013

Director: Justin Lin

Starring: Vin Diesel, Paul Walker, Dwayne THE ROCK Johnson, Michelle Rodriguez, Tyrese Gibson, Sung Kang, Jordana Brewster, Gal Gadot, Chris “Ludacris” Bridges, Gina Carano (please take this movie and retire from acting with it), Luke Evans

Rated PG-13

You’ve got some serious balls, man.

                        ~Letty Ortiz

The Fast & The Furious franchise stays the course in its newest installment.  All the good will from Fast Five is carried over.  This film escalates the action by going bigger and taking stakes up a notch as it rightfully should.  I don’t think it sails by Fast Five, but it manages to come up to par with it.  And…it’s a one damn fine thrill ride of a movie.

FAST & FURIOUS RETROSPECTIVE - PART VII: FAST FIVE

Fast Five

2011

Director:  Justin Lin

Starring:  Vin Diesel, Paul Walker, Jordana Brewster, Dwayne Johnson, Sung Kang, Tyrese Gibson, Chris Bridges, Matt Schulze, Gal Gadot, Elsa Pataky, Joaquim de Almeida

Rated PG-13

Running ain’t freedom.  You should know that

                        ~Dominic Toretto

It took 5 tries, but the Fast & Furious franchise put out a great movie!  And a super awesome one at that!  Ditching the forced racing aspects in favor of a pure action movie with the guise of a heist plot, the series is able to fully breathe and become a summer popcorn thrill ride that allows you to enjoy and not care too much about detailed semantics of its plot.  The film boasts an ultimate team up of who’s who from the entire series, giving those who’ve been paying attention some rewarding character moments while at the same time not reminding the viewer of the shortcomings of those previous films.  The cast gels and carries this thing along quite nicely.

FAST & FURIOUS RETROSPECTIVE - PART VI: FAST & FURIOUS

Fast & Furious

2009

Director:  Justin Lin

Starring:  Vin Diesel, Paul Walker, Jordana Brewster, Michelle Rodriguez, John Ortiz, Jack Conley, Sung Kang

Rated PG-13

Still a buster

            ~Dominic Toretto

At its open, Fast & Furious takes a noticeable step up from his predecessors.  There’s a lot of good intention here and what appears to be hard work.  The film starts guns ablazing, but never manages to retain the promise of these opening moments.  The rest of the adventure is somewhat watchable but really just skims the mediocrity set in the in the first film only done by a better, more imaginative craftsman.

FAST & THE FURIOUS RETROSPECTIVE - PART II: THE FAST & THE FURIOUS

 

The Fast And The Furious

2001

Director: Rob Cohen

Starring:  Paul Walker, Vin Diesel, Jordana Brewster, Michelle Rodriguez, Rick Yune, Matt Schulze, Ted Levine

Rated PG-13

Ask any racer, any real racer. It doesn't matter if you win by an inch or a mile; winning's winning.

                        ~Dominic Toretto

Fast & Furious Drinking Game:  Take a sip of your beverage every time you see or hear the word “NOS”