Movie Review: Fast 6

By Ethan Craik

          It’s uncommon for a movie franchise to make it to six films, it’s even more uncommon for those franchises’ later films to be the best. Most movie franchises have their highest quality films early on, and it’s usually by the fourth or fifth installment where the crew has run out of ideas and the material runs dry. Not the case with Fast & Furious however, for what once started as a mindless but forgettable collection of street racing movies all changed when Justin Lin released Fast Five, which was popcorn entertainment at it’s best. Can the series newest addition outdo it’s surprising predecessor and deliver the goods? Yes, yes it can.

            Now, the Fast movies were never known for their plot, and it’s unlikely you’re going to check this film out for that, bu

t I’ll explain it anyway. After getting away with millions of dollars in the last movie, Dom and crew have separated and have been enjoying the rich life. This does not last long however, when Hobbs returns in need of Dom’s crew’s help to take out a team of dangerous felons much like themselves who are causing trouble. Under circumstances I will not spoil Dom agrees to help, the crew gets back together, and epic action ensues. Like I said, the story isn’t something to write home about, but it works for the film with a cast of likeable, albeit not very deep characters. There’s little background or any reason present to care for Dom’s crew, but the mix of hilarious and legitimately good serious moments between the characters make them a likeable group of people.  

            But let’s face it, you’re here for the action, and my god does it deliver. From fast street races, to brutal hand to hand combat and crazy things like going up against a battle tank, the film contains several memorable and exciting action sequences. Sure it’s not realistic and there are many moments where the characters do stuff that aren’t even remotely possible to accomplish and walk away from without a scratch. Yet again though, this movie isn’t supposed to be taken too seriously, and criticizing the film for these flaws is stupid for it’s what the director was going for. This man knows how to direct an action scene, there’s no shaky cam or a lot of special effects, just straight up practical stunt work and focused shots of the action. All this combined just makes for some truly crowd-pleasing and epic moments, and that is exactly what I went for in the first place.

            In the end, you have to know what you’re getting when you pay to see this movie. It’s not trying to win any awards, not trying to realistically portray what would happen to a human being after jumping a good twenty feet into a truck moving at 100 mph,  it’s just trying to entertain the casual movie goer with great action and likeable characters. I can safely say it succeeded in doing that and based on the mid-credits scene, I expect the next film to deliver the adrenaline pumping, white knuckle action that this film brought. I give this film an A-.