Writer: Chris Morgan
Starring: Vin Diesel, Paul Walker, The Rock, Luke Evans
Tomatometer: 72/78/95 (all critics, top critics, audience)
Spoiler-free Summary: Now retired from a life of street racing and crime, Dominic Toretto’s crew is recruited, by The Rock, to help track down a new crime syndicate that bears a striking resemblance to their own.
Two Cents: Fast & Furious 6 benefitted greatly from a scheduling conflict that could have proved deadly. Released the same day as The Hangover Part III, Fast 6 found itself in a battle for sequel supremacy. Despite the plethora of similarities between the two movie, Fast 6 beat Part III to a bloody pulp at the box office ($117 million to $50 million) during their shared opening weekend. It doesn’t happen often in Hollywood, but, this time, quality won out.
I know, you probably think I’m crazy for using the word “quality” to describe a Fast & Furious movie. But, I dare you to watch this movie and ask yourself this simple question. Yes, it’s completely unrealistic, and The Artist had more dialogue, but this movie has some of the most exhilarating action sequences I’ve ever seen, as well as some surprisingly funny comic relief from supporting characters.
Between the insanely sexy cars, Paul Walker, The Rock’s arms, Jordana Brewster, Paul Walker, Michelle Rodriguez, Elsa Pataky, Gal Gadot, and Paul Walker, this movie has some serious eye candy. It also has Paul Walker. However, this movie is not all style. There is an unexpectedly decent storyline here, and it connects nicely to the previous films in the series. Don’t worry about the storyline too much, though, if you’re not up-to-date on the series, as the film begins with a Ferrari-fast recap of the important elements from past installments, and there isn’t much you need to know. Boy likes girl, girl dies. Boy likes girl, girl has scary brother. Multiple boys and girls drive cars and steal things. That’s pretty much it. Not only does the movie begin with the best series recap I’ve seen in a film in a long time, it also finishes with a fantastic teaser ending (though, not quite as awesome as my favorite teaser ending of all time), promising more glorious fastness and furiousness in the future.
Should I/Shouldn’t I: If you’ve been a fan of the Fast & Furious series, then you simply must see this movie ASAP. If you haven’t seen any of the previous installments, don’t let that stop you. This movie is so darn fun, you don’t even have to learn the characters’ names. If you’ve seen some of the movies, there’s no need to see them all (although, you’ll like most of them, not including Tokyo Drift), but you should probably see Fast Five, just to familiarize yourself with some of the newer characters.
Sundae Rating: Two scoops with whipped cream
Sunday Morning Screenings 