Review of Fast & Furious 6 (2013) by James L — 28 Sep 2018

Strengths: Bringing in Dwayne Johnson (Luke Hobbs) was the kick in the ass this series needed. Having him work together with the heroes of the story was great this time around. He continues to have chemistry with Vin Diesel (Dominic Toretto) as their scenes always delivered. Paul Walker (Bryan O'Connor) did well with his lesser role this time around, making the most of his scenes. I loved that Michelle Rodriguez (Letty Ortiz) was brought back into the fold. Her scenes with Diesel were probably the best in the movie. Watching her struggle with her strange situation was great. Gal Gadot (Gisele Yashar) was her delightful self and gave us a strong sacrifice scene. As usual with the series, the action was top notch and some of the set pieces were insane. The scale of the movies get crazier each time and it's allowing for something special. The post-credits appearance of Jason Statham was a nice capper and way to hype the next film.

Weaknesses: This very much felt like an installment that was just there to build up the next one. This was all about getting Letty back to do something interesting in the seventh part. That made for a lackluster overall story. Along with that, the villain, played by Luke Evans (Owen Shaw) felt like a disappointment after a strong antagonist in the fifth part. Paul Walker (Bryan O'Connor) and Jordana Brewster (Mia Toretto) both feel way underutilized. Some of the stuff done by Gina Carano's (Riley Hicks) character is dumb. She's a double agent, but puts herself in harm's way that doesn't make sense at several points. Lastly, I felt that the sacrifice of Gisele could've meant more. It was a big moment and the scene mostly worked, but it felt like it wasn't given enough attention.

Overall: Fast Five turned things around, but Fast & Furious 6 was a step back. Not in a major way. Just one that was clearly because this felt more like a movie done to set up the next part. Like, everything could've been accomplished in a short film or something.