Fast and Furious 6 Film Review from West Coast Midnight Run

West Coast Midnight Run™ is a copyrighted publication of Citadel Consulting Group LLC

FAST AND FURIOUS 6
Universal Pictures
MPAA Rating PG-13
(action/adventure)

Starring: Vin Diesel, Paul Walker, Jordana Brewster, Michelle Rodriguez, Dwayne Johnson, Luke Evans

Directed by: Justin Lin

Running Time: 2 hr. 10 min.

Score: B

By Peter Maertin

Dominik and crew, the world’s nastiest and fastest car-wielding thieves on the road, anywhere, any time, have now achieved legendary status - for US government agencies - that want to recruit them for an international assignment.

It’s anyone’s guess who will go AWOL and who will drive their wheels straight to Valhalla, but you can be sure you will get nonstop action on this installment.

Original source photo © Universal Pictures

On screening through the first half hour of this adventure, for viewers familiar with the Fast and Furious, it would appear as if it will be another outing of Fast Five.

There is the usual schtick we have grown accustomed to, and then we have a core theme of the series that plays out big in in this particular installment - family, code of honor (amongst criminals) and going out on a limb to get the work done even if all your common sense tells you not to.

It would seem that both Paramount
and Universal are playing on the family theme, with Star Trek Into Darkness

and Fast & Furious 6, family in outer space in the Future and in present day vehicles on highways around the world.

Family is Universal this year but only at the movies and there is no Alice in Wonderland and no Alice the babysitter at the casa of the Brady Bunch.

When the road plays a metaphor to the trials and tribulations of life, this one is pretty rough, bumpy and littered with collateral damage.

The story steps out into James Bond territory - literally - and our guys are
back to both tackle some nasty badass criminals, help the governments of both

the USA and the EU and also wipe the slate clean back home.

The movie appears to be moving a little slower then the past three Fast and Furious films all helmed by Justin Lin, until that is we near the end, and all hell breaks loose. The action cranks out a couple of notches for nonstop neck-snapping chew-the-road maneuvers and scene-stealing bravados with the gals doing as much of the lifting as the guys on the team.

And moviegoer beware, there is a special teaser final credit roll scene that ties No. 6 with the Fast and Furious Tokyo Drift (2006) film.

If you are not familiar with the series, the most recent sequels after 2006 are all prequels and take place before the events depicted in F&F Tokyo Drift.

A crew of honest criminals joined by an ex-cop pull off elaborate heists.

Vin Diesel and Paul Walker return to the roles that gave them international celebrity and play Dominik and Brian with relative ease. Like Star Trek this is a manhunt - with guns, fast cars, and insanely dangerous street racing. It's easily enjoyable if you look beyond the thin dialogue and in need of a couple of hours to unwind with a spectacular non-stop adrenaline-filled

adventure with complete disregard for something we call gravity.

The more interesting soundbyte may very well be all the behind the scene shuffling that’s been taking place with the Fast and Furious franchise.

Film director Justin Lin, credited as being the prime mover and power for taking the franchise from fizzle status to an all sizzle blockbuster level is leaving the series, as leaked in a recent news release. Universal executives wanted a F&F 7 installment ready in just one year after F&F 6 while Lin felt the quality would suffer. Universal brought in a new director, James Wan.

A better move with the loyal fans may have been in keeping Lin for F&F 8 on its regular development schedule while Wan helms F&F 7 on a fast track production schedule.

We’re not certain about the PR value of replacing Lin but we do hope that the next Fast and Furious can live up to the expectations of both devoted fans and new audiences.