MOVIE: Fast & Furious 6

Fast & Furious 6: car racing and car crashes with a nominal storyline.  This is the best Fast  & Furious yet!  It’s not often that a series improves over time but in this case, the sequels get better at staging crashes and giving the actors better scripts.  Now keep in mind, we are starting from a very low threshold as the initial Fast & Furious films had virtually no substance.  The heart of these films hasn’t changed.  Either the action provides a sufficient 128 minute diversion or you stay far away.  As a teenager I went to hot rod and sports car races.  Part of me continues to enjoy fast cars, and devoting 2 hours to watching auto racing with a semblance of a story remains a pleasurable experience.  Also, you know going into the theatre what will be delivered.   I’m already prepared to see the next “Fast & Furious”.  The addition of THE ROCK (Dwayne Johnson is so buff I felt I should put his nickname in bold letters) in the last two “Fast & Furious” films has improved the series.  He and Vin Diesel, the primary star as the devoted family man Dominic Toretto, play off each other and both are better when they’re together on screen.  The movie opens with Luke Hobbs (THE ROCK) informing Toretto that his former girlfriend, Letty Ortiz, played by Michelle Rodriquez, who Fast/Furious fans thought was killed off in a prior episode, is still alive and working with a true bad guy mercenary because she has amnesia and doesn’t remember Toretto (honestly, the script exists only to transition between car crashes).  Toretto, being the loyal family man, reassembles his team and joins government agent Hobbs in stopping the bad guy and reuniting with Letty.  Justin Lin is again the director.  He keeps the camera active and the actors appear to be enjoying themselves.  There are even some comedic lines.  Part of me feels that I should reflect upon the statement being made about me and a significant percentage of the population that this film grossed more than $100 million over the Memorial Day weekend, but I won’t.  Instead, my closing comment is this: if you slow down to check out the car crash that caused the traffic jam, then ”Fast & Furious” films are for you, and vice versa.