Fast and Furious 6

Big Dumb Fun, As Usual
by Reymundo Salao

FURIOUS 6 seems to be the original title of the movie. As if its producers were too afraid to be teased that it was a corny transition from the title of the previous movie FAST FIVE.

Fast Five had put the Fast and Furious franchise out into the ranks of mainstream Hollywood blockbuster. And it was indeed a tough act to follow. The series had built up all these characters which, by the last one, we already grew to love. Furious 6's great potential is that it maintains the positive energy out of its main characters. We love their screen presence and how they interact with each other.[read the rest of the article after the jump]



Much of the movie's charm is not the kind that can grab the attention of somebody who is not familiar with (or a fan of) the Fast and Furious series. The movie has a lot of corniness; up from Dom's repetition of their "family" mantra, to the 'superman' scene. It probably takes for one to be familiar with the series' brand of cartoony corniness in order to easily swallow it with a smile of appreciation.

But if you simply are looking for a dumb fun action movie, Furious 6 would definitely be something worth watching.

Whereas other critics might have frowned at the improbability of several (incredible) action scenes, I on the other hand, would choose to swallow all the fantastic stuff as long as these are done well. What I was frowning about was the execution; not the intention. One or two action sequences looked sloppy to me. Some of the action sequences looked blurry. There was an evening car chase scene wherein I could not tell one vehicle from the other because they were all black cars, and many of the camera shots were static. In another action sequence, this time involving an aircraft, the same thing. And there was a part where (Tyrese was using some kind of harpoon gun, and ) I could not see what exactly he was shooting and aiming for.

Another complaint I have is the movie's handling of tone. I appreciate how positively heartwarming and oftentimes comedic its characters are. But when something tragic happens to one character in the movie, there is such an insensitive treatment as to how that tragedy is approached.

SPOILER [highlight the blank portion to read spoilers]
After what happened to Gisele (Gal Gadot), the movie doesn't give her a tone of grief long enough for her character's fans to mourn over. The seemingly immediate jump to the barbecue scene made it look like no one really cared about her loss. This is kind of depressing because the previous movie (Fast Five which was a surprising hit) had established a loveable team that its audiences grew to love. to not give her her due spotlight just pisses onto what rich character development the previous movie made.

The epilogue scene revealing Han's fate in Tokyo Drift and the revelation of Jason Statham was also a scene that did not seem to have made a fluid transition into the movie. It was sloppy and looked amateurish.

All in all, I enjoyed and liked (not loved) the movie; but I would rather safely not recommend it those unfamiliar of the series. It's a movie that serves its core fans well, but could run the risk of disappointing those new to the series. Furious 6 was only "Good" but it could have been better.

In addition, I noted that these Fast and Furious movies are beginning to have the same gimmick with Paul Anderson's Resident Evil series: he injects a cliffhanger immediately at the end of one movie, so that you will be excited to see the next movie. Yes, there will be a Fast and Furious part 7. And many of you already know who is going to be on it...