Sunday, May 26, 2013

Now Playing: Furious Six

The sixth instalment in the Fast & Furious franchise.  That's right, SIX.  You know, back in 2001 when The Fast and the Furious came out, it was nothing more than a badly written car movie.  At best, it was wisecracking stunt driver's fantasy; at worst, a B movie.  When 2 Fast 2 Furious came out, sans Vin Diesel, one could only surmise that this franchise would be short-lived.  Tokyo Drift?  That didn't headline a single original actor.  The series had clearly, ahem, stalled.

Then, in 2009, Fast & Furious came out.  I was unimpressed, clearly.  Did they really think we could alter time-lines, bring back dead characters, inject some awesome stunts, and revive the franchise?  In short: would a chassis replacement change the engine performance?  Well, no.  But, in a spectacular feat of retconning, it did set up quite the story arc.  One that I couldn't appreciate until I ingested Fast Five.

So, here we are: Furious Six.  I will not deny that I was very much looking forward to watching this.  Having rewatched 4 and 5 (like, last night), I really enjoyed the almost seamless tying-in of the previous five movies.  Yes, all five.  Even lonely little Tokyo Drift.  Let's lay it out there: this is not a franchise that's built on a novel, graphic or otherwise.  Its canon is entirely on-screen.  The only other modern-day equivalent would be Pirates of the Caribbean.  This means that it has to make up for its choices (bad and otherwise) as it goes, knowing that the next movie may not get made.  So, the fact that it speaks to its predecessors, sets up the future, illuminates the past and does it while thoroughly entertaining the masses with fast cars, unbelievable stunts, and beautiful people?  Well.  This little franchise has gone way beyond where it started out.

F6 (ha! I just realised that ...) is another effects-laden, adrenaline-pumping, action flick.  Scores points for real stunts with minimal green-screening.  It reunites the "family", has some great twists (one of which I totally called), and, the best part, ties in all.  six.  movies.  what.  On its own, it would be an entertaining 3 stars; but for the sheer work it does to pull the franchise together and set up the (final?) instalment, I have to give it 4 out of 5 stars.

Starting now would be a waste of your time; watch all five first.

Also: I'm using Furious 6, instead of the "official" title of Fast & Furious 6 in deference to Justin Lin, the director and possibly the only reason this entire thing isn't just a dim memory.  Over to you, James Wan; do us proud, grasshopper.

Edit: in my haste to get this post up, I forgot to mention that this movie has one of the best fight scenes I've witnessed on film, between Letty (Michelle Rodriguez) and Riley (Gina Carano) - holy hot damn, those ladies sure did bring it.  I have no idea where the actresses ended and the stunt doubles began, but it really didn't matter.  It was right up there with Bourne or the latest Batman: brutal, realistic, and supremely well-executed.  Need moar.

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