The Fast And The Furious Retrospective Series - Fast & Furious 6 (2013)

Written In December 2013

Plot Summary Taken From Wikipedia

Following their successful Rio heist, Dominic Toretto (Vin Diesel) and his crew of professional criminals have retired around the world: Dominic lives with Elena, his sister Mia (Brewster) and Brian O'Conner (Walker) have had a son, Jack. Gisele (Gadot) and Han (Kang) have moved to Hong Kong and Roman (Gibson) and Tej (Ludacris) live in luxury.

Diplomatic Security Service (DSS) agent Luke Hobbs (Johnson) and his partner Riley Hicks (Carano) investigate the destruction of a Russian military convoy, believing former British Special Forces soldier Owen Shaw (Luke Evans) and his crew are responsible. Hobbs tracks down Dominic and requests his help in bringing Shaw down; Dominic agrees when Hobbs presents him with a photo of Dominic’s former girlfriend Letty Ortiz (Rodriguez), whom he thought was dead. Dominic gathers his crew together (minus Leo and Santos, who are still gambling their heist money inside Monaco casinos) and they accept the mission in exchange for full amnesty for their past crimes, which will allow them to return home to the United States; Mia and Elena remain with Jack.

The crew are led to Shaw’s London hideout by one of his henchmen, but it is revealed to be a trap intended to distract the crew and police while Shaw’s crew performs a heist elsewhere. Shaw flees by car, detonating his hideout behind him and disabling most of the police, leaving Dominic, Brian, Roman, Tej, Han, Gisele, Hobbs and Riley to pursue him. Letty arrives to help Shaw, and shoots Dominic without hesitation before escaping. Back at their headquarters, Hobbs tells Dominic’s crew that Shaw is stealing components to create a Nightshade device which can disable power in an entire region; he intends to sell it to the highest bidder. Meanwhile, Shaw’s investigation into the opposing crew reveals Letty’s relationship with Dominic, but she is revealed to be suffering from amnesia.

Roman, Han, Gisele, and Riley investigate a subordinate of Shaw who reveals Shaw’s connection to Arturo Braga, a drug lord imprisoned by Brian (Fast & Furious). Brian returns to the United States as a prisoner to gain access to Braga; Braga reveals that Brian will only get close to Shaw if Shaw allows it, and discloses how Letty survived the explosion that was thought to have killed her. Shaw went to finish her off but after learning that she had no memory, he took her in. Aided by a former ally in the FBI, Brian is released from prison. In London, Dominic races Letty in a street racing competition. Afterwards, the pair talk and Dominic returns her necklace. When she leaves, Shaw arrives and offers to let Dominic and his crew walk away without harm, but Dominic refuses to leave without Letty. Shaw tries to threaten Dominic by a laser aimed gunman, Hobbs also aims at Shaw. Dominic says “two-bit government hack”, repeating what Shaw called him earlier. Shaw then leaves without further incident.

Tej tracks Shaw’s next attack to a NATO Spanish military base. Shaw and his crew assault a military convoy carrying a computer chip to complete the Nightshade device. Dominic and his crew interfere, destroying the convoy while Shaw, accompanied by Letty, commandeers a tank and begins destroying cars along the highway. Roman manages to anchor his car to the tank, which Brian then pushes over a bridge, flipping the tank. Letty is thrown from the tank and Dominic risks his life to save her from falling to her death. In the aftermath, Shaw and his men are captured, but he reveals that he has kidnapped Mia. The crew are forced to release Shaw, and Riley (revealed to be working for Shaw) leaves with him; Letty chooses to remain with Dom. Shaw and his crew board a large aircraft while it is in motion on a runway while Dominic and his crew give chase. Dominic, Letty, Brian, and Hobbs board the craft; Brian rescues Mia and they escape using a car on board. The plane attempts to take off but is held down by excess weight as Han, Gisele, Roman, Tej, Brian, and Mia tether the plane to their vehicles. Gisele sacrifices herself to save Han. Letty kills Riley and both she and Hobbs leap to safety, but Dominic pursues Shaw and the computer chips. Shaw is thrown from the plane as it crashes into the ground; Dom drives one of the remaining cars through the nose of the plane and reunites with his crew, giving the chip to Hobbs to secure their amnesty.

In the aftermath, Dominic and his team return to the United States. Hobbs and Elena arrive to confirm the crew are free. Han is still reeling from Gisele’s death and decides to head to Tokyo as part of their original plan to settle down there. Before Hobbs and Elena leave, Dominic states that Elena does not have to go, but she responds saying that this is his family and the police department is her family, accepting that he chose Letty over her. As Dominic’s crew gather to share a meal, Dominic asks Letty if the gathering felt familiar; she answers no, but that it feels like home. The scene ends with Roman eating and Brian exclaiming, by house rules, that the former has to say grace mirroring Dom’s role at the first family meal he attended some years before. In the post-credits scene, taking place during the events of The Fast and the Furious: Tokyo Drift, Han’s death is revealed to have been caused by an unknown driver, Ian Shaw (Jason Statham), who leaves Dom a threatening message and walks away.

We made it people, 6 movies in ten days. That’s not a record, but that’s something to be proud of. So what do I think of this movie? Well that’s what the review is for.

PROS:

• *screams from the top of a mountain* WE FINALLY HAVE A REAL VILLAIN!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
• Seriously though, Luke Evans is very good in this movie.
• Dwayne Johnson continues to kill it as Luke Hobbs.
• Gina Carano is in this movie.
• Michelle Rodriguez is in this movie.
• Gina Carano fights Michelle Rodriguez in this movie.
• Said fight is awesome.
• This is the best action of the series.
• Braga’s appearance in this movie actually improves him, making him a more intimidating threat than he was originally, and possibly a better villain in that brief scene than Luke Evans.
• Elena’s departure at the end is well handled.
• Gisele’s death is well handled as well.
• Han’s reaction to Gisele’s death is great.
• The final scene of this film is simply wonderful.
• The after credits scene of this film ties Tokyo Drift to the rest of the films perfectly.
• Jason Statham looks to be a great villain!
• The humor in this film is great!

CONS:

• Too much of the villain is told and not shown.
• I don’t completely buy that Elena would so graciously step aside from Dom to let him pursue Letty.
• I miss Hobbs’s beard.
• I don’t think Brian was quite done justice in this movie.
• I’ve come to the conclusion that I think Gal Gadot’s Gisele is a capable action heroine but she is never given enough to do I’m afraid.
• Letty’s amnesia feels a bit forced.
• I don’t completely buy Riley’s turn to the dark side, though I think it was well set up.

Ultimately, I’m going to go with a 9.3 out of 10, the film entertained to me to no end, and I’m glad I saw it.

The Fast And The Furious Retrospective Series - Fast Five (2011)

Written In December 2013

Plot Summary Taken From Wikipedia

Following the events of Fast & Furious, when Dominic is being transported to a U.S. prison, Mia and Brian lead an assault on the bus, causing it to crash and free Dominic. While authorities search for them, the trio escape to Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. Awaiting Dominic’s arrival, Mia and Brian join their friend Vince and other participants on a job to steal three cars from a train. The job goes awry when Brian and Mia discover the train is carrying DEA agents and that the cars are seized property. When Dominic arrives with the rest of the participants, he realizes that one of them, Zizi is only interested in stealing one car: the Ford GT40. Dominic has Mia steal the car herself, while Brian and Dominic fight Zizi and his henchmen, with Zizi killing the DEA agents assigned to the vehicles. Dominic and Brian are captured and brought to Zizi’s boss, who orders the pair be interrogated to discover the location of the car. However, they manage to escape and retreat to their safehouse.

Dominic, Brian, and Mia are blamed for the murder of the DEA agents and U.S. DSS agent Luke Hobbs (Dwayne Johnson) and his team arrive in Rio to capture him. While Brian, Dominic and Mia examine the car to discover its importance, Vince arrives and is revealed to be working for Reyes when he removes a computer chip from the car. Dominic forces Vince to leave and, after investigating the chip, Brian discovers it contains details of Reyes’ criminal empire including the locations of $100 million in cash, and plan on stealing Reyes’ money to start a new life. The trio organize a team to perform the heist, recruiting Han, Roman, Tej, Leo, Santos, Gisele and Vince. Hobbs and his team eventually find and arrest Dominic, Mia, Brian and Vince. While transporting them to an airport for extradition to the United States, the convoy is attacked by Reyes’ men, killing Hobbs’ team and Vince. Hobbs is saved by Dominic, Brian and Mia as they fight back against Reyes’ men and escape. Wanting revenge for their murdered team, Hobbs and Elena Neves (Elsa Pataky) agree to help with the heist.

The gang breaks into the police station where Reyes’ money is kept and tear the vault from the building using their cars, dragging it through the city with police in pursuit. Believing they cannot outrun the police, Dominic makes Brian continue on without him while he attacks the police and the pursuing Reyes, using the vault attached to his car to smash their vehicles. Brian returns to kill Zizi, while Reyes is badly injured by Dominic’s assault. Hobbs arrives on the scene and executes Reyes. Hobbs refuses to let the pair go free, but unwilling to arrest the team, agrees to give them a 24-hour head start to escape. The gang split Reyes’ money, with Dominic leaving Vince’s share to his family, and they go their separate ways. In a post-credits scene, Hobbs is given a special file by Agent Monica Fuentes concerning the hijacking of a military convoy in Berlin. In the file, Hobbs discovers a recent photo of Letty, who was presumed deceased, revealing she survived the events of Fast & Furious.

My Reaction To This Movie’s Ending:

My Reaction To This Movie’s Real Ending:

What Did I Think Of This Movie Overall? 

Now onto the actual review.

PROS:

• Dwayne Johnson is in this movie.
• Dwayne Johnson is awesome in this movie.
• Dwayne Johnson fights Vin Diesel in this movie.
• Ludacris, Tyrese Gibson, the two Latino guys from the last movie, Gal Gadot, and Sung Kang are all back in this movie.
• Eva Mendes is in this movie.
• The action kicks some serious ass.
• The score is really good.
• The fight between Dwayne Johnson and Vin Diesel isn’t just awesome because it’s Vin Diesel and Dwayne Johnson, it’s also awesome because it’s well choreographed, well lit, uses no shaky cam, and has actual stakes.
• Paul Walker and Jordana Brewster are not given short shrift in this film.
• Gal and Sung have great chemistry.
• Mia is pregnant and this is handled well.

CONS:

• As always, the biggest con first and foremost, is the lack of an interesting villain. You could Hobbs is a villain, but he’s only an antagonistic presence for half of the film.
• Not a con within the film itself, but after seeing Gal in this film, I’m thinking less Wonder Woman, and more Catwoman. This concerns me somewhat.

Overall this film was an excellent action picture, and I can’t wait to check part 6 where we are FINALLY introduced to an actual villain, but for now I’m going to give Fast Five a 9.5 out of 10!