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 - Fast & Furious (2009)

Written in December 2013

Plot Summary Taken From Wikipedia

Dominic and his new crew (Letty, Han, Leo, Santos and Cara) are hijacking fuel tankers in the Dominican Republic. Dominic begins to suspect the trail is too hot and leaves Letty behind in order to protect her from harm. Several weeks later, in Panama City, Dominic gets a call from Mia, who tells him that Letty has been murdered by Fenix Calderon (Laz Alonzo), after getting into a near fatal car accident. Dominic heads back to Los Angeles to examine Letty’s crash and finds traces of nitro-methane. He then goes to the only car mechanic that uses nitro-methane and coerces him into giving him the name David Park (Ron Yuan), the man who ordered the fuel.

Meanwhile, F.B.I. agent Brian O'Conner (Paul Walker) is trying to track down a drug dealer named Arturo Braga (John Ortiz). His search leads him to David Park. Dominic arrives at Park’s apartment first and hangs him out of the window by his ankles before letting go. Brian, who was also on his way to Park’s place, saves Park who now becomes the FBI’s new informant. Park gets Brian into a street race through Los Angeles. Brian selects a modified Nissan Skyline GT-T ER34 from the Impound Lot. Dominic also shows up to race in his modified 1970 Chevrolet Chevelle. Gisele Yashar (Gal Gadot), the liaison for Braga, reveals that the winner will become the last driver on a team that traffics heroin between the United States-Mexico border. Dominic wins by bumping Brian’s car, making him lose control. Brian uses his power as an FBI agent to arrest another driver, Dwight Mueller (Greg Cipes), and takes his place on the team.

The following day, the team meets one of the Braga’s men. They drive across the border using underground tunnels to avoid detection. Brian had prior knowledge that, after the heroin was delivered, Braga ordered the drivers to be killed. However it was revealed to Dominic from Fenix that he killed Letty and after a tense stand-off, Dominic detonates his car with nitrous to distract Braga’s men and Brian hijacks a Hummer with US$ 60 million worth of heroin. Both Dominic and Brian drive back to Los Angeles and hide the heroin in a police impound lot where Brian picks up a modified Subaru Impreza WRX STI. Later on, Dominic finds out Brian was the last person to contact Letty, which results in him being attacked by Dominic until he learns Letty was working undercover for Brian, tracking down Braga in exchange for clearing Dominic’s name. Brian tells his superiors that in exchange for Dominic’s pardon, he will lure Braga into a trap, forcing him to personally show up to exchange money for the heroin. At the drop site, however, Ramon Campos (Robert Miano), the man who claims to be “Braga”, is revealed as a decoy, and “Campos”, the real Braga, escapes and flees to Mexico.

Brian and Dominic travel to Mexico on their own to catch Braga. They find him at a church and apprehend him. As Braga’s henchmen come down to rescue their leader, Brian and Dominic drive through the underground tunnels back to the United States. When some of Braga’s men are killed, Brian crashes his car and is injured after being T-boned by Fenix at the end of the tunnel. Before Fenix can kill Brian, Dominic, who survived the explosion and exchanged his 1970 Dodge Charger with a 1973 Chevrolet Camaro, drives into and kills Fenix. As police and helicopters start streaming to the crash site on the USA side, Brian tells Dominic to leave, but Dominic refuses, saying he’s tired of running. Despite Brian’s request for clemency, the judge sentences Dominic to25 years to life. Dominic boards a prison bus that will take him to Lompoc penitentiary and as the bus drives down the road, Brian and Mia, along with Leo and Santos (who assisted in the Dominican Republic heists), arrive in their cars to intercept it.

It’s like somebody took the best parts of the last three movies, and put all together in this movie. Who is that guy again?

Oh this guy’s cool, what else has he done.

Wikipedia: The last movie you watched, and the next two movies in this series.

Nice! What’s his next project?

Huffington Post: He’s directing Bourne 5, with Jeremy Renner reprising his role as Aaron Cross from Bourne Legacy.

Eh, I wish Matt would come back, but I love Jeremy so I’ll give it a look. But now to the actual review! Did you people need the info I just presented you with? Not especially, but I love Bourne and this guy’s awesome so shut up!

PROS:

• The action is equally as awesome as, if not more awesome than, Tokyo Drift!
• The set up for the next movie and the reference to the last movie are enjoyable.
• Vin and Paul are just as great together as they were back in The Fast and The Furious.
• The opening sequence is some of most entertaining action in this film!
• We finally get to see Michelle Rodriguez do what she does best, be freaking awesome!
• At the end of the movie we get to see Mia behind the wheel of a car looking pretty darn boss in that driver’s seat and ready to kick butt, I like that!
• Han is in this movie. And Han’s awesome!

CONS:

• The villain is rather uninteresting when it’s revealed he IS the villain, I liked this guy more when I thought he was just the bad guy’s number two.
• This isn’t an issue with the film itself, but at the end of the final action sequence, we saw Paul Walker looking pretty bloody and bruised, and there’s a distinct feeling he may not make it through. On the one hand, this is a great strong point that film has made me care for this character, but on the other hand, it’s very unnerving to see an actor who recently passed away in such a violent way in this form. But the movie does not lose any actual points for this scene, it just made very uncomfortable.
• Gal Gadot’s character makes her debut in this film, and while I did like her as a one of character, I was left wanting more from her knowing she has been recently cast as Wonder Woman. This again a not a flaw within the film, I just felt kind of let down.

Unlike the last movie, I don’t need to give two overall ratings to this film, it kicks ass and is a pedal to the metal joy ride, so as another action flick and a Fast & Furious movie, I’m giving this an 9 out of 10!