Jackson Booth-Millard
The high octane franchise has been a mixed bag over the years, it doesn't look to be stopping any time soon, even with this sixth entry, which got low ratings by critics, directed by Justin Lin (The Fast and the Furious: Tokyo Drift, Fast & Furious 4 and 5, Star Trek Beyond). Basically in Brazil, following the successful Rio heist, Dominic "Dom" Toretto (Vin Diesel) and his professional criminal crew have fled around the world. Dom is living with new love interest Elena Neves (Elsa Pataky), a former police officer; Dom's friend, former FBI agent Brian O'Conner (Paul Walker), is with Dom's sister Mia (Jordana Brewster), and their son Jack; Gisele Yashar (Wonder Woman's Gal Gadot) and Han Seoul-Oh (Sung Kang) are living together; and Roman Pearce (Tyrese Gibson) and Tej Parker (Chris "Ludacris" Bridges) are living in luxury. Meanwhile DSS (Diplomatic Security Service) agents Luke Hobbs (Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson) and Riley Hicks (Gina Carano) are investigating a crew that have destroyed a Russian military convoy, led by former British SAS Major and special ops soldier Owen Shaw (Luke Evans). Hobbs wants Dom and his crew to help capture Shaw, Dom is initially uninterested, but then he is shown a photograph of his former lover, supposedly long-dead Leticia "Letty" Ortiz (Michelle Rodriguez) (the twist end after the credits of F&F5), Dom and his crew accept the mission, on the condition that they are all pardoned for their crimes. In London, England, Shaw's hideout is staked out, but it turns out to be a trap, distracting the team and the police, while he carries out an Interpol building heist. The hideout is detonated, disabling most of the police, Shaw manages to escape a pursuit, in an indestructible car, and when Letty arrives to to help Shaw, she sees Dom momentarily, before shooting him without hesitation. Back at headquarters, Hobbs explains that Shaw is stealing components to create a deadly device, intending to sell it to the highest bidder, Shaw meanwhile investigates opposing group, discovering Letty's relationship with Dom, but she is suffering from amnesia and has no memory of the past. Dom's crew learn that Shaw is connected to drug lord Arturo Braga, who was imprisoned by Brian, returning to Los Angeles, as a prisoner, Brian questions Braga, who says Letty survived the explosion that seemingly killed her, Shaw took her after discovering her amnesia, Brian is then released with the help of the FBI. Dom manages to reunite with Letty, he challenges her to a street racing competition, and returns her cross necklace he had kept, after she leaves, Dom refuses Shaw's offer of a chance to walk away, threatening his family if he does not. Tej tracks Shaw's next attack to a Spanish NATO base, his crew plan to assault a highway military convoy carrying a computer chip that will complete his deadly device. Dom's crew interferes, while Shaw, accompanied by Letty, commandeers a tank, destroying cars en route, Brian and Roman manage to flip the tank, Letty is thrown out, Dom risks his own life to save her. Shaw and his crew are captured, but it is revealed Mia has been kidnapped, and that Hobbs' partner Riley is a covert accomplice to Shaw, Hobbs is forced to release them, but Letty chooses to stay with Dom. Shaw's team and kidnapped Mia have boarded a large moving aircraft on a runway, Dom's crew gives chase; Dom, Letty and Brian board the craft, Brian rescues Mia, while the plane is tether to the rest of the team's vehicles to stop take-off. Gisele sacrifices herself to save Han, Letty kills Riley and gets to safety, Dom pursues Shaw and the computer chip, Shaw is thrown from the plane and seriously injured as it crashes into the ground, and Dom drives a car out of the exploding craft. Dom gives the chip to Hobbs, this secures the pardons for all the team, they all return to Los Angeles and their lives, Hobbs and Elena become partners, and she accepts that Dom loves Letty. In the post-credits sequence, Han is involved in a car crash in Tokyo, Japan, the driver (Jason Statham) walks away from the scene after leaving Letty's cross necklace at the scene, then calls Dom to say "You don't know me. You're about to.", before Han is killed when the car explodes. Also starring Clara Paget as Vegh, Kim Kold as Klaus, David Ajala as Ivory, Thure Lindhardt as Firuz and singer Rita Ora as Race Caller. Like most of the films in the series the storyline is not necessarily what you pay attention to, that is biggest problem with this one, it is not well executed, it is too much style over substance, the chases and explosions with cool cars are all fine, but there are preposterous things going on throughout (London with no traffic?), and the banter inbetween falls flat, it was a little boring, a fair but also disappointing action thriller. Okay!
Tweekums
After the events in the previous film Dom, Brian and the rest of the team have retired from their lives on the wrong side of the law. Then Hobbs comes round asking for help bringing down a gang who recently attacked a military convoy in Moscow and stole a component of a weapons system. He persuades Dom to take the job by showing him a picture of Letty, his presumed dead former girlfriend, who is now working for the gang lead by Owen Shaw, a former Major in the SAS. Dom, Brian and their team assemble in London, where Shaw's gang are now located. Here is becomes apparent that Letty is indeed alive but she has no memory of her life before the accident that everybody thought killed her. After a number of incidents in London the action moves to Spain where Shaw steals the final component in the system; the team will have to take some of their greatest risks yet if they are to stop him getting away with it.If you are looking for realism then this isn't the film for you but if you want great, almost non-stop, action then you could do a lot worse. Vin Diesel and Brian O'Conner continue to impress as Dom and Brian and it was a lot of fun having these characters work with, rather than against, Dwayne Johnson's Hobbs. It was great to see Michelle Rodriguez return as Letty; having her character suffer from amnesia may be a bit of a cliché but it works as a means of explaining why she never contacted Dom and justifies having her working for the bad guys. As one would expect there is lots of great over-the-top-action; this includes explosions, gunfights and the inevitable chases… one of which involves a tank! The film also goes back to its roots with a street race between Dom and Letty; they aren't trying to kill each other; just be the fastest round the course. Overall I'd recommend this to all fans of mindless action; it might not be realistic but the action is great and the whole film is a lot of fun.
