One of the unexpectedly successful movie franchises in recent years now veers towards James Bond and The Dark Knight territory in Fast and Furious 6. What used to be a series about car racing, now also includes gadgetry and some world domination minded villains thanks in part to the film before it, 2011's Fast Five, easily the best in the series which reignited the already fading movie franchise and became both a critical and a box office success - the highest grossing one so far.
After Five's Brazil, the gang led by Dominic Toretto (Vin Diesel) and Ryan O'Conner (Paul Walker) already lead luxurious lives and go around the world using the money they got from the previous film's villain, except in the US where all of them would be put behind bars. They are asked by their erstwhile adversary Federal Agent Luke Hobbs (Dwayne Johnson) to help track down a British mercenary (Luke Evans) who led a terrorist incident in Russia. How some stunt drivers were able to stop a madman is absolutely ridiculous in every sense in the world, but amazingly director Justin Lin and screenwriter Chris Morgan delivers the good in the sixth installment of the series.
Some of the favorites from the other films are also back such as Han (Sung Kang), Tej (Ludacris), Roman (Tyrese Gibson) and as fans of the series know, at the end of Fast Five, Letty (Michelle Rodriguez), whose character was killed in a previous film, amazingly comes back with a twist of her role. Haywire's Gina Carano is the newest member of the cast playing an agent alongside Hobbs.
London is a more subdued setting compared to the much colorful and sunnier Brazil in Fast Five, but there is a James Bond vibe into it. The climax in Spain is one action sequence well done but one would wonder how long is the runway when the crew tried to take down a cargo plane where the villains were. One must just suspend it's disbelief when you think about it.
Highly entertaining, Fast and Furious is a well made follow-up to the best film in the series, and after the end credits sets up a well-made epilogue featuring the newest member of the series, to the seventh installment of Universal Pictures money making franchise.
