Susan Granger’s review of “Fast & Furious 6” (Universal Pictures)
Confession: everything I know about street car racing I’ve learned from this action-packed franchise, a concept that director Justin Lin credits to synchronicity. Many years ago on Saturday night, three NBC-TV shows – “The Golden Girls,” “Empty Nest” and “Nurses” – all dealt with hurricanes. The way those dissimilar plotlines interconnected so impressed Lin and screenwriter Chris Morgan that they’ve patterned the mythology of these street-smart, multi-cultural characters in the same way.
Set in Europe, this installment concludes the second trilogy, connecting back to the first, marking the return of Letty Ortiz (Michelle Rodriguez), love interest of rebellious Dominic Toretto (Vin Diesel). It’s confusing since Letty supposedly died. But don’t let that bother you as much as it troubles Dom. Although she has amnesia, Letty’s alive and kicking, working for British ex-Special Ops mercenary Owen Shaw (Luke Evans) and taking on Riley (mixed-martial arts fighter Gina Carano), sidekick of DSS Agent Luke Hobbs (Dwayne ‘The Rock’ Johnson). Hobbs offers full pardons to Dom and his gang (including Paul Walker, Jordana Brewster, Tyrese Gibson, Ludacris) if they’ll help him bring Letty in, retrieve high-tech weaponry and take down Shaw. It’s formulaic plotting.
Focusing on cars, Toretto drives a 2012 Dodge Challenger SRT8, as well as a 2012 Dodge Charger SRT8, powered by a stock 6.4-liter HEMI V-8 engine, and a vintage 1969 Dodge Daytona. One chase sequence involves a Jeep, an Alfa Romeo Giulietta and a huge Russian Antonov cargo jet hurtling down a runway, as cars careen, catapult, clatter and crash – in massive vehicular carnage. Another has a superfast tank bursting out from inside a large truck. The threat here is a long, low-slung ramp car designed to get underneath other cars and flip them over. There’s no 3D, no IMAX, just old-fashioned stunt work (credit coordinator Dennis McCarthy), embellished with CG visual effects and a turbo-charged sound system.
On the Granger Movie Gauge of 1 to 10, “Fast & Furious 6” is an outrageous, high-octane 7, concluding with a Tokyo-set teaser for the next sequel in July, 2014.
