Fast & Furious 6 (FILM REVIEW)
Fast & Furious 6
Film Review
by Kam Williams
Farfetched Sequel Features Cartoon Physics and Comic Relief Courtesy of Tyrese
It’s
important to note that this edition of Fast & Furious is every bit as funny
as it is adrenaline-fueled. Most of the laughs come courtesy of comic relief
provided by Tyrese, who is back in an expanded role as trash-talking Roman
Pearce, a card-carrying member of the fugitive gang of auto thieves led by
macho Dominic Toretto (Vin Diesel).
Like
a latter-day Stepin Fetchit, Roman revives a slew of offensive African-American
stereotypes, behaving in an alternately shallow, jive, flamboyant, lecherous,
felonious and cowardly manner, doing everything but put on a dress to make a
joke work. To Tyrese’s credit, the campy performance somehow works, either
because the character is so ingratiating, or because of the presence of several
respectable other blacks in the principal cast.
Whether
entertaining a bevy of scantily-clad beauties on his personal jet (with “It’s
Roman, bitches!” emblazoned on the fuselage) or making money literally rain out
of an ATM to the delight of a crowd of appreciative strangers picking the bills
up off the ground, the scene-stealing cynosure is always the center of
attention. Well, except during the action, chase and fight scenes when the
muscle cars and muscle heads take charge.
Other
than Tyrese’s, the acting is uniformly wooden and unconvincing. Not to worry,
this stunt driven-spectacular is all about the eye-popping special effects, and
boy does it deliver in terms of the wow factor!
The
plot of F&F 6 is little more than a lame excuse to pit an army of bad guys against
an army of worse guys, both as simplistically-drawn as tag teams of opposing professional
wrestlers. Here’s the storyline in 25 words or more. Dominic coaxes his cohorts
(Tyrese, Paul Walker, Ludacris, Sung Kang and Gal Gadot) out of retirement for one last adventure, after rumors
surface that his late-ex, Letty (Michelle Rodriguez), might miraculously still be
alive.
They
hatch a plan to rescue the damsel in distress who’s suffering from amnesia and currently
in the clutches of Owen Shaw (Luke Evans), a worthy adversary specializing in
vehicular warfare. His posse’s recent attack on a Russian
military convoy explains why Diplomatic
Security Service agent Hobbs
(Dwayne Johnson) is desperately seeking the assistance of Dominic’s crew.
They agree
on the condition that, should this mission succeed, they’ll be granted clemency
for the host of crimes committed in F&F episodes 1-5. Hobbs
okays the deal, and soon, a dogfight featuring fisticuffs, pyrotechnics and
plenty of cartoon physics unfolds all over London, involving not only souped-up autos
and state-of-the-art gadgetry, but a tank and a plane, to boot.
The epitome
of a summer blockbuster, complete with a post-credits set-up of F&F 7
(already slated to be released in July of 2014). Just remember to check your
brain at the box office, and you won’t be disappointed.
Excellent
(4 stars)
PG-13 for sexuality, profanity, mayhem, violence and intense
action
Running time: 130 minutes
Distributor: Universal
Pictures
To see a trailer for Fast & Furious 6,
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