Cast: Vin Diesel, Paul Walker, Dwayne Johnson, Michelle Rodriquez, Jordana Brewster, Tyrese Gibson, Chris Bridges, Sung Kan, Luke Evans, Gina Carano, John Ortiz ; Director: Justin Lin; Screenplay: Cris Morgan; Producer: Neal H. Moritz, Vin Diesel, Clayton Townsend; Running Time: 130 minutes; Genre: Action; Location: USA
Technical
assessment: 3.5
Moral assessment:
2
MTRCB
rating: PG 13
CINEMA rating: V
18
Fugitives and
ex-convicts Dominic Toretto (Vin Diesel) and Brian O’Conner (Paul Walker) are
still in the hiding somewhere in Mexico after their last gig in Rio when Agent
Hobbs (Dwayne Johnson) suddenly appears and offers them a deal. He wants
Toretto to assemble his crew and help him take down Eman Shaw (Luke Evans), an
elite mercenary involved in dangerous weapons, in exchange for their amnesty.
Toretto is at first hesitant, but immediately changes his mind when Hobbs spills
one interesting information—Toretto’s girlfriend, Letty (Michelle Rodriguez),
who is presumed dead, is alive and working with Shaw. So Torreto’s quest for the truth begins—why
is Letty working with Shaw? Torreto
suspects his girlfriend needs his rescue before it’s too late.
Fast and Furious 6 is a spectacle at its best. It defies gravity and reality without
spoiling the audience’s suspension of disbelief. This latest film of the series from an unexpected blockbuster
franchise remains to be faithful to the core of its genre. It does not let its fans down with its
action and chase sequences where cars crash and seemingly race to eternity.
Although absurd, there lies its charm—absurdity in its funniest. In fact, the
story just remains in the background. On the foreground of the film are really
the action set pieces, the jaw-dropping stunts and the never-ending chases on
the highway and this time, on the airport runway. The original cast of characters, along with their original
charm, is still intact and the audience sees them grow and evolve series after
series without alienating those who have not religiously followed the previous
installments. Towards the end, the audience gets the hint that the Fast and Furious franchise is not done
yet, and there goes the excitement once again.
There
is no denying that Fast and Furious 6 is
a film that celebrates violence and embraces danger as a way of life. With
that, the film in its entirety is undoubtedly disturbing. It disturbs the
senses as it challenges the limits and endurance of the human physique. The
story fights evil with evil, only that the protagonists are portrayed as lesser
evils. It pampers and glorifies criminals like modern-day heroes without much
regard to the damages they do with public spaces. With all these, the center of
the story still revolves around love and family relationships. Love that
transcends memory, guilt, and even death. Torreto risks his life to save Letty from danger and death—and
that’s what love is, Fast and Furious style.
O’Conner will give up anything for
his family—and that’s all that really matters in this tormented fast and
furious world. At the end of the
film, they all thank God for their lives, for delivering them from danger, and
for fast cars. But then again, all these are just incidental to the action set
pieces, car crashes, fight sequences, and dangerous stunts. It’s still a dark
world where only the toughest survive and where strongmen kill for love. The moral aspect of this movie is too
much to chew on for young audiences—why expose them to such confusion?
