Fast & Furious 6 (Revisited)

It's hard to tell if the Fast & Furious team intended Fast Five to be a send off or something akin to a hard reboot. On the one hand the movie ends with everyone living a happy and seemingly peaceful existence. On the other hand, the after credits sequence indicating Michelle Rodriguez's Letty is still alive is only something you keep in when you're certain a sequel is in the works. Regardless, I'm thankful Fast Five did well because we got to continue the gonzo action series in this team vs. team battle movie Fast & Furious 6.

After sailing away with millions in the last film, Dominic Toretto and his former crew are living the high life, admittedly far away from home. That is until they're approach by Agent Hobbes who comes to the team with a deal: help me take down a car crew much like your own and get your criminal records expunged. Taking Hobbes' bait the crew sets its sights on Owen Shaw and his dangerous gang, which just so happens to include one of their own: Letty.

Much like its predecessor, Fast & Furious 6 is a very silly affair full of absurd action scenes, melodramatic heart to hearts, and its well-defined cast of characters. So what makes this movie stand-out versus the rest? Let's find out.

A Fleshed Out Team From the Start

As fun as the opening act of Fast Five was, the second half of the film felt like an entirely different movie as characters from the series were reintroduced and joined Dom and Brian for the heist. This time around the gang is back together from the get go including Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson's Hobbes and Gina Carano. We also start to care a little more about these characters as Gisele and Han's romantic relationship moves forward, Brian's family unit comes under attack, and Dom tries time and again to bring Letty into the fold. This also enhances the script's decision to make their enemy a cloned soulless version of the Furious crew.

It's Funnier

While the movie is still melodramatic, aka played overly serious rather than naturalistic, this movie also features a lot more banter and jokier moments usually from Tyrese, Ludacris, or The Rock. This movie also dips into a slightly self-aware attitude towards the series big set pieces with characters frequently commenting on the ridiculousness of what has to happen. It's something Mission Impossible series has recently embraced as well and I'm all for it. It's a nice nod to the audience that says "Yeah we know this is silly...but you know you want to watch it."

Expertly Staged and Layered Action Scenes

Fast Five has a flurry of great action beats, but Fast & Furious 6 does something the best action movies do: it presents layers for these scenes. Here's what I mean. In a standard action you'll have one conflict. This person fights this person or everyone's chasing this person. Layered action scenes follow multiple points of interests or conflicts happening at the same time. For instance, while Letty and Gina Carano's Riley throw down in a female fight for the ages, Gisele is embroiled in a shootout, and Han and Tej try to take out Shaw's best martial arts fighter. It's a great method for long consistently engaging scenes that is perfectly epitomized by the runway finale (no matter how impossibly long the runway is).

With its new identity firmly in place, Fast & Furious 6 delivers tons of action with unexpected humor and character depth. Tomorrow Shaw's brother looks for revenge in Furious 7!