Fast And Furious 6 Review: One Hell of a Ride

Never in a million years did I ever think that the Fast and Furious movies would become one of my favorite film franchises. In the last few years, the series has gone from this story about street racing to a massively entertaining, ridiculous thrill ride that seems to just keep getting better and better. The last film in the franchise, 2011's Fast Five, gave the series a much needed overhaul, turning it into a heist series rather than a racing one. Now, Dominic Toretto and his crew are back in Fast and Furious 6.

The film picks up right where Fast Five left off, as Toretto (played once more by Vin Diesel) and his crew are living in luxury and in non extradition countries after their successful job in Rio. However, the team still remain wanted fugitives back home. Meanwhile, Diplomatic Security Service agent Luke Hobbs (Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson" is hunting down elusive criminal Owen Shaw and his crew, who have recently been going after major military convoys carrying vital material. This causes Hobbs to realize that in order to catch criminals, you need criminals. So Hobbs offers Dom and his crew the chance to be pardoned of all crimes in exchange for taking down Shaw. There's also another catch: Hobbs also reveals to Dom that his thought to be dead lover, Letty Ortiz (Michelle Rodriguez) is alive and working for Shaw.

Now as I said before, I never thought in a million years I would consider the Fast and Furious films to be one of my favorite franchises. And yet these movies keep consistently getting better. It's rare for a franchise to make it to a sixth installment and it's even MORE rare to have the sixth one be one kickass ride. I absolutely loved Fast Six (or Furious Six as the title on screen says).

 The acting, for the most part, was actually pretty good. I'm not saying these were world class Oscar caliber performances but for a Fast and Furious movie, these were pretty good. Vin Diesel and Paul Walker still have excellent chemistry together after all these years. It's amazing how much they see each other as family. And Walker gives O'Connor some interesting development this time around, making him remorseful for what he put Letty through. Michelle Rodriguez also does fairly well here, making Letty seem tough but at the same time vulnerable. She's just trying to figure out which side is the right one.  Dwayne Johnson, who has the biggest arms I think I've ever seen, still kicks a ton of ass here. He's just so enjoyable to watch. Plus it's really funny the way he says "sumabitch."

The rest of Dom's crew does fine as well, with the standouts being Tyrese Gibson and Ludacris. They have such good chemistry together plus they both deliver some of the funniest lines in the movie. As for the villains, I really liked Luke Evans as Owen Shaw. He was almost like the evil doppelganger of Toretto. Where Toretto cares about his family and will do anything to look out for them, Shaw believes anyone associated with him is expendable. It was really interesting to see these two ideals clash with one another.

I am amazed at how this franchise has gone from racing cars throughout L.A. to saving the world and preventing a world crisis using fast cars. Screenwriter Chris Morgan really has helped evolve this series, making it more action packed and personal than what it was in the past. The thing that really impressed me with this latest installment, his fourth Fast and Furious movie overall, is that Morgan somehow manages to connect all the past installments to this one and makes them all one giant connected story. If you do plan on watching this film, go back and watch the other films for a refresher course. It'll help.

But the big thing that most people love about these movies is the ridiculous over the top action. And by God does director Justin Lin not disappoint in this department. The action in this movie is just as crazy as last time, if not crazier. I mean there's a scene where a tank smashes and destroys everything and Toretto and his crew have to stop it. This scene alone shows the lofty ambitions that Lin has for his action scenes. He handles it swiftly, making it able to see what is going on in the scene itself. He also uses practical effects, something which you don't see much of anymore. Lin, to me, is one of the best action directors working today.

I will admit that you really REALLY have to suspend your disbelief at some of the action scenes, especially at the end. If you go in trying to incorporate logic in this film, then this is not your type of movie. At all. Also, while I like the message of family and looking out for them in the film, sometimes I felt it was shoved a bit too much at the audience.

But overall, Fast and Furious 6 is an absolute blast to watch. If you're looking for a hell of a good time with some friends, check it out.

Grade: B+

Star Trek Into Darkness: Summer Entertainment at its Finest (SPOILER FREE)

Greetings! It's been a long time since I put a review up on this blog of mine. Apologies for that, the last two months have been absolutely crazy what with school finishing for the summer and then finals week was last week for me so it's just been hectic. I have managed to see quite a few movies in the last couple of months, I just have not had the time to sit down and type up reviews on this blog.

But now it's summer and I plan on typing up more reviews now that I have a ton of free time on my hands. With that being said, let's begin today's review.

The summer movie season is once again upon us as we have had Iron Man joining the billion dollar club at the box office and F. Scott Fitzgerald's vision coming to life on the big screen (If I had to give both films grades right now, Iron Man would get an A- and Great Gatsby would get a B). But now, it's time to revisit Captain James T. Kirk and the rest of the crew of the U.S.S Starship Enterprise in Star Trek Into Darkness, the sequel to J.J. Abrams' 2009 reboot. The film reunites Abrams with the cast of the last movie, as Kirk (Chris Pine) and Spock (Zachary Quinto), along with Uhura (Zoe Saldana), Scotty (Simon Pegg), Bones (Karl Urban), Sulu (John Cho), and Chekov (Anton Yelchin), as well as the rest of the crew of the Enterprise go after John Harrison (Benedict Cumberbatch), a terrorist responsible for bombing London as well as attacking Starfleet. However, Kirk and his crew realize that not everything is what it seems.

Now I will say this right now: I am not what you call a "Trekkie." I was never a gigantic fan of Star Trek I was always more of a Star Wars guy. However, I loved the hell out of Abrams' 2009 reboot to someone who was not that big of a "Trek" fan, it was an excellent introduction to someone like me who wasn't a fan (since then I have seen the original show AND Next Generation AND the movies). So I was greatly curious to see what Abrams had planned for his second outing.

I'm just going to cut to the chase right now: I loved this movie. Loved loved loved loved this movie. To me, this is summer blockbuster entertainment at its finest.

The performances in this movie are fantastic all around. Chris Pine and Zachary Quinto are excellent together as Kirk and Spock respectively. They still show excellent chemistry together and you truly believe that the two could be life long friends. It was also nice to see Kirk's character evolve a little bit. There's still a bit of the cockiness from the first movie in there, but there's also a bit more maturity in there, with Kirk slowly becoming the leader he was meant to be. The rest of the supporting cast was great as well. Everyone seemed to be given more to do this time around, which was fantastic. The standouts to me were Pegg as Scotty, who is excellent in this role, Saldana as Uhura, whose relationship with Spock is explored a bit deeper this time around, and Urban, who captures the original Bones' mannerisms so well. It was also nice to see Peter Weller in a movie again

But the standout in this movie is Benedict Cumberbatch as John Harrison. I loved Cumberbatch on Sherlock (if you haven't seen Sherlock yet, stop reading this review and go watch it Go. It's amazing. I'll wait.....back? Let's continue). I was excited when Cumberbatch was announced to be the villain because he can pull off menacing and controlled, someone who has a plan and has to execute it by whatever means necessary. And my God, was he amazing in this role. Cumberbatch gives the best performance of the entire film. He is one of the best villains I've seen on screen in a while.

And that's all I can say on Cumberbatch's character because, as a wise person once said, spoilers....if you get that reference, give yourself 20 bonus points.

Another thing I thoroughly enjoyed is Abrams' direction in this movie. Yes there are tons and tons of lens flares in this movie but it's the way he handles the action is what fascinates me. He handles them so well and you can actually see what is going on. The action is also fantastic to watch, especially the final fight scene. Also, his creature designs and the way he shows us the planets are breathtaking. Abrams' next project is Star Wars Episode VII and I am greatly interested in what he has planned for that movie.

There were some things that annoyed me about the movie. For one. Dr. Carol Marcus (Alice Eve), I thought, was greatly underused. She seemed to have little to no pint being in this movie, other than eye candy...not that I'm complaining mind you but still I thought she could have been given a lot more to do. Also...yeah the amount of lens flares Abrams has does get a bit annoying at times.

But overall, Star Trek Into Darkness is an excellent movie. It is easily the best film of the summer so far and one of the best of the year in my opinion.  Abrams yet again creates another enjoyable fun ride that Trekkies and non Trekkies can both thoroughly enjoy.

Grade: A