Pretty good for a summer cash magnet. Slightly lacking in a couple spots but above average action.

Rating: 7/10 (25 May 2015)

Despite FAF 6 being a largely money-based continuation of the saga, I felt like the filmmakers did a decent job. It's not an incredibly well done film, but it could have been much worse and still made a lot of money. It's certainly better than the Transformers sequels, where there is absolutely no attempt at making a high quality movie. If we're all completely honest, we can agree that the FAF series could probably be much smaller than it is. But this is Hollywood, and while a series keeps raking in the cash, it will thrive through an unlimited number of sequels and reboots. So even though a solid sixth installment wasn't needed to preserve the franchise, it seems like the producers took the film seriously and tried to give it decent quality. I have watched trailers of all of the first five and have a decent sense of what each is about, though I haven't seen the,. So I'm sorry if some of my pre-6 information is skewed, but I'm doing the best I can and hoping that my good intentions pay off.
There is a present plot, but it is primarily action driven. There are pieces of it that you might not understand fully the first time around, but I would advise that you don't stress about whatever you don't grasp because it really won't make the plot have any more meaning. Basically all of the little plot progressing scenes are just set ups for later action sequences. The only exception to this is the lead-in to the climax, which has a lot of emotional weight to it. Apart from that, any scene that progresses the plot and doesn't have a significant fight scene is of little importance. However, this only applies for the plot of the individual film. The characters' relationships that build on the previous films is something that you'll want to pay some attention to and maybe even get a little background on if you haven't seen some of the first five. For anyone without this background, just know that the team wants to bring back Letty to preserve their "family", and things should make a fair amount of sense to you. Also, watch the end of the 4th movie beforehand.
There are lots of prominent characters, and I'll just give each one a quick overview here. Dom has the spotlight most of the time, and has a mellow disposition when he's not in a high octane fight or car chase. Practically all of his lines have a lot of weight to them. Brian has no real arc, but has a consistent motive of trying to protect Mia and his newborn Jack while helping Dom. Hobbs drives the external story line as he hunts down the new villain Owen Shaw. He is very straight-faced and serious the entire movie, whether he's being casual, threatening, or a human war machine. Owen Shaw is a pretty good villain, and can deliver on his word whether on his own or through his disposable team. Letty has less depth since she has lost her memory, but she does provide a good plot engine for Dom. Hobbs' sidekick, Reily is probably one of the weaker characters, and really could have been left out except to provide a couple extra fight scenes. Tej and Roman provide most of the comic relief and aren't really important in the big scheme of things despite their ample screen time. They have decent chemistry since their basically polar opposites with Tej being the unsung hero and Roman being the loudmouth who can't back it up. Han and Giselle are given a side story and are both written well SPOILER ALERT though this could be accounted for by their separate deaths at the end. Lastly, Mia and Elena both get a little screen time all of which is important, but they are rarely a present force in the story on or off screen.
The action sequences are relatively long, with an average length of about ten minutes each. Much of it is hand to hand combat, but there are some more explosive fights as well. The fight scenes are kind of rough, but not at all bloody. The choreography is good, but there's nothing wowing about it. There are a couple of scenes featuring the obligatory fast cars, primarily a Dom and Letty street race. There is a lot of comic relief intermingled of about B- quality. Most of it's not gut busting (think more Marvel movies and James Bond than RED or Pirates). There's probably going to be one or two little jokes that you really like, but most of them are forgettable.
I might say that the acting talent was wasted here considering the all-star cast, but it wasn't really bad. The script was a little lacking at points The technical execution of the fight scenes was satisfactory with visual effects and shot cuts. The scenes with cars were well shot, and you pretty much knew what was going on the whole time, which you can't say for some action flicks. The soundtrack has a lot of the standard rap-hop music, but Brian Tyler's score really comes alive at the end with the plane.
Again, my knowledge is limited, but if you liked Fast Five, this should be enjoyable for you. If you're more into the street races aspect of the franchise, there is only one race scene. It's not amazing as an action movie, but it should be fine. You can watch it basically any time under most circumstances, but there are some parts where you might not want a lot of distracting background noise. I would recommend that you buy it right off if you're a fan of the series, but otherwise just rent for the best possible price. If you like this one at an above average level, definitely go see Furious Seven. Overall Rating: 8.35/10.