Brash, noisy, silly...and quite entertaining

Rating: 6/10 (20 January 2016)

FAST & FURIOUS 6 is a step up from its predecessor, FAST FIVE, which had the genius idea of adding Dwayne Johnson to the cast, but otherwise was a bit too soulless and flashy for its own good. Despite the lengthy running time, this one knuckles down straight away with a thriller-focused storyline in which Toretto and his team and allies travel to London to take down a master criminal by the name of Shaw. The hook is that the once-thought-dead Michelle Rodriguez is now working for Shaw's team.
Inevitably, the plotting of FAST & FURIOUS 6 doesn't make a whole lot of sense, and instead it's all about the action. If you like seeing fast cars tearing up the streets of the British capital, then this is the film for you. You can easily play a drinking game and down a shot every time a London double decker bus appears in a shot; you'll be passed out by the time the credits roll.
This film is brash, noisy, and quite exciting. It still suffers from being exceptionally cheesy during some of the really big action scenes, like the bits with the tank and the plane, but overall it holds together pretty well and offers basic entertainment value, which is what this series is all about anyway. The established stars of the franchise like Vin Diesel and Paul Walker are rather muted and subdued here, content to let newcomers like Luke Evans, Gina Carano, and a returning Johnson garner all of the attention, and I was pleased to see more minor roles for cult favourites like Clare Paget (BLACK SAILS) and Joe Taslim (THE RAID). FAST & FURIOUS 6 isn't a perfect film by any means, but it achieves what it aims to do and with one hell of a teaser during the end credits I can't wait to see the next one.