Fast & Furious 6 (2013)

Rating: 5/10 (8 November 2019)

Directed by Justin Lin. Starring Vin Diesel, Paul Walker, Michelle Rodriguez, Dwayne Johnson, Luke Evans, Tyrese Gibson, Sung Kang, Chris "Ludacris" Bridges, Gal Gadot, Gina Carano, Jordana Brewster, Shea Whigham, Elsa Pataky, John Ortiz, Joe Taslim. (PG-13)
Using the thinnest strands of logic possible, Johnson recruits Diesel, Walker, and crew into carrying out a dangerous mission to take down a merc outfit led by former SAS officer Evans; Diesel also discovers that his girlfriend (Rodriguez) is still alive, despite being killed off in "Fast & Furious" (which was the fourth one in the series, so they say). Perhaps the dumbest outing yet (who's keeping track?) but also perhaps the most fried-brain-cell entertaining just for taking place in a parallel dimension where motivation, physics, logistics, and coherence are outlawed under penalty of death--or vehicular repossession, which would be a worse fate for these gearheads. The action is, as one would expect, even more outrageously insane than ever before, throwing in a smashed car tethered to a tank as it rolls down the highway and an out-and-out assault on a quadjet as it barrels down the world's longest runway. Dialogue is thuddingly awful (and sometimes barely even intelligible), performances marginally competent at best, blah blah blah, who cares; it's all about testosterone, adrenaline, shiny cars, flexed muscles, and impossible stunts. Hard to call any of this nonsense "exciting" (certainly not "pulse-pounding"), but there's cheesy fun to be had, even if one is a little ashamed about it afterward. Title onscreen is (inexplicably) just "Furious 6."
51/100