This one goes straight back to the garage!

Rating: 6/10 (9 April 2015)

There is a very nice send off to Paul towards the end of the movie that does leave you with a heavy heart when you walk out of the theater. Apart from that well, there is nothing much that leaves the theater with you. They have missed the mark completely with this one.
Of course there is a lot of action, some bone jarring fist fights and some furious car chases thrown in, but is that enough? A wafer thin plot, with extremely weak characterization and uncalled for emotional quotient reached new lows with this one. Yes, Jason Statham has a strong presence in the film, but we never get to know his thoughts as he does not say a meaningful sentence even once in the film. Given the impressive way Statham is brought in in most of the frames, his fall is unreal. Remember how Vanko goes down in Iron Man 2 after all that mayhem he creates? Dwayne has a good (and pretty much last) sequence towards the beginning of the film and Kurt Russell also gets to show his meat for the next Expendable movie but all in all, the plot completely rests on Diesel's shoulders with others having 'here-I-am' and 'here-I-am-not' frames. Also, only when I came out of the theater, I realized that there was Tokyo Drift cast also thrown in in-between for some reason only the director, James Wan can tell.
Dialogues are as cliché as they could get and I really missed the groovy soundtrack that this franchise has been synonymous with.
Now, coming to the USP of the film: Action. Most of it is very well done, but lacks the whole purpose to it, well in most cases. Take for example Diesel and Statham's 'I run my car over yours but I don't know why' sequence every time they meet. They might be real stunts and a lot of effort would have gone into their execution, but did I miss a point here? The long sequence of getting hold of one of the key characters in the film is well done, slightly over the top with the air drop and seen- that-before car chase but manages to keep you hooked onto the screen. I think the franchise nailed this in Fast 5 with a jaw dropping opening sequence and a super cool vault-hooked-to-the-car heist.
The movie is relatively better in the first half, but then sinks towards the second. As diesel puts it – "This time it ain't just about being fast", the movie has only half the soul of what this franchise is known for.
Watch it once though, watch it for Paul, one last ride!