Fast & Furious 6 - Movie Review

 

 Starring

 Vin Diesel as Dominic Toretto
Paul Walker as Brian O'Conner
Dwayne Johnson as Luke Hobbs
Michelle Rodriguez as Letty Ortiz
Sung Kang as Han Seoul-Oh:
Luke Evans as Owen Shaw:

Directed by     Justin Lin
Produced by  Neal H. Moritz, Vin Diesel, Clayton Townsend
Written by     Chris Morgan
Based on Characters by Gary Scott Thompson
Music by     Lucas Vidal

Cinematography     Stephen F. Windon
Editing by  Christian Wagner, Kelly Matsumoto

Studio  Original Film, One Race Films
Distributed by  Universal Pictures
Release date   May 23, 2013
Running time     130 minutes

Budget     $160 million

 

The film continues from where Fast 5 left off. Hobbs comes to meet Dom, this time not to arrest him but seeking his help in nabbing an international criminal & former Special Forces operative Owen Shaw. Dom who was reluctant at first agrees to the mission when presented with a photo of Letty who was supposedly killed in FF4 [End credits scene in FF5 revealed us that she is alive]. So Dom with his team joins Hobbs in a mission to take down Shaw and know the mystery surrounding Letty and bring he back.

Fast 5 was the best ever movie in the franchise, Fast 6 even though couldn't top that, still is a very much enjoyable fast paced entertainer. Cars, race and high speed chases are the identities of the franchise and the director didn't disappoint us, gave us everything in plenty, but at the cost of logic & sensibility. The Tank scene, initial chase and Jet Plane scene in the climax are the highlights. Kudos to stunt directors and VFX team even though they beat laws of physics many a time.  The script is racy, technical department did a commendable job.

The film offers nothing new. Rock as an antagonist added much to Fast 5 which is missing here. Everything else remains same. Forced humor sadly went overboard & fells flat. Drama scenes seemed bit stretched.

The franchise is moving on like 'SAW' which had 7 parts, each one similar  to one another but with some twist linked to old movies to keep the fan boys interested. Similarly this one also has an end credits scene which ties up the franchise finally to 'Tokyo drift' which was kinda stand alone movie till now. TFTF, 2F2F, FF, FF5, FF6, FFTD, FF7 that's the order in terms of the story line. so FF4-FF6 were prequels to Tokyo Drift. Hope the 7th one will be last one. With that being said the 7th part will be directed by Director of SAW and the film will come out next year in July.And from the credits its sure gonna be awesome and may end up the best one in the franchise and also a possible finale.

Like one character says in the movie - Fast 6 is a Vehicular Warfare !!!

Rating: 3.25/5

Box Office: Smash HIT

Verdict: Leave your brain at home and enjoy this Mass Masala Hollywood Blockbuster  !!!!

NB: Even though Rock might not be a part of the FF7, Jason Statahm fans can rejoice, gear up and very much look forward to its release :wink:

G.I. Joe 2: Retaliation - Movie Review

Directed by     Jon M. Chu
Produced by     Lorenzo di Bonaventura
Brian Goldner
Written by     Rhett Reese
Paul Wernick
Based on     G.I. Joe
by Hasbro

Starring     

Bruce Willis
Dwayne 'The Rock' Johnson
D.J. Cotrona
Lee Byung-hun
Adrianne Palicki
Ray Park
Jonathan Pryce
Ray Stevenson
Channing Tatum

Music by     Henry Jackman
Cinematography     Stephen Windon
Editing by     Roger Barton
Jim May
Studio     Skydance Productions
di Bonaventura Pictures
Hasbro
Distributed by     Paramount Pictures
Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer
Release date(s)   

    March 28, 2013

Running time     110 minutesCountry     United States
Language     English
Budget     $135 million

G I Joe Rise of the cobra was a very good pop-corn entertainer with some cool visuals, action and VFX, its sequel to follows the same path, but ends up inferior to the predecessor.

The story continues from the first part. The imposter President of USA frames GI Joes of stealing Nuclear war heads frpm Pakistan and orders military strike on them from which only 3 Joes escape, Roadblock (Dwayne Johnson), Flint (D.J. Cotrona) and Lady Jaye (Adrianne Palicki). Meanwhile the cobra commander escapes from high security prison and along with the imposter President is once again planning to take over the world. Will the GI Joes be proved innocent, how will they save the world etc form the rest of the film.

There are no twists or turns in the films its from start to end a straightforward action flick. The film was supposed to release a year back, but with just one week to go the studio pushed the release date to convert the film to 3D. Now I think that move was just to earn some quick bucks before WOM kicks in and spoils the expenditure recovery.

The film as I said earlier is not upto the prequel. The only jaw dropping moment was the destruction of city of London. Everything else was much predictable. But still its a very much watchable flick. But don't try for 3D as I don't think there is much in it for 3D. 

Much of the film was promoted via WWE, the main reason for The Rock's extended comeback to wrestling. But unfortunately he gets limited scope to show his mettle, his fans will be disappointed. Bruce Willis's cameo gets more claps than Rock. 

Direction was OK. VFX in London scene i mentioned above was superb. BG, camera was good. 

Overall its a above average entertainer, Watch it if you have nothing else to do.

Rating: 2.75/5

Box Office: Will recover cost from world wide run, Domestic US BO run will be poor or average.