Fast & Furious 6 (2013)

1 1/2 Stars (out of 4)

Carring Partners

By Jeffrey M. Anderson

Whatever burst of energy, or bit of luck director Justin Lin had on his last movie, Fast Five, is now past. Fast Five was the first genuinely good movie in this series, inserting the old characters into a suspenseful new heist story with amazing set pieces. But now, with Fast & Furious 6, things have gone back to normal, which is to say, awfully dumb.

The gang is all retired now that Brian (Paul Walker) and Mia (Jordana Brewster) have a new baby. But Agent Luke Hobbs (Dwayne Johnson) tracks down Dom Toretto (Vin Diesel) with some startling news: his girlfriend Letty (Michelle Rodriguez), who had been presumed dead, is very much alive. She's now working for international bad guy Shaw (Luke Evans), whom Hobbs is trying to catch. So Hobbs, Dom, and the rest of Dom's old team (including Sung Kang, Tyrese Gibson, Chris 'Ludacris' Bridges, and Mirtha Michelle) join forces to bring down the villain, and hopefully bring Letty home.

Where to start? The testosterone-fueled dialogue and behavior makes little sense. If you begin asking questions about what anyone is doing in this story, it just falls apart. For example, why does Brian travel all the way from London to Los Angeles to break into prison to obtain information that he already knows that doesn't help? In addition, the imaginative action from the last movie is gone, replaced by the usual jerky footage that seems designed more to cheat logic than to thrill. (There is one amazing rescue scene, however.) Even the performances seem forced and clunky, especially by poor Gina Carano, who had a strong director guiding her in Haywire, but doesn't get the same consideration here.

This series could have gone out with a bang with Fast Five, but now Fast & Furious 6 is a whimper.