Fast and Furious 6

This is a fair warning, this will contain spoilers (of all the movies). And probably turn into a rant of sorts.

So on Thursday, FF6 came out. Hubby was super excited because for reasons unbeknown to me he likes the movies. My guess is explosions and fast cars are every mans wet dream. I can openly admit that I love the first one. 

Vin Diesel (Dom) and Michelle Rodriguez (Letty) are like....perfection. I mean, I had to put up with Paul Walker (Brian) saying, "Bro" at least ten times but Vin made that all okay. The end was somewhat of a miss for me, on the good side it made me long for more, on the opposite side I was really upset that I had no idea what happened to Letty in the end.

2Fast2Furious was ehhh, it was something I totally could have skipped over and lived. I mean who really wants to watch Paul Walker win his good graces to get back into the police force? Not I. Ludacris (as Tej) was a great addition to the story line, because he was so funny. And there were a couple of lead girls that kind of filled in what Letty and Mia (Dom's sister played by Jordon Brewster) did in the first movie, but they weren't all that great and it just wasn't as enjoyable. Tyrese also makes his debut in this movie as Roman. Roman is Brians former best friend, but instead of going on the straight an narrow like Brian decided to continue his life of crime. Brian of course, negotiates with the police to miraculously free his friend so that he can help him bring down  Carter Veron (the resident bad guy in Miami).

FF3: Tokyo was probably the worst movie I have ever seen in my life. Not only was it totally irrelevant, in my opinion, but then they also kill Han (played by Sung Kang), who was the only person worth watching that movie for!  And I honestly wished that instead of incorporating it into the movies they would just skip over the whole of it. Like it never happened. Was a dream perhaps. 

Fast and Furious 4 is when, I think most of the realism flies out the window. In FF4 we get introduced to Gisele (played by Gal Gadot), who basically sets people up to be drug runners for a guy named Braga, who after delivering his load, kill them. The opening of this story infuriated me because Letty gets killed.  Dom basically comes back, no holds barr, to exact his revenge on whoever killed the love of his life. You also see Han in the opening of the move basically alluding to the fact that he was going to go to Tokyo (UGHHHH). We also get introduced to Tego and Rico, two new members that Letty and Dom have recruited to help them steal oil. Unbeknown to Vin, Letty actually volunteered to help Brian in exchange for Doms pardon. He later finds out, beats the crap out of Brian and pretty much goes rouge. In the end, they get Braga, and the guy - Phoenix - who killed Letty, all with the help of Gisele. This of course does not pardon Dom and he heads back to jail, this brings Brian and Mia closer, they bust him out of jail and the movie ends. 

For Fast 5 all realism goes out the window, but at least we get to see the whole crew together, right?! It just happens to be pure insanity. After Brian and Mia bust Dom out of jail, they all go on the lamb. They make their way to Brazil, where they hook up with, blast from the past, their old crew member Vince (played by Matt Schultze). He convinces them to do one last job. So off they go hopping on a train to steal some cars. Yes, you read that right. They hop on a train to steal some cars. Anyway, the plan goes hopelessly awry, and now not only are Dom, Letty and Brian running from the USA law (or in this case, a team that includes Dwayne Johnson that sent by the government to retrieve them) but now they are also running from the Brazilian Cartel. When they catch their breath, not only do they find out that Mia is not only pregnant with Brians baby but they also decide to pull together their old crew and steal money from Hernan Reyes. So in fly Gisele, Han, Tej (played by Ludarcris), Tego&Rico (played by Don Omar and Tego Calderon) and Roman (played by Tyrese). This is where all the fun begins, not to mention a new blooming romance between Han and Gisele that made me hold my breath, awww!

So, anyway. They have to figure out a way to break into a police building where Hernan keeps all of his millions and millions of dollars in paper money. Why would he do that? I don't know. It seems like he could have wired money to off shore banks, or hell, if he's as corrupt as they make him out to be he could have just kept the money in a bank. And so, the team goes under cover to see what it is like inside the building. They find out that apart from being inside a police building, his money is also kept in a super secret safe that only Hernans hand can open. Along the way there is a lot of bickering between Taj and Roman, who basically act like two school girls in love with each other. Rico and Tego also add a bit of character to this movie, as their non English speaking dialog happens to be quite funny. So as the team gets closer and closer to robbing Hernan, Luke Hobbs (played by The Rock) gets closer and closer to the team. As I mentioned before Hobbs is leader of a special unit that is essentially sent to catch bad guys and bring them back to the USA to face charges. Dom and the rest of the team realize they are being followed, and are eventually caught by Hobbs. This turns out to be in direct conflict with Hernan, who now wants the team dead because, as in the beginning of the movie, they stole something from him. In this case, it was a chip that was hidden in the car Mia stole that had all bank shipments schedules so they could be "hit." So because Hobbs getting his hands on Dom and Brian is in conflict, Hernan sends in a cleaner team that is to dispose of the whole lot. All of Hobbs team died (except for a young woman he has recruited while he was in Brazil - Elena), Vince was also caught in the cross fires and dies. Dom rescues Hobbs, and the plan goes on - but this time for revenge. Every one of the team thinks that they should run, Elena (One of Hobbs teammembers) advises him to run while he has the chance. But in true Dom fashion, he simply tells them that they are free to make their own choices but he will not go down without a fight. Its surprising when Hobbs offers to ride with Dom. Of course, he makes it clear its only until they kill "that son of a bitch." So, while Doms plan is to take Hernan for all he's got, Hobbs is just looking to take down the man who killed his team. Well, as it happens, the rest of the team follow Doms lead and this is where all the real crazy begins. They storm the police building with a huge armored truck, they get the safe - which they drag through the streets of Rio behind their cars, while the whole police team is following them. Lost of property damage ensues. Final show down happens on the bridge, when Dom breaks away from Brian and tries to get Hernan to follow him while he now, alone, drags the safe behind him. Hernan ultimately dies, and Brian saves Dom from being shot by one of Hernans henchmen. Hobbs shows up, and tells Dom to leave the safe behind and that he's willing to give Dom a head start. Dom abruptly turns around gets in the car, and drives off. Leaving Hobbs and Elena the safe. We find out why right away. Dom and Brian switched out the real safe with a fake one. Doms team has actually gotten away with the money. *start playing Danza Kuduro here* We find that Dom has left quite a bit of cash for the late Vince's son, Nico and his mother. We see that Rico and Tego have gone to Monaco to gamble away their money in casions, Roman and Tej are living it up in some unknown location bragging about their cars and trying to out do each other in every way possible. Tej owns a garage, and Roman is doing god knows what. Gisele and Han are headed towards Berlin to start their lives together. At one point Gisele asks if Han wants to go to Tokyo (UGHHHHHH) and he simply replies, "We'll get there. Eventually." Of course leaving room for more movies to come without him being dead. And to quite all of the people asking "How is Han still alive, I thought he died in the first one, dur dur dur" Brian and Mia are also living in some undisclosed location on the beach, its assumed that Dom lives either close to them or with them, as he is over at their house. And who but Elena is with Dom. Through out the movie they had a blossoming romance, and it looks like the end of this movie was just the tip of the budding romance. Now for the mind fuck. After the credits, we see Hobbs sitting in an office. An agent, the same agent that Brian rescued in the second movie hands Hobbs a file that he might find interesting. Hobbs flatly tells her that unless its Toretto he is not interested. She asks if he believes in ghosts, this catches Hobbs attention and he opens the file.....and we see exactly what she means. Letty is alive. 

So, in fast 6 we start off with Dom and Brian racing to a hospital because Brian has now become a father. Mia, Brian, Dom and Elena are essentially living in a happily ever after land in the Canary Islands in Spain (is that where they were located before?). Their whole life is now behind them. 
Hobbs is now on the hunt for a new team of villains who are stealing weapons from the government. The team has a very close similarities to Doms team. But we later find out that it is a team that Letty is running with run by Owen Shaw (played by Luke Evans). They are very dangerous and Owens does not care about loss of life that may come from whatever he is trying to get.  Hobbs comes to see Dom, Elena automatically informs him Spain has no extradition laws and he cannot take Dom, but Hobbs is just there to recruit Dom. This is where Dom finds out that Letty is indeed alive. Elena does what most other women would not, she tells Dom that he has to go, because if she found out her husband was alive, she would be gone in a heartbeat. Dom tells Hobbs that he wants to go in alone to get Letty, but Hobbs has other plans. And so we see what the team has been up to. Roman is set in his millionaire ways, jetting off to places in a personal plane full of girls, Taj is in some spanish speaking country literally giving his money away, Han and Gisele are in some Asian country talking about settling down and starting something "real." (awwwww!) Brian and Mia are living out in the country side of Spain raising their baby. And so the team assembles with one simple phone call.

Dom has a sit down with Brian to talk about the possibility of Letty still being alive, Brian, being a former cop, doesn't want to buy it. He thinks that Hobbs is just messing with his head, in a attempt to get him arrested. Basically the whole conversation leads up to Dom telling Brian that now that he has a family, he can't go on this "mission." Mia steps in and tells Dom that they are better together, and its easies her mind when they are out together because they have each others backs. (so much for leaving that life behind, right?) This movie centers a lot about what family means to Dom. We see it a lot in the other FF films, family plays a crucial role in all of the movies. His whole crew is his family. They also talk about "home" and how even if they are all still together, something is missing. When the team meets Hobbs they set conditions for them helping him. The whole team getting pardons is one stipulation (which, is weird because they are all wanted internationally). Hobbs agrees. The team goes after Shaw in the very first few scenes, they all get their asses handed to them when racing. Much of the team is left in mangles after their cars flip over, or crash. Dom chases down Letty (who ends up shooting him!) and we find out that Letty has lost her memory. That Phoenix, did not shoot her as it seemed in FF4, instead he shot her car which blew up causing her to fly back, and memory loss. Owen found her and recruited her for his crew. Letty is surprised that someone knows her, and when Ownes crew dig up information on the people that almost caught them, they find that Letty used to ride with them. This leads to some tension in the group, because they are not sure the extent of Letty's memory loss. Roman, Gisele, Agent Riley (Hobbs recruit) and Han all follow a trail to a car maker that helped Shaw build their cars. Gisele and Riley offer to talk to the guy, and eventually get into a shoot out because the guy calls Shaw for back up and Letty along with two other guys show up. Lots of fighting ensues, Shaw looses a team member, and Letty is concerned when Shaw shows no remorse towards the situation. She is obviously distraught because she see how Dom treats his team and she sees the difference with Shaw. Shaw tries to warm up to Letty, I use that word loosely because this guy is clearly a sociopath, and can't really feel anything. Letty goes out to "get some air," and goes racing. This is where Dom heads to as well, knowing that Letty would be there (although not knowing that she has lost her memory). They race each other, and you can still feel that spark between them when they pull over to talk after Dom beats her in the race. 

Shaw confronts Dom and tells him that he's giving one chance to get away unharmed, Dom basically says that when Letty walks away, he walks away. Hobbs is there to back up Dom when Shaw makes an attempt on his life. All the while, after the shoot out Gisele was in we learned that Braga is involved with Shaw, so Brian heads off to the USA (risking arrest) to find out exactly what Braga knows about Shaw. He returns with information about Letty losing her memory and that Shaw plays on precision and he would not be found unless he wants to be. The team get wind of where Shaw is set to hit next, but figure out that it is actually a diversion and Shaw plans to hit the convoy with the secret cargo. The team assembles to hit Shaw when he attacks. Little do they know the cargo that is being carried is actually a tank. The team isn't really equipped for this, and end up doing what they do best - improvise. Shaw ultimately risks Letty's life by throwing her off the tank and Dom saves her be crashing his car and launching his body into air to counter Letty's fall. This is the part in the movie my husband threw up his hands and said, "C'ome on!" As if this was the most unrealistic thing in the movie to happen so far.   Han and Gisele decide to reevaluate their status, and Gisele suggests that they really settle down - in Tokyo (UGGGGGH!). Hobbs catches Shaw, and just when we think that movie is over - BAM! Shaw lets Dom know that he should have walked away, because they have got Mia and are holding her hostage. Hobbs agrees to let Shaw walk, but as soon as he's out the door the pardons go with him. Part of the next plot twist we find out Riley is actually a part of Shaws team and she and Shaw head off together, its now up to the original team to fix their mistakes. The few final scenes take place on a landing strip, Shaw is about to get away on a plane, lots of fighting follows. Mia gets rescued and is put in the drivers seat while Dom and Brian fight their way on the plane with Shaw and his henchmen. The other drivers struggle to keep the plane on the ground, by shooting the flap in the plane and making it too heavy to take off. Gisele ends up giving up her life to save Han (NOOOOOOOO!) but they get the bad guy. Tears flow when the rest of the team realizes that Gisele didn't make it. Hobbs then asks what it will take to repay Dom. He simply says: 1327.
And with that we see exactly what he means. We are back in Dom's neighborhood, at the house having a BBQ. 

They've all got their pardons, and are back to doing what they are best at doing: Being a family (how cheesy). Sadly, this is when they also revile to us that the time for Tokyo has come around. While talking Taj and Roman ask if Han is really thinking about going to Tokyo, Han replies and says that its something that he has to do. We leave off the team sitting around the table, saying grace and eating food.

After the ending credits we also get to see where Fast and Furious 7 will pick up (its out July 2014). We pick up a bit more than half way in Tokyo Drift, Han is being chased by police, another car flips him over and while he is trapped inside the car we see a man walking over to it, throwing dog tags into the wreckage and then lighting a lighter and tossing it in the car which causes it to explode. The man pulls out the cell phone and makes a call. We find out that the man is Ian Shaw (played by Jason Statham), Owen Shaws brother. We end the movie with, "Dominic Toretto, you don't know me, but you will." 

How far this franchise will go is a mystery to me, they seem to be popping them out like M&M's. I can only hold on to hope that Han is actually still alive and pulled a Letty by faking his death. The loss of Gisele was pretty bad though. All in all the movie was pretty much what I expected it to be. So I had a good time, Jeeze, I wrote a novel.