 Tagline: All roads lead to this. Vin Diesel and Dwayne Johnson reunite for this sixth instalment in the 'Fast and Furious' action thriller franchise, directed by Justin Lin. After their lucrative Rio heist, and unable to return home, Dom (Diesel) and the rest of his compatriots are forced to kill time lying low in different locations around the world. When DSS agent Hobbs offers Dom and his crew full pardons in return for taking down Owen Shaw (Luke Evans)'s gang of mercenary drivers, the offer seems too good to pass. But as the rivals head for a showdown on the streets of London, Dom learns that Shaw's second-in-command is none other than his presumed dead former lover, Letty (Michelle Rodriguez). Storyline: Since Dom (Diesel) and Brian's (Walker) Rio heist toppled a kingpin's empire and left their crew with $100 million, our heroes have scattered across the globe. But their inability to return home and living forever on the lam have left their lives incomplete. Meanwhile, Hobbs (Johnson) has been tracking an organization of lethally skilled mercenary drivers across 12 countries, whose mastermind (Evans) is aided by a ruthless second-in-command revealed to be the love Dom thought was dead, Letty (Rodriguez). The only way to stop the criminal outfit is to outmatch them at street level, so Hobbs asks Dom to assemble his elite team in London. Payment? Full pardons for all of them so they can return home and make their families whole again. Written by Universal Pictures Reviewer's Note: Reviewed by Kenneth Brown on December 2, 2013 -- Fast & Furious 6, the latest installment in the wildly popular Fast and the Furious franchise, arrives on Blu-ray on a far more somber and sobering note than its predecessors. Series star Paul Walker was killed this past weekend in a single-car accident that also claimed the life of the vehicle's driver, Always Evolving owner Roger Rodas. The actor was celebrating his 40th birthday at an event for his charity, Reach Out Worldwide, which has been working to raise funds for those impacted by Typhoon Haiyan. By all accounts, Walker was as kind and generous a man as he was passionate a car enthusiast, and while he and Rodas thankfully weren't participating in street racing of any kind, the bitter, bitter irony is that Walker died in life much like he will forever live on screen. Suddenly the Big Dumb Fun of his fifth Fast & Furious film isn't all that fun to watch. It's by no means a bad movie, mind you. If not for the tragedy, Furious 6 would easily stand as one of the more entertaining, over-the-top entries in the genre-shifting series, which has cleverly evolved from niche racing trilogy to full-blown action franchise. But audiences will have a decidedly different experience at home than they did when watching the film in theaters earlier this year. I've decided in lieu of a review, which strikes me as rather insensitive at the moment, that it would be more fitting to simply discuss the merits of the Blu-ray release and leave discussion about the movie to the forum. The only thing that seems more fitting today is the message Vin Diesel published over the weekend, which offers a sentiment most Fast & Furious fans will share: "Brother, I will miss you very much." Director Justin Lin and screenwriter Chris Morgan team up for their fourth series collaboration; a transcontinental caper that reunites fan-favorite stars from the blockbuster franchise's earlier films. Hobbs (Dwayne Johnson) has been tracking an organization of lethally skilled drivers, whose mastermind (Luke Evans) is aided by the love Dom (Vin Diesel) thought was dead, Letty (Michelle Rodriguez). The only way to stop the criminal mercenaries from stealing a top secret weapon is to outmatch them at street level, so Hobbs asks for the help of Dom and his elite team. Payment for the ultimate chase? Full pardons for each of them and a chance to make their families whole again. 'Fast & Furious 6' earned almost $800 million at the box office worldwide. It's impossible to watch Fast & Furious 6 without seeing it in a completely different light. It's always strange to watch a film after an actor has died, particularly in cases like this in which circumstances surrounding that death are similar to events depicted on screen. Still, Walker helped make the Fast & Furious franchise the success that it is. If Fast & Furious 7 is completed, and if the series survives to ride another day, it will be, in part, because of him and most certainly dedicated to his memory. How it's completed, how it will survive and, if so, how it will change is something fans will soon find themselves considering. For now, Universal's Blu-ray release is an excellent one, with a knockout AV presentation and a solid supplemental package. Franchise fans will be most pleased. [CSW] -2.8- I found the action scenes (which make up most of the movie) to actually be too fast and furious for me to follow. They cut from one person to another to a car to another car to a plane so fast that I don't know who's fighting who and if the good guy is wining or not. Most of the best action scenes are shot in the dark and it's hard to like those because it's impossible to see them well. The movie itself falls short of a sensible plot and far short of the previous film. The action is fine and stunts are the usual car crashes and street races, but some stunts just became so unbelievable that you either laugh at then or just lose your suspension of disbelief on many of them instead of being impressed. I think the movie is too long by 45 minutes. The story makes no sense and because the action scenes are so over the top this movie is relegated to a rainy Saturdays afternoon with nothing else to do or maybe it should be regarded as a once-is-enough movie. [V4.5-A5.0] MPEG-4 AVC - D-Box 10/10. Cast Notes: Vin Diesel (Dominic Toretto), Paul Walker (Brian O'Conner), Dwayne Johnson (Hobbs), Jordana Brewster (Mia), Michelle Rodriguez (Letty), Tyrese Gibson (Roman), Sung Kang (Han), Gal Gadot (Gisele), Ludacris (Tej [as Chris 'Ludacris' Bridges]), Luke Evans (Shaw), Elsa Pataky (Elena), Gina Carano (Riley), Clara Paget (Vegh), Kim Kold (Klaus), Johannes Taslim (Jah [as Joe Taslim]). IMDb Rating (09/20/13): 7.2/10 from 138,208 users IMDb Rating (06/01/13): 7.7/10 from 44,233 users IMDb Rating (05/28/13): 7.8/10 from 31,571 users
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