The Great Gatsby (2013) Directed by Baz Luhrmann. Starring: Vin Diesel, Paul Walker, & Dwayne Johnson. IMDB says: “Agent Luke Hobbs enlists Dominic Toretto and his team to bring down former Special Ops soldier Owen Shaw, leader of a unit specializing in vehicular warfare.”
My track record with the Fast & Furious movies is a spotty one. The original I saw when I was too young to really care, the second one is one of the worst movies I’ve ever watched, the third was fun I guess (cause drifting? Twinkie?), and I never saw the fourth because at that point I knew the movies were bunk. When Fast Five released one of my good friends talked me into going because he said it would be dumb fun. I had to agree it was kind of fun, but I tended to lean more dumb than most others were trending. My expectations going into Fast & Furious 6 was to get something equivalent to the last. By most measures it was about the same, but managed to be even more unbelievable than the fifth installment.
I suppose I have my limitations for the amount of ridiculous shit I can stand. Pulling a massive safe through the streets of Rio wasn’t it. In the sixth, the tank rolling over a hundred cars on a bridge wasn’t the limit. But the following finale set piece with a high speed chase of a cargo airplane down a runway that must have been 30 miles may have been it. I was a bit overwhelmed with the craziness I was seeing at that moment. Luckily for the movie, there was enough good stuff before it to not have me completely worn out from the whole affair.
The set up for this film is that FBI Agent Hobbs (Johnson) pulls Dom (Diesel) and Brian (Walker) out of hiding after the events of the last movie to help arrest a group of very dangerous criminals who also specialize in street racing. The perfect incentive is that one of this crew’s members happens to be Letty (Rodriguez), Dom’s true love who was thought to be killed. Of course the Fast & Furious dudes have to go to try to get her back if there’s a chance. This dangerous group is lead by Owen Shawn (Luke Evans), and his plan could essentially wipe out a country if implemented.
The movie from the start has action set piece after set piece. Car chases mix with explosions mix with hand to hand combat and shootouts. It’s actually a lot of fun and unrelenting in its pacing. The movie does an alright job with its little bit of humor (as will happen when most of it is relying on Tyrese) and a weaker job with its drama (Diesel and Rodriguez can’t carry an emotional beat worth shit). Adding Gina Carano to the mix as Hobb’s partner made the proceedings even better with her combat scenes.
There’s so much entertainment here that I can see why this franchise is still thriving. Just because it’s maxing out with the fun doesn’t mean it’s a great movie though. Justin Lin does a great job directing action once again but the acting is still so awfully bad. But what the movie lacks in finesse it makes up in crowd pleasing moments. You just really, really (I cannot say this enough) have to overlook logic and common sense to enjoy these movies.
