Analysis of The Fast and the Furious - Movie Review Example

Research Essay Movies have been produced with all kinds of themes and different techniques. Some producers have focused on historical aspects of life, others have centered on humor while others with the more improved thrillers of today, which incorporate extremely advanced technology (Abrams 23). The Fast and the Furious film series is no exception to leaving out technology in its scenes. The film, with six installments, is a terrific movie, which is recommended to anyone who would want to see out-of-this-world stunts performed by cars. The paper will focus on the latest installation of the film, Fast & Furious 6, and give a critical review of the acting. Fast & Furious 6 or Fast Six refers to a 2013 action film written and directed by Chris Morgan and Justin Lin respectively. It stars Vin Diesel, Dwayne Johnson, Paul Walker, Michelle Rodriguez, Tyrese Gibson, Jordana Brewster, Chris Bridges, Luke Evans, Sung Kang, John Ortiz and Gina Carano (Abrams 23). While watching this film, one can see that he actors have grown well into their specific roles over the years, developing into one of the most varied ensembles ever brought together for this type of production. Men and women fight in equal measure in the film, and the good men and women come in all sizes, shapes and colors (Gilchrist 6). There is even a romance between Gisele (an Israeli) and Sung Kang’s Han (a Korean), which, by main studio principles, is more exotic and interesting than Captain Kirk touching down with an alien. Regardless of who you are or how you live, there is someone in the film who you can identify with (Abrams 23). The film opens amid the beautiful vistas of Canary Islands, in Spain, where Brian O’Conner (Paul Walker), a former FBI agent-turned-fugitive, and Dominic Toretto (Vin Diesel), where the two were seen hanging up the keys to their cars at the end of the fifth installment of the film along with Dominic’s expectant sister, Mia (Jordana Brewster), and their personal shares of $100 million in the stolen Brazilian drug money (Horn 16). Following a short prologue wherein Mia gives birth, the scene shifts to Moscow, where FBI agent Hobbs investigates the damage from a brutal assault on a Russian armed forces convoy (Abrams 23). The perpetrator, Hobbs clarifies to his new partner, is Owen Shaw (Luke Evans), an international thief of mystery endeavoring put together a dirty bomb able to knock out a whole nation’s defense system (Gilchrist 6). Shaw does not plan to utilize the bomb himself, for which he requires just one more piece, but instead vend it to the highest bidder. Different from the modern fashion in movie villains, Shaw is not an rational, bin Laden-esque terrorist, but instead a stone-cold like capitalist — although, admittedly, it can be difficult to separate the two these days (Abrams 23). Every character in this film suits their role perfectly. Toretto and Hobbs, with their muscle-filled bodies, suit their protagonist roles. Both Toretto and Hobbs are tough people who perform the main physical fights of the film against the villains (Horn 16). Toretto is considered to be a family guy since he always works to improve the lives of his friends calling them family. He is also very protective as his avenged to anyone who threatened his sister Mia (Gilchrist 6). For instance, the final fight between him and Shaw seemed like a vengeance to Shaw for kidnapping Mia and putting her life in danger (Finke 4). Also, Toretto, unlike other bad people in most films, considered the safety of the public in his endeavors. He made sure that even though his stunts were harmful, they did not harm the public (Abrams 23). What Toretto did automatically translated to his crew; hence, the unit considered the safety of the public. Hobbs, unlike Toretto and his crew, was a lawful person. Furthermore, he was a law enforcement officer under the DSS unit (Schrader 13). At first, it seemed unrealistic for a police officer to ask the assistance of a criminal who was at the top of his most wanted list, but what we witnessed from the combination of the two was priceless (Abrams 23). Hobbs is a person who keeps his promise since Toretto’s unit was finally granted their pardons when they took down Shaw and his unit. O’Conner, in the film, appear to be the perfect associate of Toretto having worked his way out of the police force to gain the trust of Toretto (Gilchrist 6). The film did well to incorporate well-known television stars such as famous musicians like Ludacris, Tyrese and Rita Ora (Finke 4). A person just cannot get enough of the amazing combination of these people. The roles adapted by Ludacris and Tyrese are completely different from what they familiarized ourselves with about them. The two, commonly seen as “bad boys” or “gangstas” in the normal media, incorporate a lot of comedy in this film constantly making fun of each other. In addition, Ludacris, who acted as Tej, was seen to be a very down to earth person unlike what we witness in his music videos (Abrams 23). This is was absolutely amazing. Agent Hobbs’ pursuit of Toretto was unsuccessful as they managed to escape with the US$ 100 million to abroad nations (Horn 17). However, in the sixth installment of the film, Hobbs manages to locate Toretto in Canary Island where he conceived him to help him take down Shaw and Toretto’s team will be granted pardons to go back to the United States (Schrader 13). The film builds up on a lot of themes such fighting evil with evil, the importance of family, team work and the significance of having a home among others (Finke 5). With regards to fighting evil with evil, in the past installments of the film, Toretto and his crew were always the villains of the film. The notion of fighting evil with evil came to play in this film and Toretto managed to stop Shaw (Finke 5). Only a criminal mastermind would be able to capture Shaw since they reasoned in a similar way (Abrams 23). Also, throughout the film, we could see that it was all about family (Gilchrist 6). Toretto’s crew did all they could to protect one another and also fight for their own to reunite with them, Letty, while hoping that the government would not turn their backs on them once they helped them stop Shaw (Abrams 23). Toretto did not take threats towards his friends lightly and promised that whoever would hurt anyone of them would pay for it (Schrader 13). The setting of the film took place in Canary Island, Los Angeles, Glasgow and Tokyo (Gilchrist 6). Tokyo was the last setting of the film where the famous known action movie star, Jason Statham, claimed to be Shaw’s brother, appeared out of the blues and took down Han, a member of Toretto’s crew (Finke 6). The film ended with Statham ringing Toretto and telling him that he does not know him, but he is about to. This clearly shows that Jason will star as a villain in the seventh installment of the film to avenge the death of his brother against Toretto set to be released next year (Abrams 23). This film portrays their hard working working-class people of the society who worked their way to the top using illegal means (Finke 6). The good thing about it is that, while Toretto and his crew were the villains, they tried their best not to harm the public (Gilchrist 6). For the people who find these series as immature and unrealistic as ever, may be a bit amazed with what they observe in Fast & Furious 6 since it keeps the energy going at a fine pace, devoid of ever diving into melodramatic-theatrics, which do not matter (Horn 17). It is simply a fun ride from the beginning to end, and hardly ever does one lose interest, no matter how intelligent or unintelligent you are. Works Cited Abrams, Rachel. "Pain in Spain may hit Hollywood". Variety Reed Business Information 3.2 (2013): 23. Print. Finke, Nikki. “Fast 6”. Film Journal International 9.5 (2013): 3-6. Gilchrist, Todd. “Fast Six Director Justin Lin: I Already Have A 12-Minute Sequence Done”. Bright Lights Film Journal 45.2 (2012): 3. Print. Horn, John. “All About Big Movie Stars: The Fast and The Furious Series”. Las Vegas Review-Journal 2.6 (2013): 15-17. Print. Schrader, Chris. “Producer Neal Moritz on Fast Five, More Sequels, and the Fight Scene Between Vin Diesel and Dwayne Johnson”. Film Quarterly 23.6 (2013): 13. Read More