Another-Day presents: Why We Love ‘Fast & Furious 6’ [Review]

So here we are, after almost a decade of gear-shifting genius and 6 – SIX!!! – Fast & Furious movies, each one with its own crazy flavour. The Another-Day team made the trip to the M-Net Movies premiere of Fast & Furious 6 a while back. It’s a franchise so close to our hearts we decided to do a special jam review to celebrate it. So prepare for Jordan, Nas and Dave to take on Fast 6.

Nas: I just have to start off by saying this one thing: do we all agree that Fast 6 was basically the greatest movie we’ve ever seen in our whole damn lives? Right from the word go, it was nothing but gearshifts and growling engines and I did not stop smiling for a minute after that. It is perfect from script all the way down to that final teaser scene for Fast 7 (yes, you read right).

Was it as life-changing for you as it was for me?

Dave: Here’s the thing about the Fast & Furious movies. They are the ultimate hybrids. They capture a niche in the sense that they’ve got all the good stuff that all the best action movies have – the over the top, mindless and absurd action stuff – but they have been going on so long that they’ve had a chance to develop real, living, breathing characters.

Generally, over the course of a 2-hour-long action packed movie, there’s little time for character development. Over the course of six movies, however, this series provides you with a real sense of these characters and how deep they really are.

Nas: Oh, I totally agree. I mean, a good action movie script will give you a reason to really throw your support behind a character. Stuff like Die Hard really put heart before violence, but most modern action flicks don’t do that. They just replicate set pieces and have guys blow each other away in increasingly stupid ways.

It’s more of a recent development with this franchise, but Fast 6 definitely sells the fact that you benefit from knowing the characters.

Jordan: This movie defies all odds. It should be shit but it never is. It actually thrives off its own stupidity. No other movie is this aware of what it’s doing.

Nas: You’re right. It’s probably one of the most self-aware movies I’ve ever seen. That’s why I keep praising the script to everyone. As a writer myself, this is exactly the kind of perfectly constructed narrative I’d want to produce in Hollywood. No joke.

Jordan: I love everything about it. EVERYTHING! From the terribly smart arse dialogue to the audacious character introductions and blown out action sequences. For a film series about car chases, I get far more excited about the character clashes.

Dave: I guess you could call this The Expendables but with the watchability of, say, your favourite episode of Game of Thrones. Just replace all the kingdoms with images of schweet cars and NOS.

Jordan: Sure, but that’s because you’ve got one of the best filmmakers around, Justin Lin, directing the shit out of his actors and absolutely commanding these action sequences. He ties it all together.

Nas: I’ve never watched Game of Thrones but I can sort of figure out that analogy. Still, I doubt anyone in House Stark or whatever gets to deliver as much wisdom as The Vin.

Dave: Speaking of Mr. Diesel, let’s take a look at the main cast. The three main boychies across the movies are Paul Walker, Vin Diesel and The Rock.

Nas: You deliver Dwayne Johnson’s name with so little fanfare it hurts me. It needs to be like this: “Paul Walker, Vin Diesel and Hollywood’s finest performer Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson”. Seriously. This guy is among my favourite actors in Hollywood right now. He knows exactly what he is and he runs with it. Or drives with it, I guess.

Dave: These okes are like the heroes of old. They’re like The Three Musketeers of street racing. They definitely will win the fight/the bints/the drag race/the drift/the day in the most explosive manner. Just don’t expect any Oscar nominations.

Nas: I disagree. I think The Rock could win an Oscar. If they gave people Oscars just for being fucking awesome.

Dave: Vin Diesel is probably one of the worst actors out there. Throughout this movie, and in fact in his whole film career, he just mumbles his way through sentence after sentence while emoting like R2D2 from Star Wars. But I guess that’s the charm in watching him?

Nas: Sort of. I mean, he can do smug quite well, as opposed to “tough”. And I rewatched the original The Fast and The Furious the other day and he definitely used to try a lot harder back then. There’s something to him.

Jordan: Guys, he’s my personal guilty pleasure. I love the dude. I mean, Find Me Guilty is fuckin fantastic. Don’t even get me started on how excited I am about the new Riddick. And in these movies, as team Captain Dom, Vinny delivers his growling one-liners with so much style it literally makes boys drip wet.

Dave: He does give off enough of an “I don’t give a fuck” attitude that he convinces you that, yeah, his speech is incomprehensible and his acting ability is on the level of a porn movie, but he’s Vin Fucking Diesel so whatever.

Then we get The Rock and yeah, he’s probably the ultimate typecast actor today in Hollywood. From his humble beginnings in WWF to his big debut in those B-grade Mummy movies and now this…

Jordan: To be honest, I feel like he hadn’t really delivered this year, but that all changed with this film. He’s so solid here. The scene with him and Tej (Ludacris), where they force the high class car dealer to strip, is hilarious!

Nas: I’ll admit, I was never that into wrestling as a kid. My cousins fucking devoured that shit so I heard about it a lot and knew all the catchphrases and suffered through the recreated wrestling moves. But if there was one wrestler I think worked wonders for keeping me engaged, it was probably Rock. He wasn’t just kicking the shit out of dudes, he was saying hilarious shit while doing it.

Dave: I get the feeling that, when he acts, the director just tells him to act like he did in whatever his previous movie was. But the thing about him is that, no matter what he’s doing, he totally makes you believe.

He’s like the David Copperfield of acting.

Nas: Exactly! While you’re too busy staring at that eyebrow or deciphering his street wisdom, you get distracted from the fact that his facial expression hasn’t changed in three scenes. At one point in this movie, I noticed a continuity error involving his goatee (because I am awful) but I actually couldn’t care less because he was saying something begrudgingly to Vin Diesel.

Dave: Dude, his special move in WWF was “The People’s Elbow”, which is probably the most implausible finishing move in the whole of the wrestling world. If he managed to convince crowds of people that he was badass in the wrestling world with a shocking move like that – WHILE ROCKING A SPEEDO! – imagine what he could do in Hollywood.

Nas: It’s because he’s a genius! And really, why would you not want to watch him AND Vin chew scenery together?

Dave: I think these two actors together are like the ultimate boy band: average as solo acts but together? They make pure mathematical sense. Two negatives = one HELL of a positive.

Nas: That’s possibly the best analogy you’ve used all day, Dave. But no boy band is complete without “the sensitive kid”. The one with highlights and blue eyes.

Jordan: You mean Uncle Paul Walker? He’s so good as the loving father of his and Jordana Brewster’s ever-changing baby.

Dave: Ever-changing?

Jordan: Yes! The four times you see the baby in the movie, he is always a different baby. It’s so fucken great.

Nas: And what’s great about these movies is that you know the director and production team knew about the “continuity error” and just went with it. Because this isn’t a movie about babies, it’s a movie about cars!

Dave: Hahaha! But back to Paul: He is the modern day Mark Hamill from Star Wars. Doomed to be remembered as that dude from a soon-to-be group of cult movies and nothing else.

Jordan: And yet he makes a great foil to Diesel’s Dom.

Dave: Sure. But Mark Hamill could act, had charm and was pretty impressionable. Everything that Paul Walker lacks.

Nas: I don’t know. I feel like he kind of got it right in this movie. They even gave him his own little stupid, complicated arc that calls back to the first movie. And I love that he always says “Back when I was a cop…” over and over, like he’s a 12-years-old kid on the playground telling his friends about his dad.

Dave: To sum it up, he’s kind of like the tampon who balances out the craziness of the two other boychies who are always on point.

Nas: I know we’ve sort of already said this, but I do find it hilarious how much love we develop for the actors/characters in these movies, when they really did start out as movies that are basically about cars and nothing else.

Dave: Over the series, I really think they got the cars right.

Nas: Dave, I always forget you’re actually a jock.

Dave: Seriously, they mix up some of my favourite Japanese cars like the Mitsubishi Evos, Subaru Imprezas and Nissan Skylines, but also find a nice balance with American muscle cars. Hell, in the latest movie I think they brought in even more class by including some classic pedigree.

Nas: Is that a thing for cars as well as dogs?

Dave: The main actors had some amazing machines from the old school. There was a Ford Escort, a Dodge Charger and even a Jensen Interceptor! These are any car lover’s wet dream.

Nas: This is like that scene in the movie where they talk car stats and The Rock has no idea what they’re talking about.

Dave: It didn’t stop there. They brought in a nice European modern influence by introducing Beemers and an Alfa Romeo, which is always good to see.

Jordan: Guys, I didn’t notice the cars. I was too busy dealing with my frightening attraction to Gina Carano.

Nas: Oh thank god! It wasn’t just me!

Jordan: She could kill me with her foot, but I would want to die by that foot. I don’t understand the extreme attraction I feel for her, but it’s great. She was so well cast as Michelle Rodriguez’s rival.

Nas: I’ve never really had a thing for tough women. They all give me flashbacks to that Jennifer Lopez movie Enough. But I feel you.

Jordan: In real life Carano would demolish Rodriguez, but because it’s Fast & Furious, you have this faint hope that she can kick some ass on her own.

Dave: The girls in all these movies have always been pretty fit. They really do take the male fantasy to the extreme. My favourite scenes are always when they go to the illegal events in the evening. This is when you see the most tricked up rides and the hottest looking women, always wearing basically nothing.

Nas: I think the highlight for me has always been watching Jordana Brewster learn to act in these things. Why am I even wasting my time with regular white girls?

Dave: The funny thing about this whole vibe is that, back when I used to go watch drag racing, it was NOTHING LIKE THE MOVIES. I mean, the cars I saw were ok, but the women were pretty mediocre if there were even any around. It kinda felt like when I used to go watch punk shows, where the only women around were dating the bands.

Nas: I’m sorry you had to put yourself through either of those situations, Dave. Any favourite scenes on your side, Jordan?

Jordan: Favourites? God, how can you pick, really? Honestly I think I enjoyed the character conversations way more than the action. I love the scene when they all rattle on about car stats. That scene always has to be there and it’s always so ridiculous.

Nas: It was basically what Dave just put us through with the car talk but times ten! And what’s great is how much you can tell they’re all hamming it up in that scene.

Jordan: The dialogue in this film brings tears to my eyes! Tears of joy! Some of the best lines are delivered by Tyrese and Ludacris.

Nas: Oh yeah! When Tyrese asks if he can get change for the vending machine!

Jordan: “You’re a millionaire and still asking for money?”

Nas: “That’s how you stay a millionaire.”

Jordan: That, my friends, is the tip of the iceberg. It only gets better from there,

Nas: That and all the dialogue emphasizing family. The constant reiterating of the movie’s themes over and over because, in case you missed it, these guys live by a code. That’s what makes it kick so much ass. So guys, any last thoughts on this thing before we wrap up?

Dave: What I loved about this movie is the sheer destruction that each scene involves. It’s like the ultimate balance: action scene with absolute mayhem, performed by the actors who remain so cool, calm and collected while defying all reality.

Nas: Yep. Physics applies to all the cars and the tech, but to none of the people. And from a writing standpoint, the fact that they managed to turn the most insanely over the top stunt in the whole movie (before the runway thing, I mean) – featuring a tank, a highway bridge over the ocean, and people leaping out of their cars – into a fucking character beat is genius! GENIUS! I love this movie so much! Can’t wait for the next one.

Jordan: Gaaahhh! I just came!