Fast & Furious 6 (2013), PG-13, 3 stars

Paul Walker as Brian and Vin Diesel as Dom.

Hey, I am fine with another Fast and Furious movie after the success of Fast Five, which I thought was the best movie of the franchise (and still is as far as I am concerned). But, as the filmmakers continue on with the series, they are really focused more on the characters and their plans to take someone down than the street racing and lack of physics. They are basically presenting the movies as fun entertainment and not physics and logic. With this movie, the series continues on to become entertaining and better.

Following the successful Rio heist, Dominic Toretto (Vin Diesel) is living with Elena (Elsa Pataky) somewhere in Rio, while Brian and Mia (Paul Walker and Jordana Brewster) are living happily with their newborn son in a house in Rio. But, Agent Hobbs (Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson) tracks down Dominic to take down Owen Shaw (Luke Evans), who was a British Special Forces soldier who destroyed a Russian military convoy. Hobbs persuades Dominic successfully to track him down by showing a recent photography of Letty (Michelle Rodriguez), Dom's former girlfriend whom he believed was dead from the fourth movie. After that meeting, he gets about every crew member back: Roman, Tej, Han and Gisele (Tyrese Gibson, Chris Bridges, Sung Kang, and Gal Gadot).

They all travel to London to track down one of Shaw's henchman at the crew's headquarters where Dom's crew and Hobbs and his partner, Agent Riley Hicks (Gina Carano) fall into the trap because Shaw's crew was actually doing the heist somewhere else. So, Dom's crew follow Shaw's crew in a street car chase where they outnumber Brian and the rest of the crew. However, Dom was hit by another random car while pursuing Shaw himself. The person is Letty and she shoots him on the shoulder and the chase was over.

So, basically each crew is getting background checks from each other, but Shaw discovers that Letty was in a relationship with Dom. Unfortunately, she cannot confess to him that she was because she now is suffering amnesia. Basically, Dom and his crew have to do everything they can to get Shaw because he has a very powerful device that can shut down the power in a region which is worth millions of dollars. It is not going to be easy and the journey will be full of surprises.

Michelle Rodriguez as Letty.

This is basically one of the more fun movies of 2013 because I never got bored by the characters and all the adrenaline in the action and racing sequences. Even, the romantic chemistry between Dom and Letty seems to come back in the sixth movie as Dom tries to remind Letty about some things, terms and memories. I think the racing scene between him and Letty and the scene following that with them just talking are the best scenes in the movie. I mean, every actor has a great time in their roles as the audience is having a great time, too.

This movie is packed with so much action and joy that everybody should be bound to enjoy these movies. I mean, who knew that the franchise would extend to 6 movies, soon, 7 movies? I kind of get why many people enjoy the franchise in the global perspective. The car chase scenes seem so realistic and basically, the crew travels around the world and it is racially diverse as they cooperate with each other solving problems and getting along with each other. Even though the movie was predictable and at times, silly, it is a fine addition to the franchise solidifying the continuation of the success and the Fast and Furious franchise. Watch for a post-credits scene.

On a somber note, it is going to be really sad watching the next movie because of the unfortunate and tragic death of Paul Walker. I mean, he and Vin Diesel really formed a connection who really had chemistry with each other by taking care of business and having fun with other characters. According to sources, Universal said that they are going to still make the next movie. However, it will not be the same without him.

***