{"id":7349,"date":"2013-12-18T13:35:59","date_gmt":"2013-12-18T18:35:59","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/kqek.com\/mobile\/?p=7349"},"modified":"2016-01-07T13:40:27","modified_gmt":"2016-01-07T18:40:27","slug":"br-fast-furious-6-furious-6-2013","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/kqek.com\/mobile\/?p=7349","title":{"rendered":"BR: Fast &#038; Furious 6 \/ Furious 6 (2013)"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><a style=\"line-height: 1.5em;\" href=\"http:\/\/kqek.com\/mobile\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/12\/FastFurious6_BR.gif\"><img loading=\"lazy\" class=\"alignleft size-full wp-image-7352\" title=\"FastFurious6_BR\" alt=\"\" src=\"http:\/\/kqek.com\/mobile\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/12\/FastFurious6_BR.gif\" width=\"120\" height=\"150\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p>Film: Good<\/p>\n<p>BR Transfer: Excellent<\/p>\n<p>BR Extras: Excellent<\/p>\n<p>Label: Universal<\/p>\n<p>Region: All<\/p>\n<p>Released: December 10, 2013<\/p>\n<p>Genre: Action<\/p>\n<p>Synopsis: Dom reunites his team of merry drivers for another assignment with Agent Hobbs, this time to &#8216;rescue&#8217; former flame Liddy from a life of malevolent crime.<\/p>\n<p>Special Features: Audio Commentary by director Juston Lin \/ Making-of featurettes \/ 3 Deleted Scenes \/ Teaser Trailer for F&amp;F7 \/ Also includes DVD and Ultraviolet editions.<\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #ffffff;\">\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #ffffff;\">\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p>Review:<\/p>\n<p>From a narrative stance, Justin Lin\u2019s third return to the franchise is a weaker effort largely because Chris Morgan\u2019s script reverts back to the perfunctory dialogue of F&amp;F4, and director Justin Lin pushes the characters into even deeper cartoon renditions with the actors playing their silliest moments with full gravitas. The effect isn\u2019t awful scenes, but a high plain of the ridiculous and the silly, and a sense Lin has lost his grasp of what made F&amp;F5 so strong \u2013 humour, action, and lean story that doesn\u2019t turn characters into leaping cartoon caricatures extrapolated from video games.<\/p>\n<p>It\u2019s a strange collection of problems, because Lin mandates the use of practical effects \u2013 a tank chase is <em>almost<\/em> perfect \u2013 and has his camera move like a roving high performance vehicle without the de rigeur attention-deficit, shakycam editing that made otherwise stellar chase scenes in <strong><a href=\"http:\/\/kqek.com\/mobile\/?p=6743\">A Good Day to Die Hard 5<\/a> <\/strong>(2013), <strong><a href=\"http:\/\/www.kqek.com\/dvd_reviews\/p2r\/3435_QuantumOfSolace.htm\">The Quantum of Solace<\/a><\/strong> (2008), and <strong>The Bourne Supremacy<\/strong> (2004) the worst on film due to awful editing and incoherent cinematography.<\/p>\n<p>Morgan also relies on the charismatic cast to play off each other with their own quips, reducing his role to a construction architect instead of an all-encompassing screenwriter; he may know his characters, having written entries 4 thru 6, but he doesn\u2019t bring in enough small moments to balance the absurd with a <em>little<\/em> grounding realism.<\/p>\n<p>The F&amp;F franchise is inherently silly \u2013 macho behaviour transposed to both genders with chest-thumping threats, arrogant glances, teasing quips, and outrageous car stunts \u2013 but its core characters are inherently likeable, and that\u2019s perhaps the key to its success because each actor is well cast and exploited for their screen charisma and smooth fitting inside a high performance car.<\/p>\n<p>That likeability is also what makes the return of familiar and once-dead characters more than tolerable, but it\u2019s fair to say Lin and Morgan jumped a few too many sharks in F&amp;F6 by having Liddy (Michelle Rodriguez) return <em>with amnesia<\/em> \u2013 the age-old conceit used by screenwriters, TV writers, and daytime soap writers to extend characters and their respective series when they\u2019re nearing the end of their natural existence (until a reboot).<\/p>\n<p>The basic story of Hobbs (Dwayne Johnson) and new partner Riley (ass-kicking Gina Carano) luring Dom (Vin Diesel) and his team back into action to extract amnesiac Liddy from a life of cold crime and save the world from a doomsday-style weapon capable of knocking out sovereign defense systems is pure cartoon, and to an extent the story works with plenty of chases and easy resolutions, but where F&amp;F6 goes bad is having characters leap from moving vehicles through air, land with precision, do their job like game characters, and emerge with maybe a bloodless welt. It\u2019s where Lin went too far, and transforms uniquely skilled characters from bleakly ordinary backgrounds into rubber avatars in a kind of personalized video game.<\/p>\n<p>The high point of silliness happens twice. Dom leaps from a moving car as Liddy flies above a freeway, collides into and grabs her, and lands on a car roof. Their punctuating dialogue? \u201cHow did you know we\u2019d land on a car hood?\u201d \u201cI didn\u2019t.\u201d And it\u2019s over and done with. Lin\u2019s heavy use of practical effects are neutered by this singular act of supreme dumbness, but it\u2019s a taste of the film\u2019s insane finale involving a giant Russian plane, roving cars, and what appears to be the world\u2019s longest runway, built somewhere in Spain.<\/p>\n<p>With too many characters onscreen, he\u2019s stuck figuring out what each mini-team of good guys and bad guys must do, but rather than dispatch them off in carnage-heavy deaths, they largely survive, and what emerges onscreen is a <strong>Flintstones<\/strong> ride where the background [the runway] keeps moving until the central action is done.<\/p>\n<p>Only when the plane is fully immolated does the sequence wind down, and as fun as the hand-to-hand combat sequences may be, the film literally creates its own time-space-continuum until everyone is off the damn plane. It is an incredible thing to watch \u2013 a director so in love with mini-combat mobiles and determined to show he can maintain continuity in each of them \u2013 but it\u2019s just plain crazy, overblown, indulgent, and likely the knife which cut the fan base into lovers of the new absurd created by Lin and Morgan, or haters of how the franchise regressed into something narratively dumb, albeit elegantly produced.<\/p>\n<p>It\u2019s hard not to be taken in by Lin\u2019s fluid directorial style &#8211; his editing is rooted in classical montage \u2013 especially when he manages to make fast cuts coherent, and celebrate the fetishistic love of the car by celebrating the sounds and images of gear shifting and pedal-flattening, spinning tires and the beauty of vehicles in motion \u2013 but there was no need to transform what\u2019s likely his last stab at the franchise into a <strong>Flintstones<\/strong> moment.<\/p>\n<p>Within the F&amp;F franchise, #6 is not as lazy and CGI-reliant as #2; it\u2019s less silly that the goofy but fun #3; it has better CGI effects that #4 (although a few early scenes \u2013 a Cliffside race + helicopters flying into London &#8211; are terrible); and the film carries on the theme of Family Matters with the huge cast from #5 plus a few amusing cameos from other installments, but #6 is maybe the third or fourth best entry. In the hands of a hack director with no sense of story or love of the characters spanning three prior films, F&amp;F6 would\u2019ve been a dud, so while it\u2019s a relief Lin\u2019s F&amp;F swan song isn\u2019t awful, it\u2019s not very good, which makes the disappointment for fans sting badly.<\/p>\n<p>Universal\u2019s Blu-ray sports a gorgeous transfer, and a DTS track that fills the soundscape with plenty of effects and Lucas Vidal\u2019s decent score (itself maintaining instrumental continuity with Brian Tyler\u2019s prior entries directed by Lin).<\/p>\n<p>Viewers can watch the theatrical and longer cuts, and extras include a director commentary track, a standard batch of making-of featurettes and 3 brief (and unnecessary) deleted scenes. The teaser trailer ties directly to the cliffhanger scene embedded in the early section of the End Credits in which a supporting character is killed by a vengeful figure (Jason Statham), and perhaps herein lies the film\u2019s unexpected attraction \u2013 being the next-to-last completed film of co-star Paul Walker, who died in an explosive car crash November 30, 2013, midway into filming F&amp;F7. (His final film, the Luc Besson scripted <strong>Brick Mansions<\/strong>, is slated for release in 2014.)<\/p>\n<p>Not unlike <strong>The Crow<\/strong> (1994) where star Brandon Lee died before the production\u2019s end, Walker\u2019s scenes in car crashes are a little unsettling to watch (especially one where the car becomes airborne after smacking into the villain\u2019s Batman-like combat racer), and the teaser trailer has Walker at the funeral of the murdered character, with actor Tyrese Gibson saying \u201cNo more funerals\u201d \u2013 an ironic line as Gibson himself went to the crash site that killed Walker, bearing a remembrance bouquet.<\/p>\n<p>Universal\u2019s BR and its ad campaign were obviously mastered and designed prior to Walker\u2019s death, and the <a href=\"http:\/\/kqek.com\/mobile\/?p=7349\">in-production sequel<\/a> will require some major modifications in order to complete the film. While not his finest film by any means, F&amp;F6 manages to work because of his charisma in playing an infallible, likeable guy taunted and often drawn to conflicts because of loyalty, family, and a need to make right \u2013 not deep material, but certainly noble.<\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #ffffff;\">\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #ffffff;\">\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p>\u00a9 2013 Mark R. Hasan<\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #ffffff;\">\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><em>External References<\/em>:<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/www.imdb.com\/title\/tt1905041\/combined\">IMDB <\/a>&#8212; <a href=\"http:\/\/www.soundtrackcollector.com\/catalog\/soundtrackdetail.php?movieid=101089\">Soundtrack Album<\/a> &#8212; <a href=\"http:\/\/www.soundtrackcollector.com\/composer\/10009\/Lucas+Vidal\">Composer Filmography<\/a><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #ffffff;\">.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><em>Vendor Search Links:<\/em><\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/www.amazon.ca\/b?_encoding=UTF8&amp;site-redirect=&amp;node=917972&amp;tag=kqco-20&amp;linkCode=ur2&amp;camp=15121&amp;creative=330641\" target=\"_blank\">Amazon.ca<\/a><img loading=\"lazy\" style=\"border: none !important; margin: 0px !important;\" alt=\"\" src=\"http:\/\/www.assoc-amazon.ca\/e\/ir?t=kqco-20&amp;l=ur2&amp;o=15\" width=\"1\" height=\"1\" border=\"0\" \/> <img loading=\"lazy\" style=\"border: none !important; margin: 0px !important;\" alt=\"\" src=\"https:\/\/www.assoc-amazon.ca\/e\/ir?t=kqco-20&amp;l=ur2&amp;o=15\" width=\"1\" height=\"1\" border=\"0\" \/> <span class=\"style8\">&#8212;<\/span> <a href=\"http:\/\/www.amazon.com\/b?_encoding=UTF8&amp;site-redirect=&amp;node=130&amp;tag=kqco06-20&amp;linkCode=ur2&amp;camp=1789&amp;creative=9325\" target=\"_blank\">Amazon.com<\/a><img loading=\"lazy\" style=\"border: none !important; margin: 0px !important;\" alt=\"\" src=\"http:\/\/www.assoc-amazon.com\/e\/ir?t=kqco06-20&amp;l=ur2&amp;o=1\" width=\"1\" height=\"1\" border=\"0\" \/> <img loading=\"lazy\" style=\"border: none !important; margin: 0px !important;\" alt=\"\" src=\"https:\/\/www.assoc-amazon.com\/e\/ir?t=kqco06-20&amp;l=ur2&amp;o=1\" width=\"1\" height=\"1\" border=\"0\" \/> <span class=\"style8\">&#8212;<\/span> <a href=\"http:\/\/www.amazon.co.uk\/b?_encoding=UTF8&amp;site-redirect=&amp;node=283926&amp;tag=kqco-21&amp;linkCode=ur2&amp;camp=1634&amp;creative=6738\" target=\"_blank\">Amazon.co.uk<\/a><img loading=\"lazy\" style=\"border: none !important; margin: 0px !important;\" alt=\"\" src=\"http:\/\/www.assoc-amazon.co.uk\/e\/ir?t=kqco-21&amp;l=ur2&amp;o=2\" width=\"1\" height=\"1\" border=\"0\" \/> <img loading=\"lazy\" style=\"border: none !important; margin: 0px !important;\" alt=\"\" src=\"https:\/\/www.assoc-amazon.co.uk\/e\/ir?t=kqco-21&amp;l=ur2&amp;o=2\" width=\"1\" height=\"1\" border=\"0\" \/>&#8212;<a href=\"http:\/\/click.linksynergy.com\/fs-bin\/click?id=zOBnygngHb8&amp;offerid=162397.10000013&amp;type=3&amp;subid=0\" target=\"new\">New movie releases on iTunes<\/a><img loading=\"lazy\" alt=\"\" src=\"http:\/\/ad.linksynergy.com\/fs-bin\/show?id=zOBnygngHb8&amp;bids=162397.10000013&amp;type=3&amp;subid=0\" width=\"1\" height=\"1\" border=\"0\" \/><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Film: Good BR Transfer: Excellent BR Extras: Excellent Label: Universal Region: All Released: December 10, 2013 Genre: Action Synopsis: Dom reunites his team of merry drivers for another assignment with Agent Hobbs, this time to &#8216;rescue&#8217; former flame Liddy from a life of malevolent crime. Special Features: Audio Commentary by director Juston Lin \/ Making-of [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"spay_email":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_is_tweetstorm":false},"categories":[18],"tags":[2384,2387,2385,2386],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p8nuyW-1Ux","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/kqek.com\/mobile\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7349"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/kqek.com\/mobile\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/kqek.com\/mobile\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kqek.com\/mobile\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kqek.com\/mobile\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=7349"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/kqek.com\/mobile\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7349\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":12936,"href":"https:\/\/kqek.com\/mobile\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7349\/revisions\/12936"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/kqek.com\/mobile\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=7349"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kqek.com\/mobile\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=7349"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kqek.com\/mobile\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=7349"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}