"Fast Lane" Has Been Stuck in My Head Since April: A Review of "Fast & Furious 6"

*This review may contain spoilers. No major plot points are revealed, but you’ve been warned.

The first thing we heard walking out of the movie theater was the revving of an engine. A silver, sporty looking car whizzed past us, cut around a corner, and disappeared. A little further down the street, the same thing happened again, but with red car this time, and a hint of squealing tires as it pulled away from a stop sign.

If I had to guess, I feel as though it would be safe to assume these drivers had just come out of Fast & Furious 6 as well, and by the looks of things, may have been hell bent on ignoring the warning at the end of the film, essentially advising audience members to not run out and try to drive like Dom.

I was only introduced to this series of films in the last six months or so, much to the shock and dismay of several of my friends. This dastardly behavior was quickly rectified however, and I found myself genuinely looking forward to the release of the latest installment.

And it didn’t disappoint.

Now, I’ve seen other reviewers criticize the film for its writing, which, if I take a step back, I understand. There is cheesy, loose dialogue that often has the feel of just being there to break up the action sequences.  The thing is, even as a person who often prefers strong plot development and cringes a little away from cheesiness, it didn’t matter with this film. The appeal of the Fast and the Furious franchise isn’t strong, dense dialogue and plot development. I would go as far to say as well that it’s not really even about the half naked women hanging around the cars or the muscles and relative sexiness of the likes of Vin Diesel and Paul Walker.

Fast & Furious 6, the franchise in general, is about the cars. Now, you might be thinking “Thank you, Captain Obvious,” which is fair, but it seems to do be about the cars, and driving, in a way that bears mentioning. The franchise has moved from dabbling in the culture of street racing, to focusing more on the aspect of “the heist,” to now dealing more with facing off against a big, bad villain. The consistency remaining is the cars, and the bonds the characters establish with their cars, and each other (which yes, is where some of the cheese factor comes in to play). Forget the explosions, forget the bad guy, and forget the kick-ass fight scenes - Fast & Furious 6 will be watched and appreciated for the moments behind the wheel, and will, like its predecessors, excite the viewer into a vehicular frenzy of recklessness and adrenaline…that, short of any stunt drivers in the audience, hopefully won’t be mistaken for actual skill behind the wheel.

Fast & Furious 6 is a little more serious, a little more action-sequence packed, even a little darker in tone, in my opinion, than the previous films. Personally, I don’t think it quite surpasses Fast 5, but it certainly left me wanting more. And left me very much with the urge anyway to get in my car (or better yet, into that red ’69 Dodge Daytona) and get into some trouble…that could be out-driven, of course.