Fast And Furious 6

Thank you god for ensuring that my weekend was not completely ruined.  Thank you god for creating a director like Justin Lin who genuinely believes in the concept of raising the bar every single time he gets behind that lens.  That, is the only success formula for a hugely successful franchise that continues to enthrall audiences across the world every time they decide to make another one.

Snitch

Ric Roman Waugh is a Stunt Director by profession.  And if one were to look at his filmography in the stunt department, it is enviable to say the least.  Lets call a few names out – Gone in 60 seconds, Last Action Hero, Total Recall (WOW!!!).  He has a couple of movies to his credit as a director but Snitch wasn’t bad at all.

Fast 5 - Rio Hiest

And for the action geek, for those who thrive on speed, for those whose fix is a chase sequence in a movie that lasts for a good 7-10 minutes, for the ultimate action aficionado – there is one name which gets their juices flowing and rushing to the theatre with a willingness to spend whatever is put up as the price for the ticket. That one franchise from Hollywood which has regaled action freaks for exactly a decade now and promises to entertain for a few more typically has 2 words. One of them is called Fast. No points for guessing the other one. In its 5th edition, the makers have chosen to ignore the 2nd typical word and go with a more compact FAST 5. There are man movies and then there are more man movies and then there are those who scream out MAN MOVIE!!!! Fast Five is in the 3rd category without a doubt. And for those who genuinely have a doubt I suggest you watch Fast 5 and judge for yourself. If you still have a doubt, a serious brain over haul is recommended by this writer.


Replete with sequences of car heists from trains, stealing safes from banks and high speed car chases through the streets of Rio de Janeiro, Fast 5 is a treat for even those who can tolerate action movies. Starting with the first sequence where our lovey dovey couple of Brian O’Connor (Paul Walker) and Mia Toretto (Jordana Brewster) decide that they are not going to let Dominic Toretto (Vin Diesel) spend 25 years in jail. So they first get him out of the prison car in absolutely daring fashion. But Dom decides to disappear after that. The couple continue onto Rio where they are supposed to hook up with Dom @ Vince’s (Matt Schulze) place. Dom doesn’t turn up at the place but does appear miraculously in the train when they are jumping 3 cars. What the 3 of them are unaware of is that the cars are under supervision of the DEA and that the job is for Hernan Reyes (Joaquim de Almeida) who owns Rio. When 3 DEA agents are gunned down, the blame of the killing falls squarely on our heroes. They need to redeem themselves and so get their strike team back together - Gisele Harabo (Gal Gadot), Han Lue (Sung Kang), Roman Pearce (Tyrese Gibson), Tej Parker (Ludacris), Tego Leo (Tego Calderon) and Rico Santos (Don Omar). But there is one teeny weeny problem who goes by the name of Special Agent Luke Hobbs (Dwayne “The Rock” Douglas Johnson) who has been deputed to bring our “killers” back home.

Fast Cars – really fast cars, Fast bikes, men with rippling muscles, hot chicks – correction super hot babes, Super sizzling woman on a bike, Extremely hot Brazilian cop, Awesome chases, great fights – especially one between The Rock and Vin Diesel, a absolutely apt background score to complement the action and did I mention sizzling babes (I must have) – the only thing that I can think of that was missing was acting. Now Now dears – whatever made you get your expectations up on that front. If that was present then Fast 5 would have reached the Oscars. Justin Lin has directed 3 movies in the franchise including this one. And I see no reason why he will not do so in the next one – yet again, please stay till the end credits – the 6th edition will have some even more sizzling babes – Eva Mendes and Michelle Rodrigues to begin with. As mentioned earlier, if you think you can tolerate action movies even a wee bit, you will find Fast 5 entertaining enough. 12 on 10 for the action. Overall rating of 6 on 10 from my side.

Watch the trailer at http://www.imdb.com/video/imdb/vi1723702553/

The Other Guys

Det. P K Highsmith (Samuel L Jackson) and Det. Christopher Janson (Dwayne Johnson) are New York’s finest. Yep they are the guys who get all the action. They are guys who get first priority on all cases. They are the guys who live life on the edge – and how. They are the guys who ensure that they destroy in excess of $16 million worth of property chasing a bunch of kids who have a couple of grams of marijuana worth a few dollars in their possession. They are the guys who get all the awards and all the medals and all the chicks and all the publicity and everyone else fades in the background.


And then there are the Other guys. The guys who don’t get any of the cases. Who are left with completing the documentation in the backend and closing all the reports that the 2 high flying detectives should be doing in the first place. They are Det. Allen Gamble (Will Ferrel) and Det. Terry Hoitz (Mark Wahlberg). Gamble is the geek. He is the guy who has all the information about everything that seems irrelevant or trivial. He is the guy who goes by the book and can qualify to any geeky job. But not that of an NYPD Detective. Gamble is the kind of guy who prefers his desk job to anything else in the world. Why? Because he has a history. A deep dark history before he became a cop. One which got him into shit loads of trouble and also got him to meet his current super duper hot wife Dr. Sheila Gamble (Eva Mendes).

Hoitz on the other hand is the desperate NYPD Detective whose only claim to fame is that he shoots an NY Yankees star baseball player, Derek Jeter, while on security duty @ the Yankees stadium. It was of course an accident but one that gets him to being the laughing stock of everyone in the force. And relegated to being partners with the biggest geek on the house – Gamble. Hoitz is one hot blooded detective and is desperately trying to break the shackles and get out on the field. But the cases just don’t find their way to anyone but Highsmith and Janson – not till the 2 decide to jump off a building when chasing a bunch of criminals… er… one doesn’t survive a jump of 20 floors into pure concrete. Not unless u are a super hero.

Now the cases start flowing in and Gamble stumbles upon one that seems to be up his alley – that of a multi billion $ scam which involves David Ershon (Steve Coogan) of the Ershon corporation. An affair that no one seems to be interested in coz its not where the “Action” is you see. But our friend Gamble smells a dead stinky rat and cannot contain himself. It takes bit of being conned also by Hoitz who has pretty much had it with the lack of cases and picks up the first one that comes along his way along with Gamble. Complete Chaos ensues

The Other Guys is an attempt to get to the fore, a topic that has not been discussed much – that of financial scams in the recent past that have seriously eaten away into tax payers money. How it does that is upto you guys to find out. Will Ferrel is as cold and yet humourous as ever. Mark Wahlberg, for the first time appears in a role of a complete all out Loser. And I must say he does a pretty decent job. Sam Jackson and Dwayne Johnson just provide the spice. Eva Mendes is furniture – HOT FURNITURE …. OK MAKE THAT SIZZLING HOT FURNITURE. And rounding off the star cast is Michael Keaton as Captain Gene Mauch who keeps dropping one liners from TLC Songs. Director Adam MacKay only works with Will Ferrel it would seem. Taking the Director Actor Relationship to a whole new level u see.

Now I am not sure what to rate this movie as. The best description I can find for it is “Weird”. Mind u – Weird is not bad. It is just weird. Different. It is hilarious in parts and totally slap stick in other parts. The fact that it gives an interesting perspective on the scams that have hit the US of late makes it worth a watch I guess. Yep – I think it deserves 6 on 10. Never been much of a Will Ferrel fan but the past 2 movies that I have seen with him turned out to be good ones. One more and I would qualify as a convert I guess. Watch it if u can.