Fast & Furious 6 (DQ)

Stars: Vin Diesel, Paul Walker, Dwayne Johnson, Michelle Rodriguez, Jordana Brewster, Luke Evans, Ludacris, Tyrese Gibson, Gina Carano, Elsa Pataky, Sung Kang, Shea Whigham

Director: Justin Lin

The Fast & Furious franchise goes global and loses much of its originality and the intimacy of its relationships; this sixth episode, however, certainly does live up to its title; there are so many fights going on in the final sequence on an airport runway that it's hard to keep track.

Faced with the threat of a new master criminal (Evans, the screen's next Dracula) on the loose, planning to steal some McGuffin that will threaten the world's security, together with evidence that Letty (Rodriguez) is still alive, and aiding the bad guys, ace cop Hobbs (Johnson, more muscular than ever) reassembles the family of car-mad mercenaries for the battle ahead.

Dom (Diesel) is fired up by the thought of finding his believed-lost love, but Brian (Walker) and Mia (Brewster) have just had a baby, so that they, like the others, are uprooted from their luxurious foreign exiles only with difficulty. 'Wow!' exclaims Tej (Ludacris), looking at the opposition. 'It's like we're huntin' our evil twins'.

The rest of the film is all speeding cars, spectacular crashes, blasts of action, and reaction shots from the cast, with London just one of the locations stormed through on those red-hot wheels. A cameo appearance by Jason Statham at the end signals the imminent arrival of Fast & Furious 7. My favourite from the series is still Fast Five, but this will do 'til the next time around.

David Quinlan

USA 2013. UK Distributor: Universal. Colour by deluxe.
130 minutes. Widescreen. UK certificate: 12A.

Guidance ratings (out of 3): Sex/nudity 0, Violence/Horror 1, Drugs 0, Swearing 1.

Review date: 14 May 2013