MOVIE REVIEW: FAST & FURIOUS 6 (2013)

Posted: June 14, 2013 | Author: | Filed under: Movies | Tags: , , , , , , , , , , | 3 Comments

Running time: 2 hours, 10 minutes
Cast: Vin Diesel, Paul Walker, Dwayne Johnson, Michelle Rodriguez, Gina Carano, Tyrese Gibson
Director: Justin Lin

This movie should be called Fun, Fast, & Furious because I had a blast watching it. I rarely see a movie twice at the movie theater, but I’m hoping I can see this one more time before it heads to DVD (which I plan to buy).

Fast and Furious 6 movie poster

Quick note:

There’s a short scene after the credits so make sure you stay for it. It’s great and I squealed.

A fast plot summary:

Following the money heist in Fast Five, Dom Toretto (Diesel) and his team split up. They are fugitives now, but they’re also super rich. Dobbs (The Rock, er Dwayne Johnson) asks the team to take down a dangerous criminal named Owen Shaw and he provides evidence that Dom’s ex, Letty Ortiz (Rodriguez) is still alive. Dobbs agrees to drop the criminal charges against the team if they help deliver Shaw.

Some things never change

This is Justin Lin’s 4th time directing a Fast movie. They might want to keep him. Vin Diesel’s acting is still horrendous. Good grief, man.

The characters endure a lot of physical punishment yet they always walk away with minor scrapes. No broken bones, not even a concussion.

Great action scenes

It seemed like the action scenes were planned out very well, and there are two that really stick out to me: the bridge and the runway. Even though the characters are moving at very high speeds you always knew where each person was, and you could clearly see each movement as people jumped to different cars, spun out, delivered a right hook to someone’s jaw, etc.

The hand to hand combat was nice too

This movie delivered more than car chases. We also saw people get some good, old fashioned ass whippings. Gina Carano, a former MMA fighter, had an awesome fight scene with Michelle Rodriguez, and the other characters had their own individual fight scenes that were really good as well.

Final thought

I could write a super long post about why I loved this movie, but I think it’d be better if everyone heads to the theater to see it.

If you saw Fast 6 did you love it as much as I did?!

MOVIE REVIEW: THE PURGE (2013)

Posted: June 11, 2013 | Author: | Filed under: Movies | Tags: , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Running time: 1 hour, 25 minutes
Cast: Ethan Hawke, Lena Headey, Max Burkholder, Adelaide Kane
Director: James DeMonaco

Producer Jason Blum received tons of praise for The Purge‘s opening weekend box office tally: $36.4 million for a film that cost $3 million to make. He has experience with producing low budget movies that yield a high box office return. See Paranormal Activity 1-4, Insidious, and Sinister. Let’s see if Blum’s latest movie lives up to the hype…

The Purge 2013 poser

Picture it:

America. 2022. Crime and unemployment rates are at an all time low. The government gives credit to the “Annual Purge” which allows a 12 hour period where all criminal acts are legalized. From 7 pm until 7 am the next day you can steal, harm, and kill with no threat of punishment. You also can’t call the police, hospital, fire stations, etc. for help.

The Sandin family, James, Mary, Zoey, and Henry, lock down their home for the annual purge but they are quickly faced with threats from outside AND inside their home. Yikes!

Hi Ethan!

I like Ethan Hawke. He does a wonderful job of portraying the everyday family man. I’ve seen enough movies where I think “This dad/husband sucks.” I never get that with Ethan. Also, when he appears in a thriller he never overacts to express his feelings. In this movie he kicks ass to save his family, and that leads us into a sub plot that the movie tried to explore…

Is it every man for himself during the Annual Purge?

Of course we see the characters struggle with the morality of the Purge. Some people want to grab a gun and fire off a few rounds while other people want to be above the violence, even if it leads to their death. I think this movie tried to set up a situation where the Sandin family has to make a tough, moral decision, but it lost impact once the violence started up.

Love/hate

I enjoy home invasion movies but sometimes it seems like a double edged sword. You don’t always know where someone is hiding inside or outside the home, and that’s the fun. But, that means someone can appear at the right moment to make a kill or to save the day, and sometimes it seems too convenient. This happened alot in The Purge and it took away from the suspense because I could predict it.

Final thoughts

I like the premise of the movie and it was entertaining enough, but if you haven’t seen Fast 6, Iron Man 3, or Star Trek into Darkness go see those first. The Purge will probably serve best as a Redbox rental on a lazy weekend.