FAST AND FURIOUS: Why did I feel hooked?

The sense in a senseless car racing does not interest me at all. I am not a sports loving guy. I do not entertain the idea of spending long time playing with cars either in my computer or in the real world. The metal booth, in pink, blue, white, or black that stand on four wheels and a little arrogance does not create any sort of adrenaline surge in me. I have kept my life simple enough to take public buses as my daily commuter service. Not cars ever, until now.

I watched Fast and Furious 6, directed by Justin Lin and produced by Vin Diesel, Clayton Townsend, and Neal H. Moritz, and I loved the cars. Especially, the gear changes, clutches, and stomping the accelerator. Although at first, I stopped watching the movie after twenty minutes, at a later attempt, during one of the days when everything around me seemed rather frustrating, I watched the rest of it, and believe me, the movie blew me away. The reason, I believe, why I stopped watching it in the first twenty minutes or so, was perhaps, the excessive motor chasing events portrayed in it. As a person who never felt intoxicated with racing cars, I felt the movie rather putting off. But remember, this was in the beginning, when Diesel and Paul Walker were chasing after each other on a tricky mountain slope and then, later, in a city, they were doing the same, this time chasing after some bad guys. As I said, this was the beginning.

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Coming back to the most important thing: why I loved Fast and Furious 6, I realize that the car chases and accelerator punches aren’t without any drama or emotional significance, two major pieces of human aesthetic understanding. They do have an emotional undertone; and the major pieces of human element in Fast and Furious 6 is family. The love and commitment towards one’s family may be the most common theme in Bollywood cinema. However, this cliché does not bring me closer to Fast and Furious 6. What mattered to me, the most, in Fast and Furious 6 is how a family is formed, how they are brought together. There are no blood bonds to hold them together as a family of seven individuals. They are from different background, races, and cultures. However, the assimilation named family becomes the most important factor that pulls their sails high in the apparent directionless exile they had been spending in Spain. What happens when Dominic Toretto decides to reunite his family by bringing in the once-thought-to-be-dead Letty is the central theme in Fast and Furious 6. Michelle Rodriguez plays Letti, and her role is magnified by the brilliance in her performance, brilliance much the same as that in James Cameron’s Avatar.

My fondness particularly binds itself with Fast and Furious 6 through two more factors, namely Paul walker and Vin Diesel. Paul Walker (1973–2013) wasn’t just a man with talent, he was a man with a gift. His gift spoke through this eyes. May his soul rest in peace.

What impressed me about Vin Diesel is his delivery of dialogues. Vin Diesel plays a reticent character who talks in meager words and tight sentences.

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“Your brother never told you never to threaten a man's family? It's a pretty stupid thing to do. But I'll make it simple for you: I walk away when she walks away,” says Dominic Toretto. Perhaps, this is the longest line he ever speaks in this movie.

Fast and Furious 6 is a spin off from the franchise Fast and Furious, and this installment also keeps a link open for Fast and Furious 7, in its final scene, where Jason Stantham’s character Deckard Shaw enters the story by smashing Han’s car and killing him. Fast and Furious 6 is a sandwich of action, romance, special effects, and thrill.

“Ride or die, remember?” said Dominic Toretto, and they rode on.