There\u2019s an amusing disclaimer in the credits for Fast & Furious 6, along the lines that the stunts in the film are dangerous and shouldn\u2019t be tried at home. Even the most fanatical petrol-head might struggle to recreate the bit where Vin Diesel shoots out through the nose-cone of a burning cargo plane, so the advice can only prompt guffaws.<\/p>\n
In its way, though, this absurdity demonstrates just how far the series has come – from The Fast and The Furious, a $38m-budgeted, definite-article-encumbered 2001 B movie about devil-may-care street racers, to a bulky, galumphing, preposterously outsized all-action franchise with the steroid quotient of the average wrestling convention.<\/p>\n
There\u2019s an impressive commitment to male-pattern baldness among the key cast – not only do Vin Diesel and Dwayne Johnson square off again like sizzling 6ft bratwursts, but an end-credits kicker reveals yet another follically-untroubled action star is to be added to the mix next time. Hair is for girls. Well, girls and Paul Walker.<\/p>\n
Justin Lin has now directed four of these, and has a flair for digital showmanship which comes alive twice in lavish set-pieces – first on a suspended stretch of highway in the Canary Islands, then on that plane, which gathers speed for 15 minutes, on what has to be the world\u2019s longest runway, while about a dozen good guys try to stop it in their hot-rods.