Fast & Furious 6 *** (PG-13) The cars, crew and cast are back for yet another mind-numbing, adrenaline-overloading series of chases, crashes fights and explosions. If you’ve liked one or more of the first five, you’ll be satisfied with this one. Newcomers will not feel particularly out of the loop, since the backstories are easy enough to catch during the previews from any nearby franchise fan in the audience. The Rock, Vin Diesel, Paul Walker and company reunite for another critical mission. This time the stakes are higher (duh), with world peace up for grabs at the hands of a supersoldier’s malevolent team, rather than the level of crooks and drug lords they’ve opposed before. The gang is straying into James Bond territory, both for villainy levels, and by staging most of the mayhem in London and other parts of Europe.
The action is first-rate and plentiful, though some scenes were either too choppily edited to follow, or I’m getting too old for the video-game pace of such flicks. Macho humor among the characters still works during and between the physical stuff. And don’t leave too quickly, or you’ll miss the epilog setup for F & F 7. Anyone who has stuck with them through #6, won’t want to hit the brakes now. (5/24/13)