![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
butterflydreamingOf all the things I thought I might say about the sixth installment in the Fast & the Furious movies, it was not this: this movie more evenly, fairly, and respectfully presents women and ethnic diversity than... than... any movie that I have seen lately?
Really!
There are FIVE significant, named, female characters, more than one third of the main cast. Four kick a** and one is a mom who makes a sensible decision when things go oval shaped. They all keep their clothes on at all times. I would not have been *sad* if Gina Carano had shown more skin, but I can Google Images and call it good. (It's lovely. In the top 10 photos she is in boxing gear OR in something more traditionally sexy. Sort of sums up her PR.) The women are all capable. There is a fight scene that you would only call a girl fight if you didn't watch the fight. (Brutal!)
Compare that to Into Darkness and the infamous cheesecake shot. Yeah. Plus the cat tail girls. (Really?!)
Both fail the Bechdel Test, interestingly enough. With Furious 6, it feels like they didn't need a one-to-one conversation moment. With ST:ID, it felt like it never occurred to them to check for it, because they have !RebootUhura.
So, I wouldn't normally recommend a movie like 6, but it has a lot going for it. Action? Oh, yeah. Laugh out loud action? Yup, it definitely has a couple of those! They were great! Plot? Yes, really! Heart? Uh-huh. Family is the strong theme running through it. Characters? If you don't already love some of these characters, I don't know. But I haven't seen all the movies, so many of the characters were new to me, and I loved the ensemble dynamic. Romance? It won't be most people's idea of romance, yet Vin Diesel plays Dom like a human being, and it worked for me.
Really!
There are FIVE significant, named, female characters, more than one third of the main cast. Four kick a** and one is a mom who makes a sensible decision when things go oval shaped. They all keep their clothes on at all times. I would not have been *sad* if Gina Carano had shown more skin, but I can Google Images and call it good. (It's lovely. In the top 10 photos she is in boxing gear OR in something more traditionally sexy. Sort of sums up her PR.) The women are all capable. There is a fight scene that you would only call a girl fight if you didn't watch the fight. (Brutal!)
Compare that to Into Darkness and the infamous cheesecake shot. Yeah. Plus the cat tail girls. (Really?!)
Both fail the Bechdel Test, interestingly enough. With Furious 6, it feels like they didn't need a one-to-one conversation moment. With ST:ID, it felt like it never occurred to them to check for it, because they have !RebootUhura.
So, I wouldn't normally recommend a movie like 6, but it has a lot going for it. Action? Oh, yeah. Laugh out loud action? Yup, it definitely has a couple of those! They were great! Plot? Yes, really! Heart? Uh-huh. Family is the strong theme running through it. Characters? If you don't already love some of these characters, I don't know. But I haven't seen all the movies, so many of the characters were new to me, and I loved the ensemble dynamic. Romance? It won't be most people's idea of romance, yet Vin Diesel plays Dom like a human being, and it worked for me.