So Dominic Toretto (Vin Diesel) and his crew are back. Luke Hobbs (Dwayne Johnson) and his crew are back. And some new faces, Hobbs’ partner Riley (Gina Carano) and villain Owen Shaw (Luke Evans) dd to the franchise’s ever-growing roster.

I thought the vast number of characters would be too much of a distraction in the last installment, and, to an extent, it was. But I liked Fast 5, and I’m happy to say that 6 is even better.

The premise is all but unnecessary. Hobbs recruits Toretto to take down Shaw, a gangster/terrorist/arms dealer whose goal is not particularly clear, but then it doesn’t need to be, does it? Shaw’s latest plan is to steal a military whatsit that can cause blackouts, and his gang of thugs, the minute you meet them, seem like the evil twins of Toretto’s — and it’s a credit to the movie’s cleverness that they actually address the parallels and get some great character beats in from Roman (Tyrese Gibson) and Tej (Chris Parker), two fellows whose roles in the previous films were to stand around and wait for something to do.

Yep, it’s almost time for The Fast and the Furious 6. To be honest, we’re kinda looking forward to it. Shocking, right?

Anyway, here’s the synopsis for you to take a look at as well as an extended look at the movie itself. Enjoy.

Vin Diesel, Paul Walker and Dwayne Johnson lead the returning cast of all-stars as the global blockbuster franchise built on speed races to its next continent in Fast & Furious 6. Reuniting for their most high-stakes adventure yet, fan favorites Jordana Brewster, Michelle Rodriguez, Tyrese Gibson, Sung Kang, Gal Gadot, Chris “Ludacris” Bridges and Elsa Pataky are joined by badass series newcomers Luke Evans and Gina Carano.

Since Dom (Diesel) and Brian’s (Walker) Rio heist toppled a kingpin’s empire and left their crew with $100 million, our heroes have scattered across the globe. But their inability to return home and living forever on the lam have left their lives incomplete.

Walter Hill and Sylvester Stallone? I’m in. Walter Hill and Louisiana? Double in. Christian Slater and Mr. Eko as the bad guys and explosions and huge flailing boobies? This is already the best movie of the year.

What’s there to say? Stallone is Jimmy Bobo, a Louisiana-based hitman whose latest job goes south after his partner is taken out. If that’s not enough, the former partner of their target (Sung Kang) heads down to the bayou to find out who set up the hit.

After a brief ruckus in the parking garage, the two team up despite a mutual dislike. The investigation uncovers a web of corruption that apparently everyone in New Orleans is in on, from the jazz bands prowling the filthy streets to the cultural elite, ably represented by Marcus Baptiste (Christian Slater) and Morel (Adewale Akinnuoye-Agbaje).

Add to that Stallone’s incredibly sexy daughter (Sarah Shahi) — the tattoo artist who can kick some tail on her own, an angry, knife-wielding henchman, and exploding houses, and you have the plot of the movie.

Maybe I should preface this with the disclaimer that I’ve not seen any of the previous installments of The Fast and the Furious. I’m not a fan of Vin Diesel. I’m not particularly interested in fast cars and, most of the time, I’m more irritated than outright furious.

I also didn’t know anything about the characters’ backstories going into the film nor was I, in full disclosure, looking forward to this screening. That said, I had a lot of fun with this flick—and evidently so did everyone else at the screening, from the critics, who laughed snarkily at the plot contrivances and flagrantly obvious exposition, to the rest of the audience, who clapped at every conceivable moment and in general ate it up like hotcake-crepes wrapped in unicorn butts.

If you have seen the other movies, you may be happy to know that the original trio of Vin Diesel (Dominic Toretto), Paul Walker (Brian O’Connor), and Jordana Brewster (Mia Toretto, Dominic’s sister and Brian’s lover) are back, as are Sung Kang (Han Lue), Tyrese Gibson (Roman Pearce), Matt Schulze (Vince), Ludacris (Tej Parker), a whole bunch of others I’m not sure were in the other several thousand Fast-and-Furiouses, and, what the hell, they got The Rock, too.

The movie begins with the jail-springing of Toretto, a stunt so implausible that not even the film itself takes it seriously, and soon the gang’s in Rio (and, after seeing the animated film Rio recently, I’m guessing that somewhere there’s an elephantine warehouse filled with stock shots of the cityscape as leered from behind Christ’s shoulder), plotting a car-jack heist for their shady friend Vince, who’s after three seized cars being transported across the country by train.

We all remember the scoffs Universal got when news hit that they were doing a fourth sequel to the Fast and the Furious franchise, but when the film opened to an astounding $70 million in the first weekend, the only people laughing were at the studio. So why wouldn’t they continue that trend with another film?

So here it is, the fifth film in the series, titled simply Fast Five. Worry not, fans won’t get another Tokyo Drift, as Paul Walker, Vin Diesel, and a bunch of the originals are all returning. Here’s the breakdown of the film.

Since Brian (Walker) and Mia Toretto (Jordana Brewster) broke Dom out of custody, they’ve blown across many borders to elude authorities. Now backed into a corner in Rio de Janeiro, they must pull one last job in order to gain their freedom. As they assemble their elite team of top racers, the unlikely allies know their only shot of getting out for good means confronting the corrupt businessman who wants them dead. But he’s not the only one on their tail. Hard-nosed federal agent Luke Hobbs (Johnson) never misses his target. When he is assigned to track down Dom (Diesel) and Brian, he and his strike team launch an all-out assault to capture them. But as his men tear through Brazil, Hobbs learns he can’t separate the good guys from the bad. Now, he must rely on his instincts to corner his prey…before someone else runs them down first.

The flick is set to hit on April 29th, and you can check out the full trailer after the jump.