'It's utter cack': Is Vin Diesel's Fast & Furious 6, er, critically flawless?

Just how good can the sixth episode of a blockbuster series once described as “Rebel Without a Cause without a cause” really be? Bloody brilliant, according to Rotten Tomatoes, the reviews site.

Fast & Furious 6, released on Friday, had a score of 98 per cent (all reviews carried a “fresh” tomato symbol rather than the rotten green one hurled at bad films).

Has Vin Diesel, the film’s star, driven the £1bn (so far) franchise about street racers to new critical heights, or is a conspiracy at play? Neither, sadly – the truth is more boring. Rotten Tomatoes collects reviews and decides whether each is “fresh” or “rotten”. A 100 per cent accumulated score need not reflect five-star reviews. Indeed, many contain negative criticism, as the following experiment in “reverse movie postering” will show.

“The soapier elements of the script drag it down” – Total Film, three stars.

“Objectively terrible” – Empire, three stars.

“Ridiculous” – The Hollywood Reporter.

Not so fresh, and the site doesn’t yet feature the film’s newspaper reviews. Our critic Anthony Quinn has his say on Friday. I email him for a tip. He hasn’t written it yet, but says: “One star is guaranteed – it’s utter cack.” Enjoy those tomatoes while you can, Vin.