This has to be the most absurd entry of this long-running franchise, considering the fact they went to space in F9: The Fast Saga. Writers Justin Lin and Dan Mazeau embrace the obnoxious, bombastic yet utterly inconsistent storytelling approach that has been increasingly prevalent since Fast & Furious 6, and turn it up a notch. At the end of it, nothing really makes sense, and I am pretty sure it wasn’t meant to.
This time, Dominic Toretto (Vin Diesel) and his merry band of companions, or what he likes to call as ‘family’, faces off against the flamboyantly devilish Dante Reyes (Jason Momoa), who is the son of the deceased drug lord Hernan Reyes from Fast five. So obviously in his quest for revenge, making the ‘family’ suffer is his top priority. His plan involves sending Dominic’s ‘family’ globetrotting around the world, from Brazil to Portugal, even Antarctica for good measure, all the time he is a few steps ahead of every move.Our heroes seem to have finally found their match.
That’s the gist of the story. I stopped trying to make any sense out of this because in reality, the movie didn’t make any. All the regular cast members, including Jordana Brewster, Michelle Rodriguez, Tyrese Gibson, Ludacris, Sung Kang, Jason Statham, Charlize Theron, Nathalie Emmanuel, Scott Eastwood, John Cena, and Helen Mirren, are back. After Momoa, there’s Brie Larson, Alan Ritchson, Daniela Melchior, and even Rita Moreno among the newbies.
Massive stunts (usually involving cars), cartoonish special effects (mainly involving automobiles smashing objects like helicopters and the law of physics), and daring deeds (primarily involving cars) abound.
There’s always something exploding. Everyone is escaping by the narrowest of margins. Maybe the best bit is everyone is getting thrown around and yet they don’t have any scratch to show for it.
For the long-time fans of this franchise, it’s everything they expect, and the movie delivers it plentifully.
The most noticeable omission, however, must be director Justin Lin stepping away for Louis Leterrier to take over. While Louis ramps the visual carnage over the human element, fans can’t help but notice the glaring lack of an emotional core that these movies used to have, no matter the ever increasing outrageous and convoluted storytelling. Lin’s direction made the previous movies somewhat endearing even amidst all the silly chaos, something that is sorely lacking in this movie.
But while everything seems to be on the downside, one bright aspect of the movie is undoubtedly Momoa’s performance.
He doesn’t simply give an over the top performance; but goes way beyond that to the point he is the show stealer in all of his scenes. He goes from cartoonish silly to violently playful in an instant and brings out the psychotic edge that was very much needed by a villain.
Unfortunately, even Momoa’s crazy lunatic performance can’t save this movie that is so full of mind numbing action and illogical storylines that people have to wonder if the patience of the fans is wearing thin at this point. If the box office numbers are to go by, earning less than $700 million on a budget of 340 million, significantly less than the previous few movies that performed really well at the box office, doesn’t paint a very hopeful picture. To top it off, what was supposed to be the ‘finale’, is now part 1 of the trilogy of final films! I don’t know if I care enough about how the story will end at this point. It feels like this franchise is running on fumes, and I don’t see anything to liven it up.
Ultimately, Fast x is exactly what you would expect – a 140-minute, mind-numbing, physics-defying action with story beats that have long ceased to be coherent. While it had the charm of ‘silly but fun’, the latest installment makes you feel like even that is wearing off. A franchise that has been going on for so long, perhaps won’t end on the high note fans are hoping for.