There’s no denying that the Fast & Furious franchise has been an action staple of the 21st century. From its humble beginnings as a Point Break-inspired action flick with cars instead of surfing, to the $340 million blockbuster that releases this Friday, the Fast movies have officially sustained pop culture for over 20 years. But how does the newest film stack up, and more importantly, will the family come together over a Corona?
Directed by Louis Leterrier after Justin Lin stepped down from those duties (though Lin remains credited as a writer and producer), Fast X was billed as the first of the final two installments of the saga, although recent comments from its star Vin Diesel suggest it could be the first of three. Dominic Toretto (Diesel) and the rest of his crew find themselves facing off against their most formidable opponent yet, a madman named Dante (Jason Momoa) with a connection to their past. Toretto and his crew took Dante’s family from him, so now he is coming after Dom’s.
Two things are made perfectly clear by Fast X: it has no desire to follow any real world logic, and it is wholly content with the universe it exists in. It truly is remarkably dumb what these cars can do to any objects they come across. A bomb is tumbling downhill through Rome? Well, it’s no match for a Lamborghini! Two helicopters are trying to lift a car up? Nothing that can’t be taken down. It feels like the franchise is not far away from putting its segment on the Universal Studio Tour, which features Vin Diesel taking down a helicopter with his strength, into one of the actual films.
Fast X will not win over any nay-sayers, and it’s likely that first-time viewers of the Fast saga will be left scratching their heads. The film basks in the fact that it’s the beginning of goodbye, playing as a love letter to the fans who have stuck around for every adventure the crew has been on. The film is at its best when it delivers on these more nostalgic elements; the clear highlight is the race between Dom, Dante, Isabel (Daniela Melchior) and Diogo (Luis Da Silva) in Rio. The sequence combines everything that fans new and old of the franchise have come to love; the street racing has been sorely missed by those whose affinity lies with the likes of 2 Fast 2 Furious and Tokyo Drift, but it combines that setting with the high stakes that the later films have given the heroes. Let’s just say they’re not racing for pink slips now.
Unfortunately, the rest of the film never reaches the heights of that street race. Nearly every other set piece is some combination of “which two characters should punch each other next” or “what other objects should the cars absolutely wreck.” These would be more forgivable if the action was directed the way that street race is, but it feels like Leterrier is never as comfortable with these moments as Lin or Furious 7 director James Wan were. Everything moves at the same pace, the beats feel repetitive, and given how much the crew has been put through, it feels hard to worry that they might not survive all that they do. Despite the lack of physics in Lin’s Fast movies, it always felt like the action had some weight to it. Any sort of tension that Fast X tries to establish gets whisked away quicker than you can say “faith,” something these characters talk about quite a bit.
It feels odd to try and discuss performances in a movie whose primary focus is on things going boom, but not mentioning Momoa’s absolute commitment to his role would be a disservice. He steals every second that he appears on screen, and is evidently having the most fun out of anyone there, maybe including the audience. There are certainly some questions to be raised with Momoa’s performance, as I was constantly asking myself whether Dante was supposed to be homosexual or not. However, after a certain point, the joy that Momoa gets from playing the role pours out of him so much that it’s hard not to walk away from the film thinking he was the standout.
The rest of the cast feel like they’re hitting their marks, particularly the ones who have been around for sometime. The dynamics of characters like Dom, Letty (Michelle Rodriguez), Roman (Tyrese Gibson), Tej (Ludacris), and Han (Sung Kang) are exactly what would be expected of them. This is not a place for character development to exist, nor is the film here to shock, however hard its cliffhanger ending may try. Fast X is designed to entertain fans of its franchise without pushing the envelope in any dramatic way. It never feels like it will change the trajectory of the franchise the way some of its predecessors did, but there is some enjoyment to be had from it. As the eleventh in a series that was supposedly about to end, Fast X is perfectly middle-of-the-road.
Fast X releases on May 19th and stars Vin Diesel, Michele Rodrgiuez, Tyrese Gibson, Chris “Ludacris” Bridges, Jason Momoa, Nathalie Emmanuel, Jordana Brewster, John Cena, Jason Statham, Sung Kang, Alan Richtson, Daniela Melchior, Scott Eastwood, Helen Mirren, Charlize Theron, Brie Larson, and Rita Moreno.
Be sure to check out our video review with Jack here!
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