Remember when the “Fast and Furious” movies used to be about street racing? Well, neither does FMT.
Fair to say the franchise bade goodbye to its humble beginnings when “Fast Five” (2011) saw Dominic Toretto (Vin Diesel) and Brian O’Connor (Paul Walker) drag a bank vault along the streets of Rio in physics-defying glory.
Each subsequent film that has since come out has tried to outdo its predecessor, with “F9” even sending two of the characters into space on a rocket car(!), much to fans’ delight.
So, what’s the 10th movie about? In typical soap opera fashion, it turns out the big bad from “Fast Five” had had a son, Dante Reyes (Jason Momoa), who now wants to exact revenge on Dom for the death of his father (after five films, for some reason).
To that end, Reyes sets up a fake mission that culminates with a large bomb rolling down the streets of Rome and exploding, framing Dom and Co. as international terrorists.
Forced to go into hiding, the crew is separated into small groups to cover multiple subplots at the same time:
- Roman (Tyrese Gibson), Tej (Ludacris), Ramsey (Nathalie Emmanuel), and Han (Sung Kang) head off to London, where they run into Shaw (Jason Statham);
- Letty (Michelle Rodriguez) gets captured and ends up in the same prison as Cypher (Charlize Theron);
- Jakob (John Cena) goes on a road trip with Dom’s son, Little Brian (Leo Abelo Perry);
- Dom himself meets with Mr Nobody’s daughter Tess (Brie Larson) and enlists her help in freeing Letty.
Basically, the movie brings back almost everyone from the past nine movies for an “Avengers”-esque adventure.
Here’s a drinking game: take a shot every time you hear any of the characters mention the word “family”. You’ll probably be drunk 15 minutes in.
Diesel, with his signature mumble-growls, half smirks, and sleeveless shirts, just might be the only one who still takes the franchise seriously. His character shines the most when he goes up against Momoa’s Reyes, even though the two could not be more different.
Reyes’ flamboyant and androgynous style is a sharp contrast to Dom’s ultra-masculine presence. Indeed, the “Aquaman” actor himself is clearly having a good time as the Joker-wannabe villain, donning a partially buttoned satin shirt and crocodile-skin jacket in one scene, and sporting pigtails while painting his nails in the next.
But make no mistake, his Reyes is a scary cookie who commits acts of mass murder as if it were a video game, complete with gleeful screams while setting off bombs. Good times.
As for the others, the cast is so overstuffed that it often feels like most of them are just there for appearance’s sake, with the only memorable one being Dom’s once-estranged brother Jakob.
A far cry from his uptight personality in “F9”, he plays the fun uncle to Little Brian while they try to evade the authorities – no doubt drawing some inspiration from his portrayal of Peacemaker in the DC Universe.
Action wise, the franchise might’ve finally accepted that it’s a match made in heaven with Hot Wheels. One climactic scene near the end has Dom driving his car off a large dam while an explosion engulfs the vehicle in flames.
That said, the CGI tends to be wonky in many scenes, where you can clearly see it is visual effects rather than actual stunt work.
Overall, “Fast X” achieves what it sets out to do, delivering stunts and fight sequences that scoff at gravity and logic in the most over-the-top fashion imaginable in just over two hours.
But, given that you don’t walk into a “F&F” film to watch Oscar-worthy performances, why not switch your brain off and enjoy the ride?
As of press time, ‘Fast X’ is screening in cinemas nationwide.