Film Review: Fast X

Man, reviewing Fast X is a bit of a conundrum, and not for the usual “how do you review something that is so knowingly silly yet straight faced in all the ways it embraces its often mocked idiosyncrasies” kind of way. This is more of a Dune situation. Perhaps the only time one would ever compare these two films in any way. Fast X is said to be the first in a concluding trilogy to the franchise, and as such, it ends on a pretty big cliffhanger. There is no real ending. You might as well have a William Dozier style closing narration from the 60s Batman show playing over the final minute of the film. “Will our heroes survive? Will Dante succeed in his damnable destructive deeds? Is this the finale of our favorite film family? Find out in the next movie. Same Bat-time! Same Bat-channel!”

But to just go over some of the details as to what we have going on here, Dominic Toretto (Vin Diesel) discovers that him and his crew are being hunted by a guy with a series grudge. That man is Dante Reyes (Jason Momoa), son of deceased drug lord Hernan Reyes from Fast Five. He is out for blood, but not just a simple death for a death, he wants Dom to suffer. He pursues the crew when they head to Rome in a setup by Dante, and the chaos that follows splits the crew up. Letty (Michelle Rodriguez) gets captured by the authorities and taken to a black site prison. Roman (Tyrese Gibson), Tej (Ludacris), Ramsey (Nathalie Emmanuel), and Han (Sung Kang) are going underground and trying to make safe passage to a rendezvous point. And Dom is on his own, and trying to face Dante man to man…or car to car, I guess.

Now, there is more going on within that, and that is a part of what makes the film a bit unwieldy at times. We meet a few new people such as Tess (Brie Larson), the daughter of Mr. Nobody who is firmly on Dom’s side while her boss, the new head of Mr. Nobody’s agency, Aimes (Alan Ritchson) believes what the press is saying in that the crew is responsible for the destruction that happened in Rome, and is also now actively pursuing them. There’s also Isabel (Daniela Melchior), the sister of Elena Neves from some of the previous films. There’s also a subplot involving Jakob (John Cena), who sweeps in to save Dom’s young son, Brian (Leo Abelo Perry) and transport him to a safe house.

It’s like four movies playing simultaneously, and it can be a lot to process, especially given how big the action is in this one. The set-piece in Rome is absolutely bananas, there’s a literal giant nuke ball that rolls around the city causing absolute destruction before it finally explodes, causing an exorbitant amount of damage. The line from a newscaster in a later scene saying that no one was hurt from all this was maybe the funniest joke in the entire movie. It can feel like the film is doing too much, but considering this movies have never been on the more…let’s just say efficient mode of storytelling, I think it’s a forgivable sin.

It is worth noting that Justin Lin was initially set to direct this, and though he still retains a co-writing credit with Dan Mazeau, he eventually left during production due to creative differences, and was replaced by Louis Leterrier, who I think does a fairly commendable job, he brings his own flair to some of the action and the filmmaking. However, I can’t help but wonder what caused Justin Lin, someone who has been almost like a shepherd for this franchise, taking to the heights that it is now in, leave. Especially considering this is the beginning of the end.

While I did think there was fun to be had in F9, I think the use of occasional meta humor and fan service-y stuff like the space bit in that film did start putting cracks in the franchise that I wasn’t sure if it would be able to recover from, and thankfully, those are pretty much gone in this. Not to say there isn’t humor, just more of the character driven stuff we’re familiar with, the antics and banter among the crew and such. Now, the greatest thing about this film is easily Jason Momoa as Dante. He is to Dom what the Joker is to Batman, he is a total agent of chaos, and he relishes in every act of sociopathy like a kid in a candy store, it’s inspiring just how excessively joyful it is, and it’s exactly the perfect kind of villain for this franchise.

Aside from that, there’s not a whole lot to dig into with this one. Fast X is a pretty fun time, and Jason Momoa is a big part of that, as well as some of the other newcomers. Unfortunately, given that it ends on a cliffhanger, the execution of the following films will be a big determination of whether or not any of the labyrinthine plot mechanics here will actually pay off. If it does, great, shake start to a satisfying conclusion, but if not, then I don’t see a scenario where this would be something to revisit. Maybe just fast forward until Momoa appears on screen. As is, it’s a hoot, the action is exciting, weird, imaginative, the characters are still endearing, and the melodramatic twists are still satisfyingly hokey. I think the film is tonally right where this franchise needs to be. The plotting can certainly be cleaner, but there’s some cool ideas in place, and some potentially compelling setups that I hope have a good payoff in the next film when it comes out…wait, let me check…2025. OK, time to play the waiting game.

 

Fast X is now out in theaters.