Fast X Review: A Family Overstaying Its Welcome
Ken Jones, OnScreen Blog Chief Film Critic
Where do you go as a franchise after you’ve sent your heroes to space? If you’re the Fast & Furious franchise, you build a story into an epic two-parter, planning to leave audiences hanging on the fate of all their favorite characters until the second part comes along in a few years.
This is Fast X, the 10th Fast & Furious franchise movie.
The extended family of Dominic Toretto (Vin Diesel) and Letty (Michelle Rodriguez) is threatened like never before (ok, that’s not true), when a new villain named Dante (Jason Momoa) turns them into international fugitives. Dante is the son of Hernan Reyes (Joaquim de Almeida) from Fast Five, and the beginning of Fast X retcons him into the action at the end of that film. On the run from the law and with Dante’s stated intention of making Dom watch his family suffer as he did, Roman (Tyrese Gibson), Tej (Ludacris), and Ramsey (Nathalie Emmanuel) rely on some old and new friends to clear their names and take out Dante, who is always several steps ahead of them.
After sending Roman and Tej to space and fighting a submarine with their cars, you might think that the ridiculous factor is turned down in this movie, which would be a mistake. In terms of scale, the only thing that comes close to matching those would be the ending, which takes place on a dam and is utterly absurd. The other outsized big set piece involves the crew attempting to disarm and stop a neutron bomb from exploding that is careening through the streets of Rome, on fire at one point.
In addition to a bevy of expensive cars, this movie boasts a massive cast and really explores the studio space when it comes to family. Every new essential character is related to an existing or previously established character or is connected to a previous Fast & Furious movie. This includes Tess (Brie Larson), a federal agent who believes Dom’s crew has been set up, a street racer named Isabel (Daniela Melchior), and an agent named Aimes, who is hunting Dom and the gang. Also, let’s not forget Rita Moreno popping in as Dom’s grandmother.
Also returning for supporting roles and cameos of various sizes are John Cena as Dom’s brother Jakob from F9, Helen Mirren as Queenie, Charlize Theron as Cipher, and Jason Statham as Shaw. Scott Eastwood returns as “Little Nobody” before mysteriously disappearing after the Rome sequence. But wait, there’s more (!!!); as Han’s return showed us, no one in this universe is ever truly gone unless the actor portraying them has passed away (the film continues to put in heartfelt tributes to Paul Walker). A post-credits scene brings back a character everyone was convinced was never coming back due to a good old Hollywood feud.
The Fast & Furious franchise left logic and fundamental physics behind long ago, but there is a lot in here that continues to strain credulity. Dom’s abiding belief in the family is only matched by his connection to cars. This manifests in various ways, including him being dropped out of an aircraft in his muscle car onto two cars on a highway, obliterating them, and then overpowering two helicopters that have harpooned him (as witnessed in the trailer). It’s a ridiculous line, but it’s also apparently the understatement of all understatements when Dom tells Dante that he made one mistake by not taking his car.
Most of what is supposed to pass for comedy is rough and strained. There is a place in an action film for comedic relief to try and hit as many quadrants of audience entertainment as possible. Still, the banter Tyrese and Ludacris seem to get increasingly grating with every entry in the franchise, reaching new lows this time.
One could also be forgiven for thinking that John Cena was playing a different character named Jakob, who happens to have the same name as the character he portrayed in F9 because this Jakob has an entirely different personality and demeanor than what we saw last time. The icy villain from the last movie has been replaced by cool Uncle Jakob. Jakob spends most of the time protecting Little Brian (Leo Abelo Perry) and covertly globetrotting to reconnect with Dom.
Frankly, there is not much to recommend this movie. So much of it feels like a paint-by-numbers rip-off of Avengers: Infinity War, splintering the group into several side quests and leaving their fates up in the air as the credits role.
If there is one bright spot about Fast X, it would be Momoa’s Dante. Dante is flamboyant, flashy, and more than a little nuts. Momoa is having fun with the role, and it feels like a completely different movie when he is on screen chewing the action scenery with enthusiasm and flair. His persona is so big it feels like a wrestling character, which is funny since this is a franchise that has cast The Rock and John Cena. While I may not want to see Fast X: Part 2/Fast X2/Fast XX/Fast 11 or whatever they end up calling it, Momoa himself might be enough to bring me back, however reluctantly.
It appears that plans are for Part 2 to be the end of the franchise, though I have also read that there may be a Part 3 or more sequels even beyond that. There was a time when the Fast & Furious franchise was getting better with age, turning into an action franchise that was over the top but also winking to the audience as it became increasingly outlandish. That is no longer the case. Fast X shows that the franchise has plateaued or is on a downward trajectory.
Family is important and all, but sometimes family overstays its welcome.
Rating: 1.5 out of 5 stars