FAST X review

The Fast and the Furious franchise is now 22 years old. I was 22 when the first (and still, to me, best) movie came out. So I have lived half my life with this franchise now. 

The tale of how this franchise came, seemingly went, then roared back into one of the major tentpoles of the last decade, is well told.

It's a franchise that has probably peaked at the box office. Furious 7 had the attention due to the handling of Paul Walker's death, and it became a billion dollar film. 

The franchise lived on. But it's been a bumpier ride. I thought part 8 was pretty damn good, but it was less popular. The Hobbs and Shaw spinoff movie was kind of a  non-entity. I literally haven't seen it since theaters. And then F9, delayed due to COVID, came out a couple years ago to blockbuster starved fans like me and....left me a little cold. I don't stop to watch that one on TV ever. It's a much more dour, serious film, and felt so bloated and messy that it seemed this series was on a permanent downturn.

So what a treat it is to have Fast X be such a fucking blast, one that not only is one of my favorites in the franchise, but even corrects some of F9's big blunders.

All discussions of Fast X must highlight Jason Momoa. Now, this is an actor who to this point I would have barely even considered an actor. I have not liked him at all as Aquaman. I have not found him compelling at all in other acting gigs. But he is Fast X's big bad, and his over the top performance is the kind that ascends to the stuff of legend. 

Fast X is somewhat a direct sequel to Fast Five. It even opens with a chunk of that film's climactic vault heist, including the finale on the Rio Bridge. Why? Well, because that movie's big bad had a son, also seemingly left for dead in the many crashes and explosions, who in fact lived and is out for revenge. Momoa is that son.

The film pulls a shrewd trick a la Infinity War. What proves a bad guy's threat level faster than taking out someone powerful to start. So Momoa goes after Charlize Theron's character, 8's big bad and 9's glorified cameo. She survives, but actually warns Dom and company that he is coming.

And no better way to go after Dom than by going after his family. So we get a really superb set piece in Rome where Momoa goes after some of the team (and maybe also frame them for terrorism). There's hacked vehicles and a motorcycle chase and a giant bomb rolling around everywhere. It's a really visceral, involving sequence. Veteran action director Louis Leterrier (The Incredible Hulk, The Transporter) took over the reigns early in production and he was a good hire. He even manages to make a lot of what was probably CGI heavy look credible.

The bulk of the movie is Momoa tormenting Dom and co. while they all try to steer clear of "the agency", the shadowy organization that Kurt Russell's Mr. Nobody ran in previous films. He is M.I.A. this time, so here we get his daughter, played by Brie Larson, who amongst the.large cast is probably the most underused. But there is another new guy in charge of the agency, who doesn't care about Dom and his team's past, just that they are terrorists now. New guy is just a necessary evil to move the plot along. 

The plot splinters the group of course, but the film does a good job of juggling the large cast. Dom's storyline leads to us meeting Daniela Melchior's character, sister of his late baby mama Elena. Tyrese, Ludacris and them go on a search for tech and weapons, which leads to a reunion with Jason Statham's character. 

John Cena, F9's big bad turned ally, figures in when Dom's kid needs protecting.

Michelle Rodriguez's Letty and Theron have a whole thing where they are trying to escape from a black site prison, if they don't kill each other first. 

So yeah, this is a bloated movie like the last one, but in a good way. I was into all of this. I was never annoyed at one story thread taking up screen time over another. 

The cast has long established chemistry. And Fast X really fixes 2 of F9's big blunders. Cena was a complete bust as F9's villain, called upon to do nothing but be serious and charisma-free. But here, largely paired with Dom's kid (also an appealing actor) Cena is a vastly more vibrant and fun presence. 

And Theron, a terrific villain in 8 and a wasted cameo in 9, gets some really fun sparring sessions with Rodriguez.

The movie just has a levity and energy that F9 lacked. The action really pops. Nothing ever quite tops that Rome sequence but there isn't a dud sequence in the bunch. 

Now, the biggest surprise of the movie is how it ends. I guess in retrospect it was obvious that there was no way this thing was wrapping itself up anytime soon. But we get a full blown cliffhanger, and for a next movie that has yet to even be locked in. (Diesel has said this may be a 3 part finale)

It's a ballsy move, but after delivering such a satisfying 2+ hours I can't wait. 

It doesn't hurt that we.also get 2 cameos at the end. One, Gal Gadot is back, and 2, Dwayne Johnson as well.

This franchise doesn't have another 22 years in it. But it has enough left to finish strong.