Sommerleigh Pollonais, Senior Writer
Plot: Fueled by revenge, a terrifying threat emerges from the shadows of the past to shatter Dom’s world and destroy everything — and everyone — he loves.
Review: I can’t think of a single other movie franchise where I have to explain my ongoing affection for it, the way I do with this one.
What started out as a simple story of street racers with hearts of gold (who maybe rob a few people here and there), has ballooned into Ocean’s 11 meets Speed Racer but dumber. And yet, I and most of the world (if we’re going by the box office reports) have made the decision to embrace the insanity and total disregard for logic as we continue watching the Fast and Furious movies, if just to see where they could possibly go to next.
Family fast cars and loads of Corona beers, Fast X does little to reinvent the wheel, but they did manage to sneak in some unexpected moments. Dom (Vin Diesel) is living it up…well living it up might be a stretch as Dom knows only two things since this franchise began—family is important, and family can be taken away at any moment. The latter is the focus here as a new big bad in the form of Dante (Aquaman himself Jason Momoa) explodes into their lives to make Dom suffer for the loss of his father, because EVERYTHING in this franchise always comes back to family. If you’re wondering who his dad was, that would be Hernan Reyes (Joaquim de Almeida) who played the villain in Fast Five AKA the best movie of the franchise so far.
I think it goes without saying, this is NOT the movie you go to if you’re looking for cohesive writing, smart editing or any type of award-winning acting and again, I’m saying that as a fan. Fast X is as messy as they come with WAY too many side plots diverting energy from the main story and a bunch of new information and characters shoved in like they were always in the background, when we all know this franchise’s only true roadmap after all these years is “embrace the insanity”.
The bones of the story is easy enough to follow but for a franchise that’s supposed to be winding down there’s still no end in sight to how much more they can get away with before audiences throw in the towel.
Yes, Fast X is a mess, but here’s the thing, it’s a fun mess or at least it was for me. A lot of the zany energy here is brought about by the inclusion of the most memorable villain Dom and company have ever encountered in the form of Jason Momoa just chewing the scenery like a madman! If I had a thousand years to guess I would never have expected such an unhinged performance from him, but that’s just what we got, and the movie was a hundred times better off for it.
Dante is a man-child with a grudge the size of Everest and the psychosis to carry it out. And watching Momoa bring him to life while Vin Diesel tried keeping a straight face was entertaining as hell. Truth be told, I don’t think Fast X would have been HALF as fun as it was without his inclusion.
Newcomers Alan Ritchson (Reacher) and Brie Larson (Captain Marvel) were fine in their respective roles but no one, not even a couple of cameos by Cardi B and Pete Davidson (for some reason) could distract from the awesomeness that was Dante!
The action sequences were about what you would expect from FF, with the opening and final sequences giving fans all the craziness we’ve come to love. I actually laughed out loud at the finale with Dom and his son surviving the un-survivable and the movie even managed to surprise me with a couple of actual deaths (like I’m 99.9 per cent sure these characters are gone) adding a level of genuine stakes in a way we haven’t seen since before they brought Han back. Not to mention a mid/post credits scene that will certainly leave fans talking.
I’m not going to try and convince non-fans of the Fast and Furious movies that it’s a work of art. At this point, if you don’t enjoy these movies, you never will. But if you’re one of us (one of us! one of us!) and you can appreciate the feeling of just switching off your higher brain functions for a few hours while you watch a giant bald guy make cars do things they weren’t built to do and yet somehow not explode in a ball of fiery death, then Fast X, with its characters you’ve grown to love (except Roman, I will never like that guy) beautiful locations, physics-defying stunts and love of all things family is one of those movies that remind us why we fell in love with going to cinema in the first place.
Sommer’s Score: 7 out of 10
So, that’s my review. How would you rate Fast X and why? And you can check more adrenaline-fueled content below:
Sommerleigh of the House Pollonais. First of Her Name. Sushi Lover, Queen of Horror Movies, Comic Books and Binge Watching Netflix. Mother of two beautiful black cats named Vader and Kylo. I think eating Popcorn at the movies should be mandatory, PS4 makes the best games ever, and I’ll be talking about movies until the zombie apocalypse comes.
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