I was never a huge fun of the first Fast and the Furious movie when it came out in 2001, I thought of it as a supercharged remake of the 1987 movie No Man’s Land staring Charlie Sheen and D.B. Sweeney about an rookie undercover cop chasing a car theft ring.
But starting with Fast Five and the next two installments, the series evolved from a street racer movie to a heist film to the spy genre, as it introduced villains such as Luke Even’s Owen Shaw and characters destined to join Dom’s crew such as The Rock’s Lucas Hobbes and Jason Statham’s Deckard Shaw.
Action and car chases were in good hands. But then came the eight and ninth entries in the series and the franchise seemed to run out of gas. Blow a gasket. Hit the skids. Ah, pick your metaphor but it seemed to the end of the road for Dom and his family was fast approaching.
But with Fast X, the Nos is back and it’s turbocharged!
This movie had to be written by Artificial Intelligence because there is no way a human being could have conceived of the things going on here. If you thought the last movie where they went into space was absurd, this one flirts with time travel as it employs a Rashomon style narrative that rewrites Fast Five from the viewpoint of multiple characters new to the franchise.
A plot to blow up The Vatican kicks off out tale and splits up the crew into manageable plot sized elements. From there, it has car stunts that not only defy the laws of physics but maybe even CGI. There is so much CGI in this movie, I can’t even tell if anybody was actually physically behind the wheel of a car.
From there, characters that have no business even being in this movie show up, cause mayhem and then walk off possibly into their own spin-offs. If AI truly wrote this movie, then humanity is fucked because this film firmly reestablished the franchise at the top of the action movie heap.
Jason Momoa Steals the Show
But what drives this movie is Jason Momoa’s portrayal of Dante Reyes- who may be the greatest villain in cinema history, even topping Heath Ledgers Joker! Diabolical, psychotic, cunning and a step ahead of our crew the whole movie as the son of Fast Five’s villain who is inserted into a recut Five finale as Dom robs him of his fortune with the vault heist and his birthright with the death of his father.
Dante may be the most flamboyant villain in a franchise defined by its villains. He has actually turned Vin Diesel into a co star in his own movie, as he chews up the every scene he is in as he brings the pain. The movie ends on a cliffhanger and it’s recently been announced this will be a trilogy. But you will see why you need three movies to tell Dante’s tale of revenge on all who wronged him.
But How Ultimate is it?
As for Vin Diesel, he is starting to look every bit of his 55 years. Han is showing grey in his bangs as the crew is starting to look as old as Roman and Tej’s banter. Letty may be the only original cast member that won’t have to be de aged using CGI. The budget for this movie in North of 350 million with all of it onscreen on CGI and actors salaries.
Brie Larson and Jack Reacher’s Alan Ritchson show up as rival CIA agents, as well as Isabel Neves as the street racing sister of the mother of Don’s child. Then there’s Broadway great Rita Moreno as Don’s mother as the family continues to grow and grow.
So start your engines and I’ll race you to the theater for my mini vans pick slip! And stick around as there is a post credit scene that will blow your mind.
