Fast X (2023)
Director: Louis Leterrier
Starring: Bin Diesel, Michelle Rodriguez, Jason Momoa, Charlize Theron
Primary genre: Action
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Two years after the “Fast 9” (2021) disaster, “Fast X” (2023) in typical franchise fashion, seeks to extend and retcon even further the storyline of the “family”. Amidst creative differences and ego clashing that led to previous helmer (and screenwriter) Justin Lin resigning, Universal’s insistence to make this franchise their own “Infinity War” (2018) is pretty clear.
Come to think about it, never before has a film series evolved (or devolved depending on where you stand) the way “The Fast and the Furious” (2001-2023) has. Starting humbly as a street racing and VCR stealing “Point Break” (1991) rip off to a blockbuster series filled with drug lords, thief gangs, assassins, dodgy government agencies, warlords, tech billionaires, robbers, globe trotting hackers, Russian armies, and ex-mercenaries is as bonkers as you think it is.
Erasing any valid dramatic stakes, every “family” member is a superhero, the bodycount and civilian casualties higher than John Woo’s “Hard Boiled” (1992), nobody is truly dead and each antagonist exists for the sole purpose to join Toretto’s “family”. “Fast X” might have a better pace than its predecessor and Leterrier’s direction is chaotic enough to at least make this ADHD picture show mildly enjoyable but to describe its paper thin plot will be a testament in vanity. Stretched over two hours and a half, the movie features an amazing amount of filler, gorgeous moments of stupidity (e.g., everyone communicates through the same walkie-talkie including the villain(!), Theron and Rodriguez gas scientists in one moment but there are no bodies afterwards, a car spins around with two helicopters attached to it, shifting gears while on free fall is faster than the gravitational pull of the Earth) and non-stop praise to Diesel’s Toretto as the epitome of modern day Jesus, the way Steven Seagal wants it.
Do not expect to find the wow factor of the “Fast Five” (2011) vault chase or the police car flipping moments of “Fast & Furious 6” (2013). Leterrier tries his best to keep things together but he lacks the visual panache of James Wan in the franchise peak “Furious 7” (2015). Despite a somewhat entertaining Rome bomb chasing set piece and several mano a mano fights under an endless supply of goons and cars (courtesy of our villain), the rest of the action is infected with blurry and obvious CGI shots.
Any charisma that Diesel had is now gone, replaced by gruff delivery and road puns making it impossible to take anything seriously. The rest of the cast act as if they have been handed the roles of a lifetime, their natural comedic chemistry in the earlier installments not present anymore while franchise favs Deckard Shaw and Han are sidelined as extended cameos and nothing more. Amidst this orgy of vehicles, characters and tonal inconsistencies, Jason Momoa’s sexually ambiguous and blowing raspberries villain Dante (with an always good view for the on-screen mayhem) is perhaps the most entertaining aspect in “Fast X”. Yet, as the plot unfolds to reveal a nonsensical ultimate plan, his performance deteriorates feeling direction-less and in the wrong film.
The American saying of “if it is ain’t broken, do not fix” is true and in the case of “The Fast and the Furious”, Diesel keeps the pedal to the metal where bigger is merely a point of contemplation. Surrounding the audience in a cacophony of vehicular chaos, pseudo life philosophies, flat performances and a villain scheme trapped inside its own impossibility, “Fast X” does not have enough gas to finish the race. The retconning of the meaningful and heartful moments in the previous entries through a labyrinth of inter-connected and convoluted plot lines that aim to create a Shakespearean drama based on wheels (really) provides a basis for a cop out. It is time to smile and wave boys, smile and wave goodbye.
Inconsistent and over-bloated
+Better than the previous installment
+Rome sequence is entertaining
+Jason Momoa is a fresh ingredient
-that outstays his welcome quite fast
-constant retconning of previous events
-Cast thinks they are doing Shakespear
-CGI action
-No dramatic stakes
-Everyone is the best fighter ever
-Things make no sense at all (from hacking to gear switching to fighting).