Fast X – Movie Reviews by Ry!

Fast X – Vengeance and Fast Cars: Family Edition

In film, the path to enjoyment is in the eye of the beholder.  For many, there is a sense that character and story mean everything.  For others, falling into a spectacle is all you need.  No matter what your thing is, you hope it creates an escape for a truly gratifying experience.  If it doesn’t … then it becomes another throwaway film.  In this review, I look at the latest in the Fast and Furious franchise.  Reaching its tenth chapter, it has become a journey of stunts, action, and weightless outcomes.  Fast X is a trivial display of thinly sliced entertainment with fast cars. 

Dominic Toretto (Vin Diesel), and his family have finally reached a place of peace.  All seems well, until an unwanted element of their past threatens everything.  With family caught in the crosshairs, will Dom be able to protect them or fall victim to vengeance.  There is a lot that can be said with the tenth entry of a franchise.  From the over-the-top action of past sequels to the surreal progression of characters, the journey never ceases to reinvent itself.  In this latest entry, Dom and crew are faced with a threat that has ties to their past, Dante Reyes (Jason Momoa).  He is the son of Hernan Reyes (drug kingpin from Fast Five), who is seeking revenge for his father’s death.  In the beginning, you have a general setup of this new villain, as the journey leads Dom’s crew on a new mission for the agency.  Through convenient circumstances, inventive car chase sequences and logic bending action scenes, Dom and crew are framed.  This creates a domino effect of unwanted consequences, laying the framework for a cat and mouse game between Dom and Dante.  As the crew splits up, it leads to a world-hopping adventure of crisscrossing plot threads that showcase Dom’s family trying to counter Dante’s quest for vengeance.  This becomes the major connective thread in the film, providing a new jolt to the Fast franchise.  This jolt creates an aura of vulnerability (at times).  Even when it seems like the journey is gaining girth, the essences of the franchise (family) still provide aspects of predictability and plot armor.  As everything starts to breakdown, Dom is faced with the ultimate question … will he be able to take down this psychopath. 

As the journey continues, Dante’s ominous nature shines brightly through the common aspect (of the franchise).  Adding a colorful character to the rogue’s gallery, his chaotic nature provides an indifference to previous villains.  The creativeness in his systematic breaking of the crew leads to some unique circumstances, but also reflects on the thinness of the plot (ten films in).  As Dom heads into a final confrontation with Dante, we head into a third act that becomes a hodge podge of bombastic set pieces and unexplained plot twist.  This leads to an ambiguous end, but a hope that finally … there can be an end to this franchise.  Fast X is the definition of style of substance.  With no real progression, the reliance on fast cars, inventive action sequence is all it has.  If you are a fan of this franchise, you will find some fun on the big screen.  For others, there is value … for the right price.

Full Score – 3 out of 5 (Theater discount)