Fast X
UNIVERSALFast X is the beginning of the end for a franchise that has dipped and wavered violently in quality for over two decades. There have been several significant highs and just as many lows, but this series has done its best to at the very least be entertaining for viewers with the box office receipts a clear indication of audience loyalty. Fast X has a very specific issue in its core DNA that the franchise itself can never overcome. This franchise of muscle car driving men and women should never have been a franchise at all. The absurdities that Vin Diesel and his crew lean into keep things relatively light and there really is a general sense of fun under this film's metallic frame, but there's a never ending battle to justify its existence from the opening frame.
This justification is argued by opening the film at the climax of Fast Five, a much better film, and placing it within new perspectives, with the very existence of this feature placed in the hands of retconning the finale of a significantly better film from the franchise to try and create emphasis and purpose for a feature that should not exist at all. This brings the introduction of what is by far the strongest, strangest, and single most outlandish element of the film – and perhaps the franchise overall: Jason Mamoa. Mamoa’s otherworldly flamboyant villainy can only be described as the most fun any actor has ever had making a Fast and Furious film. The way that this complete madman bounces off of the charisma vacuum that is Vin Diesel is a delight to watch with every scene being chewed to the bone with complete disregard for anyone else in the cast. It is by far the best element in this overstuffed monster of a movie.
Unfortunately, there is very little else here that is not to be expected of a movie that costs far too much, a staggering three hundred and forty million dollars, and has almost every big name actor in the industry in it, often forced and inauthentic. From a purely technical perspective, blissfully ignoring a rather hammy script, and focusing purely on most of everything else that roars or explodes, Fast X has some exciting action beats, albeit now effortlessly ridiculous. An impressive component of this series is that its hits feel real. There's a weight behind hand-to-hand sequences with a real standout involving Jakob Toretto (John Cena) saving Dominic's son, Brian (Leo Perry), and thus there is a sense of urgency and fun present in that action sequence that is ultimately missing from so much of this overstuffed film, and a different film to clearly what Vin Diesel has in mind.
Thankfully, for a feature hitting one hundred and fifty minutes, each act cruises along relatively quickly with decent pacing and an occasional contemporary pop-song thrown in for good measure. Music and sound are such an important attribute of any film with some, such as the Fast franchise, using it as a crutch to keep the audience engaged, especially with its notable musical artist cameo such as Cardi B, Rita Ora and Iggy Azalea popping up in franchise past. Now, this is primarily done through pop or rap songs from big name artists of the time, but there is also the musical composition that lives in the background of so many emotive, as well as action filled moments. The score, composed by Brian Tyler, who is also known for some of the other Fast films as well as The Super Mario Bros. Movie, is a talented individual with work spanning several decades, Tyler is given the unfortunate task of building a score that would stand out among the explosions, grunting, and lamenting about family. He sadly does not succeed in his task. But, the problem is not what he composed for Fast X, as the music itself is quite solid, if ordinarily basic at times, the problem is this franchise as a whole. There is no time to let music swell and build behind sequences for pause of momentum or reflection, and before a beat can be passed the feature bursts along, and only time for explosions and revving engines seems to fulfill this audible gap.
Fast X is the epitome of this issue and, for better or worse, it does wear this with pride. These problems do not only have an effect on the emotional properties of the music, but the script and performances as well. This is not a movie designed to allow the audience to think, nor to feel properly, at all. When emotions are present, with a few noticeable exceptions (Furious 7), they are angry, fast and give the audience emotional whiplash due to having absolutely no time to breathe because before long they are somewhere else in the world following a new batch of characters, and fighting a new villain that threatens “the family”. This is the curse of an unplanned franchise of this length. No one working behind the scenes on The Fast and the Furious planned for this “urban Point Break remake” to still be kicking twenty-years later as a global action spy-thriller, but this is where the franchise is now. There's just a real struggle to juggle all of this properly, especially with the introduction of several new characters and have it be a balanced success.
Behind the scenes turmoil stirred up and caused the original director and franchise lynch-pin Justin Lin to exit the project as director but stay on as producer citing ‘creative differences’. Louis Leterrier was brought on to complete the film and deliver a finished product for theaters. Leterrier does a fine enough job with most of what he was given to work with regarding the structured material at hand that offers little meddling to a predetermined outcome. The action really does have some impressive moments and everything is framed and shot competently, if not always skillfully. The big final act finale may leave some jaws dropped, and not in a good way, with no narrative conclusion present and a cut to black leading this to being nowhere near a completed film. This will bother some, not all, but it is worth being aware of in terms of having quite the major cliffhanger present.
Fast X is the first of what should and arguably needs to be the last batch of Fast and Furious films. This has unfortunately become a franchise that has long overstayed its welcome, but will continue to stay until there is no money to be made, and even then video-games, NETFLIX shows of this property does not seem to be showing any signs of slowdown. There is an energy here, mostly brought by Mamoa, that carries this into a territory of almost fun and makes it a stronger entry than F9, but it might be time to park the car in the garage and let it rest. The next film is due out in 2025 and if the filmmakers are able to bring what worked about this and amplify it, there is a modicum of hope, but that is a lot to ask of a franchise that's so close to running on empty.