Review: ‘Fast X’ is Quickly Becoming One of the Worst Films in the Series

The Fast and the Furious franchise has had ups and downs from really interesting mediocre movies, to really bad action-packed nothing burgers. These films over the years have become more and more saturated with references to the things it has done before and making cars do crazier things to the point that sometimes they aren’t even cars. Fast X serves as the beginning of the apparent 3-part finale to the series that has spanned over 20 years, 10 films, and a spinoff. A multitude of high-profile names have played both ally and antagonist in a series that has a problem figuring out, even after all this time, what the hell it is trying to do. The series started with a cop breaching into the inner circle of a group of street racers turned hardened criminal group, which later turned into that same group upping their profession into high-risk heists and gang shootouts, eventually ending in the same group repeatedly saving the world? I can’t even begin to explain the absurdities.

Dante (Jason Momoa) is the son of Hernan Reyes, the crime boss who has power over Rio De Janeiro in Fast Five (The single best film of this franchise). His son, mad that Dom killed his father and stole his money over 10 years ago, decided that now is the time to take revenge on Dom by making him suffer through the continuous defaming of his legacy, killing of his loved ones, and eventual attempt to kill him with his son. The film revolves around this plot and that is it. There is nothing more to the movie, that one sentence is the film. It is 2 and a half hours of exposition to a film, an act one that isn’t really even that good. 

I won’t lie the action is always entertaining, it is flashy, it is creative, it is fun. It doesn’t go too over the top like 2021’s F9: The Fast Saga did, but it does have its moments. Seeing people do cool things in cars is always fun, that’s coming from me who isn’t even a car guy, just seeing mad stunts in insane places doing action packed things is entertaining. But in all honesty that is the meat of the movie. The only other redeeming factor is the performances of two people. 

John Cena’s Jacob Toretto, the brother of Vin Diesel’s Dom Toretto, has the task of taking care of and assuring the safety of Dom’s son throughout the film. The dynamic between the two is amazingly good, and the action they go through together is some of the better parts of the film. Then, in the surprise of the century, Jason Momoa, after coming off as just awful and forced in the trailers, is consistently an unreasonably mad character in this, but is also the best part of it. His character is sociopathic and hilarious, the only funny person in the movie, and his plans are actually well thought out, despite the weak constitution behind their reasoning. These two performances allow for some actual non-action entertainment in the film, and then that’s where my praises stop.

Alongside the weak structure of a 2 and a half hour first act for a film, this film just isn’t that well focused. You can tell they are really trying to stretch this series for all the money it is hiding in its pockets, because this didn’t need to be this long, and it really didn’t need to be pushed to three parts. The writing is weak, the dialogue is trash, the A plot, B plot, and C plot are all unfocused, making the antagonist’s point of view and D plot with John Cena the best parts of the film. Dom’s main character story is very slow and over dramatized, the B plot with the gang that follows Dom in the other films is entirely irrelevant and unfunny throughout the roughly 35 minutes it takes up the film. The C plot, being Letty in an offshore black site prison, seems to span only 15 minutes in story time yet spans over the week of the plot’s events. The performances are nothing to write home about, and it’s just a rough watch for the most part. There is some redemption in Dom’s story because he has the most action sections and fun, but the others could’ve cut half of their scenes and made as much difference to the plot or flow of the film. 

To conclude this ripping of a movie, there are three plots twists that aren’t as shocking as the odd Pete Davidson, Josh Dun, and Debbie Ryan’s cameos in this film. I got more whiplash less by the legacy character deaths and more by the fact that half of Twenty-One Pilots was on screen with John Cena in this movie. That says everything about it, these movies have become predictable, uninspiring and at times, just boring. We can all hope that these films will conclude in the best way they can, but to be honest, their best is still only a C grade.

2.5/5 STARS