Fast X

So to the 11th and latest film in the franchise. It’s been quite the ride. Off the bat there are some red flags, namely that Justin Lin was hired to direct this and quit after a week.

Well from the get-go it’s kind of back to basics and quite promising, Jason Momoa plays the son of the guy who was killed in Fast Five¹ and he’s out for revenge. That’s it and for the first half it works reasonably well.

This is in large part due to Momoa’s completely wild acting choices. Funny, unhinged, freewheeling and hammy. There’s a scene where he’s hanging out with a load of corpses he’s just killed. Their eyes are taped open, he’s having a garden party with them and painting their nails. It’s completely mad and weird, which is quite subversive for a series of films that haven’t shifted in tone much for a very long time.

The first big sequence set in Rome borrows heavily from Fast Five (and even acknowledges this) but it does work pretty well. There’s a little bit of dodgy CG work to paper over the fact that you can’t actually destroy the capital of Italy but there’s a looseness and fun to it, and with Jason Momoa just going nuts on a bike it’s really entertaining.

Then… it takes quite a big cliff dive. Vin, if you’re reading this, I don’t know how to break it to you but the fucking family is too big. Kurt Russell is gone but Brie Larson is in. Elsa Pataky is gone but you’ve written a new sister for her. The Rock is gone but you’ve brought in John Cena. The film is massively over-stuffed and half of your people are doing naff all.

Plus the stuff that is there is soulless, just a bunch of cars on rails. The final big bombastic scene at the dam just looks so so terrible.

Charlize Theron finally gets a role that is more than just being trapped in one room on her own, she’s now trapped with Michelle Rodriguez. Which kind of creates a whole second-unit side-story that serves no purpose other than to include more ‘family’.

Then you get that horrible sinking feeling that the film just isn’t ending. People have been doing stuff separately and they aren’t coming together and there’s only like 10 minutes left. Surprise motherfuckers it’s a two-parter!

I’ve seen all of these in one go and it’s all a blur, so I can’t and won’t say if it’s the worst one they’ve made. But it’s the first one that’s truly left me a bit pissed off.