Few can of thought that the Fast and Furious films would be going strong ten films later and having easily breached the $1b mark from the seventh film onwards we have what is touted as the end of the road with a two part film that starts with Fast X and we’re surprised that they didn’t title it ‘Fast-Ten Your Seat belts’.
This series closer rewinds to the fifth film – the film where the series took an abrupt turn into insane set pieces with Dom Toretto (Vin Diesel) and Brian O’Connor (the late Paul Walker) towing a massive vault at speed down a Brazilian freeway pursued by the villain of the piece who meets his demise. Fast X picks up with the set piece with the introduction of Dante (Jason Momoa) the son out for revenge on Dom for causing the death of his father. But his intention is not to immediately kill him but to make him suffer and to that end he has in his sights everyone who has ever aided Dom and that includes his young son.
That Dom in past films has always been drawling about faaaaamily he seems perhaps not the best role model as a father where we first encounter him doing some father –son bonding by teaching the underage boy how to drive. But the film soon kicks in with its first set piece set in Rome where Dom deciding to take a back seat from the life lets Tej (Ludacris) lead the team in a heist which quickly goes awry when Dante takes remote control of the truck they hijack and finding that its carrying an enormous bomb that quickly starts bouncing around the streets and will flatten the city on detonation. With the Vatican in his sights it’s a shame that they didn’t choose to set this in Tower Hamlets as any explosion on that scale bomb would have caused millions of pounds worth of improvements. With the team suspected of being terrorists they go on the run with Dom finding himself separated from the rest of the gang meaning that Diesel gets his own scenes not having to share with the rest of the crew who spend the film in various cities around the world including London which according to this film appears to be the only major capitol city in the world that still has an internet café .
From here the film has Dante thwarting Dom’s plans doing away with those who have dared help him in the past and generally being as welcome as Meghan Markle offering to help shred out at a confidential documents shredding session at Buckingham Palace. As an intended franchise closer Fast X sees a whole load of faces from previous films returning so we get John Cena providing some light relief along the way as he helps protect Dom’s son , Helen Mirren pops up for a scene, Jason Statham and Charlize Theron are along for the ride too and new to the faaaaaaamily is Brie Larson from The Agency who are also after Dom and his exploits in Rome.
Though credibility has never been a word used to describe the Fast franchise it was Fast 9 that seemed to achieve peak nonsense having sent Ludacris & Tyrese Gibson into space in a car where frankly their comic bickering is irritating rather than amusing and the pair should have seen them left orbiting Earth. Fast X reins it in somewhat and though it’s no less believable there’s a more convincing sense of danger and thrills with the car stunt set pieces that sees them careering around.
Vin Diesel for once gets usually emotive in a couple of scenes but with such a huge cast of faces its Jason Momoa as the villain of the piece who is on fire standing head and shoulders above everyone. Veering between high camp and calculating menace he channels his inner Joker with delirious glee and is the franchises best villain to date.
Fast X is big bombastic popcorn fun ending on a cliffhanger and what has come before sets the tone for the apparent last film ( though let’s be honest that’s highly unlikely). Fast X is big bombastic popcorn fun proving that the franchise is far from having reached the end of the road
End credit scene? : yes it appears in the mid credits and it’s well worth staying for
related feature: Those Fast 9 cars and stunts…..
related feature: Top 5 Car Chases according to the UK’s top stunt drivers! …. essential viewing for car stunt fans
Here’s the Fast X trailer …….
