#REVIEW: “FAST X”

Review by David Baldwin for Mr. Will Wong

I have a confession to make. Somehow “I live my life a quarter mile at a time” has become one of my immediate go-to film quotes to use in every day conversation. I feel some slight shame owning up that and knowing my teenage self would not approve of me quoting the great Dominic Toretto, as played by the prophet Vin Diesel. At the same time however, I am certain my teenage self may spontaneously combust if I told him the Fast & Furious franchise had become a ten-part series plus one spinoff, an animated Netflix kids show, a ride at Universal Studios and more.

As the saying goes, in family we trust.

While it is genuinely hilarious to think of how long this series of street racing/globe trotting superhero movies have been gracing our multiplexes, it is just as genuinely challenging to properly review its newest entry, FAST X. You already know what you are in for when you sit down to watch– family, Corona, fast cars, egregious female posterior shots, awful dialogue, mind-melting stunts, an overreliance on CGI, a comically over-the-top villain and the most racially diverse casting for a major film franchise ever. Rinse, repeat, that is the formula and though Diesel and the Filmmakers occasionally tweak a few things, you can rest assured they will find a way for all of these elements to come into play.

In that respect, FAST X delivers breathlessly for the most part. It knows what it is, it knows what its audience wants and it gives it to them.

What it does differently – beyond ending on a monumental cliffhanger and two misedited scene surprises that I pray will not be spoiled in advance for you – is add in Jason Momoa as Dante Reyes, the son of the big bad from Fast Five. That film is easily the best of the Franchise and everyone involved has been chasing its high literally ever since. This Film opens on the wildly memorable vault heist scene from Five, replaying the highlights and retconning Momoa into those proceedings (they even go so far as bringing back Joaquim de Almeida to briefly replay Dante’s Dad Hernan). Dante survives the ensuing chase. Hernan does not. And now all this time later, Dante is swearing revenge on Dom and his family, and will go to absolutely extreme lengths in order for everyone to suffer.

From there, the family splinters off into different groups and directions which make for some exciting chases and fight scenes, but nothing near as memorable as some of their past adventures. This group of actors thrives when they are all together and having them split up does virtually no one any favours.

Except for Momoa that is, who must have watched The Dark Knight when prepping for playing Dante and decided the best approach was to emulate The Joker and be the Fast & Furious franchise’s agent of chaos. I know how ridiculous and outrageous that sounds, yet somehow, Momoa pulls it off and steals literally every scene he is in. He understands the assignment a bit too well, bringing an unhinged, unchecked rage to the part that alternates between humour and terror recklessly while maintaining an ambiguous flamboyance that leads to some of the bleakest scenes in the franchise. All the while, Momoa is having a blast vamping it up, fearlessly jumping into each moment with childlike glee. It is one hell of a swing to take and thankfully lands every time.

I could go on further about how the film twists itself into pretzels to suggest the late Paul Walker’s character Brian O’Conner is both alive and dead in the Fast universe, or how the Film aggravatingly apes Avengers: Infinity War by moving everyone into place for the proverbial endgame, but the Series has never been one for making sense nor doing things the easy way. So why would it start now? Cliffhanger endings and sloppy editing aside, I was entertained by FAST X and genuinely enjoyed the insanity Jason Momoa brought to the Franchise. His performance alone is easily worth the price of admission.

Universal Pictures Canada release FAST X in theatres on Friday, May 19, 2023.