REVIEW: 'Fast X' is a ridiculously fun and campy action flick
There are a lot of things that don’t make sense in Fast X but arguably, that is the appeal of the Fast & Furious franchise. It continues to defy the laws of physics, the laws of logic, and even metaphysics as deaths become apparent vacations for its characters.
Fast X takes off from the events of Fast Five (2011), where Dominic Torreto (Vin Diesel) and his “family” successfully stole a vault of money from drug kingpin Hernan Reyes (Joaquim de Almeida). To refresh your memory, Reyes was badly injured during the bridge chase and was later executed by Diplomatic Security Service agent Luke Hobbs (Dwayne Johnson) to avenge his fallen comrades.
Fast forward to the present, Herman’s son Dante (Jason Momoa) enters the picture to enact his revenge against Torreto and his family. Reyes sets up his chess pieces, even stealing the toys and goons of cyberterrorist Cipher (Charlize Theron), the Big Bad of The Fate of the Furious (2017), and straining Dom’s connections with his allies in the government covert organization The Agency and the frenemies in the Shaw Family. Still, Torreto finds much-needed support from his brother Jakob (John Cena), an antagonist in F9 (2021).
For the most part, I enjoyed the villainy of Momoa, who effectively portrays the maniacal, calculative villain who seems to be always five steps ahead. This is far from his brooding, noble, titular character in DC’s Aquaman and the silly Flip in Netflix’s Slumberland. Next to Joker, Momoa’s Dante Reyes is a formidable foe to Torreto because he is criminally insane. He easily throws the whole team in complete disarray.
Apart from Momoa, the movie tapped another Aquaman actor, Alan Ritchson of Jack Reacher fame to portray the role of Aimes, the new head of The Agency. His reintroduction brings back the conflict between the team and law enforcement, now that Mr. Nobody (Kurt Russel) is still missing in action after the events of F9.
However, that’s not to say the movie is perfect. The movie still needs to address why Brian O’ Conner, portrayed by the late Paul Walker, is seemingly immune to the attacks of Dante. His wife Mia, Dom’s sister (Jordana Brewster), does appear during family lunches and babysits Dom’s son, but that’s all that is on the side of the O’ Conner family. By this time, a recasting should have been done.
As previously mentioned, deaths in the Fast & Furious franchise have lost their meaning. Michelle Rodriguez’ Letty returned in Fast & Furious 6 (2013), retconning her explosive death in Fast & Furious (2009). The hashtag #JusticeforHan worked when actor Sung-Ho Kang reprised the role of Han Lue in F9 (2021), despite his character seemingly dying in The Fast and the Furious: Tokyo Drift (2006). It's becoming a tradition of sorts for the franchise that could turn its whole history into a joke.
This leads to the characters’ hypocrisy. Team-ups with previous villains are an interesting plot twist, but doing this over and over again makes the thing camp and completely misses the point of looking out for their family. Let's call a spade a spade. From Deckard, who “killed” Han; Jakob, who had a hand in crashing Mr. Nobody’s plane; and now, Cipher, who killed Dom’s old flame, the family seems to embrace their enemies on a regular basis.
Still, if you just want car chases, adrenaline-pumping action, and brutal gun fights, then throw logic out of the window and enjoy your popcorn for two hours and 20 minutes.
Fast X is now showing in Philippine cinemas. Stay for one mid-credits scene.
Watch the trailer below:
