Fast X: Impressed by the Audacity
A franchise that makes over seven billion dollars at the global box office, across 11 films (including a spinoff) that spans over two decades, is impressive by any measurement. While no one denies the financial success of The Fast and the Furious franchise, it’s also not given the full respect that its success should warrant. Often maligned for its ridiculousness and its earnestness, it’s ultimately a franchise that isn’t taken seriously. What is seemingly being lost as we passively watch and engage with this franchise is how unprecedented it has become.
Across the ten films making up the franchise’s core, we have a linear story. With the help of some retcons and their audience’s “just go with it” mentality, the story across 10 movies is building. This is uncommon in action movies. While we can all fall in different places on the quality of each of the films, it’s important to recognize their accomplishment. With the newest entry, Fast X (pronounced Fast Ten, because messy titles are also a part of this franchise’s legacy), they attempt to add to its unprecedented run with a three part conclusion. And once again, I find myself impressed by the audacity.
Recognizing the accomplishment is important for a film like this because it colors how you receive it. Particularly if you aim to judge its quality. There is nothing to compare it to, because how many franchises have a tenth installment? Thus we can only really judge it against itself. How good of a Fast and Furious movie is Fast X? Does it do what good Fast and Furious movies do? To that end, Fast X does, and thus works quite well. This franchise isn’t the most thoughtful or innovative franchise we’ve seen. Creative, sure, but it’s not pushing the cinematic genre. It’s very much what you see is what you get, which ultimately is a part of its charm. So at its best, it’s a fun, simple and thrilling time. Which is exactly how Fast X can be described.
The most important ingredient of a good Fast and Furious film is fun. For most action movies that comes from the action but with this franchise it's found with the characters. Fast X gets this dynamic right. Not necessarily by doing anything new but by giving us just enough of what we want. The pairing of an enormous cast at this point is smart. Tyrese and Ludacris continue to be funny. While this pairing can become grating, as it has in past movies, adding Nathalie Emmanuel to their pairing balances them out. Sung Kang’s Han is also a great addition to that group because his exasperation with them provides a level of self awareness. Michelle Rodriguez and Charlize Theron find each other again and even though it makes no sense they fight and that’s always entertaining. This is what you need from these characters. We need something entertaining in between Vin Diesel gritting his teeth. While it’s not comedic genius it’s mostly unpredictable and simply fun.
The other main pairings are a bit unexpected but also work quite well. Dom’s son is an added character to the story, whose main purpose is to provide a face to the existential threat. He’s paired with John Cena, which is just smart because John Cena is great with kids. So what you get here is a plot that would otherwise be a drag, but instead is fun because Cena gets to ham it up in between throwing people through buildings. The most significant pairing to Fast X’s success is Vin Diesel and Jason Mamoa. It doesn’t work because of real dramatic tension or a special on screen chemistry. It works because Jason Mamoa is truly great in the role and the way he plays it is in direct opposition to Vin Diesel’s Dom.
Dom is a flat character. No real emotion, charisma or flash. He does cool things and he’s been presented as a god. So if you buy into the lore, the character works. It’s at its best when placed in opposition to someone big, in performance not stature. Mamoa turns the dial to 1,000 and drives all the intrigue in this rivalry. The more time they spend on screen together the more interesting it becomes and their differences become more obvious. This all may sound simple, or even obvious but for a movie that thrives in its simplicity, these decisions become more important.
When movies have reached the scale that the Fast and Furious movies have, both in plot and cast size, simplicity is key. Which is why the lack of innovation isn’t a strike against it. The action is standard across all the films and that continues with Fast X. And standard isn’t a pejorative here, it’s a compliment. This is because it shows a self awareness that is often called into question. Never once has a Fast and Furious set piece blown me away, and that statement remains true in the present. But many can be described as cool (in the least intelligent way possible). Ultimately, cool is what we are getting and that is the bar. The undefinable ability to make you turn to your neighbors and say “that was cool”.
For that the set pieces don’t need to make sense or wow you with their complexity. It needs to be a giant bomb rolling through a city trying to be redirected and stopped by cars. That feeds the guttural instinct that watches car wrecks and explosions. What Fast X does is try to create creative ways to reach that feeling. And like it does when these movies are at their best. It completely does that by dropping Dom out of a plane inside a car, again, and having him drive that same car down the Hoover Dam. It’s not intellectual or brilliant or clever, but it works because each of those moments are thrilling.
With Fast X you get exactly what you think you are going to get, with a few fun additions. The biggest and most important of those additions is Jason Mamoa, who is truly great. He’s funny, entertaining, charismatic and steals this movie. You leave wanting to see more of this villain that succeeds in making the movie interesting and is becoming the most legitimate threat to these characters. Mamoa alone is worth the price of admission. Past that, Fast X is a very good Fast and Furious movie. So if you like those then this one should work for you and if you don’t, it probably won’t. There isn’t much that is unique or special about it. But it serves the people that have kept this franchise alive for over 20 years in a way that’s special. While this isn’t the best movie of the year or one that you’ll remember, it is a good time. Which is the intention and purpose of this film and franchise.
