'Fast X' Review

The tenth 'Fast and Furious' movie brings thrills, a star-studded cast, and the expected focus on family.

12 years. 10 movies (+ one spinoff). 1 family.

That encompasses the ‘Fast’ franchise. No matter what direction the franchise goes, whether it be a small street race in LA, a safe heist in Rio, or a trip to space to save the world, the ‘Fast’ franchise is always centered around one thing: Family. What makes people true fans of these movies is how this group of characters bond together to become a ‘family,’ and how each and every one of them will do whatever it takes to help each other. Nearly every movie toys with the idea of a member of the team, or the team as a whole, being threatened and how they respond to that and bond more because of it. This movie not only builds on that idea but takes it to a whole new level, as new father and main character, Dom Toretto (Vin Diesel), is forced to save his son who has fallen into the hands of Dante Reyes (Jason Mamoa). Reyes is looking for revenge for his own father who was killed during the safe heist in Fast Five. And as the movies grow, so does the family. So many characters have been added to this franchise over the years that this movie is LOADED with star actors. These three things: having one more glimpse of this family that we love, the added dimension of Dom, the leader of this family, being a new father now having his son put in danger, and an all star cast of strong characters, is exactly what fans of this franchise asked for and what drives (pun intended) this movie.

If we’ve learned one thing over the course of the ten movies in this franchise, it is that this family is unbreakable. You might try to turn one of the characters on the other ones like they tried to do with Dom’s wife Letty (Michelle Rodriguez) in Fast & Furious 6. Or like they tried to do with Dom himself in Fate of the Furious. But at the end of the day, this team is going to bond together. Early in Fast X, Roman, Tej, Ramsey, and Han go to Rome for what they believe is a tech heist. Later, we find out that they are set up by Dante and the truck that they believed was tech was actually a bomb big enough to blow up half of Rome. Even before Roman, Tej, Ramsey, and Han find out that they are set up, Dom and Letty are on their way to alert them and attempt to defuse the bomb. The team instantly begins to communicate on how to work together to defuse the bomb and save the city. If you’re a fan of this franchise and these characters, this is what you come to see: the team thrust into an unbelievably dangerous situation in which they must trust each other and work together to save themselves and the city around them. This is where the element of ‘family’ comes in. This family is always with each other during the hardest times. They are the team that assembles when things go down and when times get tough. They use each character’s talents and each character seems to be the best version of themselves when they have their family around them. That’s how this rag tag group of street racers, hackers, and smugglers became a family, and that’s one of the reasons why fans of this franchise love it.

So, over the course of these films, family is what they have built. Family is the center. Family is the most important thing. In the previous movie, F9, we see a glimpse of little Brian, Dom’s son, but he is not involved in the plot of the movie. The leader of the Fast Family is unquestionably Dom. After the severe decline of Brian O’Connor’s character in these movies due to the passing of actor Paul Walker, Vin Diesel’s Dom Toretto has become the heartbeat of this family and these movies. At the beginning of this movie, Dom tells little Brian that everyone is scared of something. And little Brian says that Dom isn’t scared of anything. In the next scene, Dom talks to Letty about that conversation and Dom says how he is actually scared of something and that is losing a son OR a wife. And if you’re a fan of these movies, this is EXACTLY what you want to see from EXACTLY who you want to see if from: the person who doesn’t seem to fear anything actually having the fear of loosing the most important thing to them, the person (or persons) in his family who he loves the most. And this movie gives you that. Little Brian is taken by Dante and Dom has to try to get him back.

In true family fashion, the family grows. The base of these movies will always be Dom, Letty, and Mia (Jordana Brewster) who have been there from the beginning. Rounding out the team since the seventh movie, Roman (Tyrese Gibson), Tej (Ludacris), Ramsey (Nathalie Emmanuel), and Han (Sung Kang) supply a strong and hilarious supporting group to round out the family we all love. But that’s just the beginning for this movie. Dante (Jason Mamoa) and Tess (Brie Larson) are introduced as new characters in this movie, both of whom have been stars in their own big budget films. And we haven’t got to the characters that all make appearances coming back for this movie. Jason Statham, John Cena, and Charlize Theron all return for this movie. With so many strong characters and actors in this film, I don’t know if we have had this much star power in one movie since Avengers Endgame. If you are a fan of strong characters and strong actors, this movie is loaded with them and one character doesn’t steal too much run time, they all do their part in the story and build on their individual characters which in turn builds the family which we have all come to love.

The way this collection of characters has bonded into an unbreakable family has been a recipe of success for nine movies and has driven (once again pun 100% intended) us to tenth. If you’ve seen the previous nine movies, you know that Dom is the driving force for this family and the prospect of having his biggest fear, losing the people that he loves the most, being actualized in this movie is extremely compelling. Also, the way this family has grown into many strong characters all coming together in one movie resulting in one of the greatest casts I’ve ever seen assembled gets fans excited for this movie. At the end of the day, family is what you come for in these movies. Family is what it is centered around. And somehow, in the midst of crazy high speed car chases, explosions, and stunts, the family bond is what stands out the most.

RATING: 4.5/5 stars.

ADDITIONAL THOUGHTS

-  One thing that I wanted to mention is the music. They seem to hit it on the head a lot in these movies, most famously Charlie Puth’s ‘See You Again’ in Furious 7 when Paul Walker makes his exit. I think they nail it again with the music in this movie. Bailey Zimmerman is in the credits. He’s one of the hottest guys in country right now and personally one of my favorites. There are a couple other times when music pops up throughout the movie and it is cool and sets the mood perfectly.

-  Parental Guidance: This is a PG-13 movie. There are a couple of curse words, but nothing too terrible. There are no sex scenes, but they do this thing in pretty much every ‘Fast’ movie where they have a street race. And there’s always a crowd of women there wearing swimsuit, bikini type stuff, and they always take you through the crowd to the car. This film is no different in that respect. Everybody has their own parameters, but my recommendation is that you should be AT LEAST in the 13-15 age range to see this movie.

To read more reviews from Josh Wilson, check out his Letterboxd profile.