The Mosley Review: F9: The Fast Saga
If there is one franchise that never stops being fun and is the prime example of how to reinvent itself mid stream, its The Fast and the Furious franchise. This series of films or now saga, had come from humble beginnings and then when it seemed there was no more road, somehow it found a new street to keep the race going. I have loved all of them and like most of you, I enjoy the action, the characters and of course the cars. The saga has evolved from just street races to now a full on superhero franchise. For the longest time each film has rode that sweet line between plausibility and ridiculousness. Fate of the Furious started showing that the paint on the line had begun to fade and now, it has unfortunately been crossed. This entry does still have the charm we all love, but now it felt like a parody of itself and the saga. It all starts in the middle of the first action sequence of the film where you see the dumbest decision made and it completely rips away the stakes of life or death, almost completely ruins the franchise and thrusts it into a valley that is the hardest to comeback from. Instead of taking a step forward, this film made the franchise take a leap backwards in quality and storytelling. You could almost not call this a Fast film. It truly hearts my heart to say that.
The crew from the past films all return and they're as great as you'd expect them to be. Aside from Vin Diesel's constant monotone lines and grunts, he still kept Dom interesting. I liked that he was starting to develop his relationship with his son. Michelle Rodriguez is still great as Letty and a perfect partner for Dom. Jordana Brewster returns as Mia and her connection to Dom and Letty has never been stronger. The ladies kick some series ass again and I loved that. Tyrese Gibson and Chris "Ludacris" Bridges return as the perfect comedy duo Roman and Tej. Now I won't spoil anything, but the point where the saga becomes ridiculous begins with Roman and you'll see what I mean. Nathalie Emmanuel returns as Ramsey and I liked that she gets a bit of the action this time around. Sung Kang returns as franchise favorite Han and I loved seeing him back behind the wheel. Now the big question is how he came back after "dying" in the F&F: Tokyo Drift and I WON'T spoil it! All I will say is that it completely doesn't get explained thoroughly and it will leave you saying "WHAT?!". There are other characters that return and I ruin the surprise, but I did love seeing Helen Mirren return as Magdalene "Queenie" Shaw just to have fun.
John Cena joins the Saga as the new baddie, Dom's brother, Jacob. I like John Cena as an actor and he delivered expertly on the action. As Jacob, I thought he was one note. Yeah there is a deep seeded hatred for Dom and when those two finally scrap, its entertaining, but I never really felt threatened by him. I didn't feel the chemistry between him and Vin, infact, I felt more chemistry with the younger versions of themselves. Vinnie Bennett was great as the younger version for Dom and Finn Cole was great as younger Jacob. You feel the strain of their relationship the most as that backstory is explained. Charlize Theron returns as Cipher and once again she is still one of the most interesting villains this franchise has ever seen. I just love her commitment, charm, wit and she delivers a true mic drop moment with one of the best Star Wars insult metaphors in history!
The score by franchise composer Bryan Tyler was great and energetic once again. I still love hearing the Letty and Dom theme play over their more intimate moments. Now the problems with this film are truly too many to list, but the biggest ones are just unforgivable. There has been a level of, dare I say, "realism" in this saga so far and it has now been thrown completely out the window. The action is great to watch, but it is just stupid at this point how they are all still alive after some of the stuff that happens in this film. A character definitely gets shot to death, blown up, crushed and then they walk away from it all as if they were Wylie Coyote. The dialogue in this film was truly atrocious and sometimes just laughable when its supposed to be serious. Screenwriter Chris Morgan has been the mastermind behind these films since Tokyo Drift and he has been the gate keeper between the looney and the plausible realm. With this entry, you truly feel his presence missing. I'd be lying if I didn't say that I wasn't entertained and I had fun with some elements, but it means nothing if you don't have a story that isn't relatable or cohesive with the original foundation. Justin Lin directed the hell out of this mess of a film, but this I have to say is the weakest entry this saga has ever seen. If you've kept up with this saga as I have, then its a must see, but LOWER your expectations. Do stick around for the mid credits scene for a satisfying moment. Let me know what you thought of the film or my review in the comments below. Thanks for reading!
