The Mosley Review: Fast X
By now we know what to expect from the Fast franchise. We expect it to be entertaining while absolutely physically impossible for the majority of the stunts and action sequences on screen to practically be done. I believe the last time anything on screen was particularly grounded in reality was Fast Five and then it officially started going off the rails with Furious 7. At this point this franchise has gone from the classic street racing of exotic and flashy custom cars to now international special operations. This "family" should just honestly just open up their own private security or private military company. Fast 9 truly went too far in trying to deliver a spy thriller that was truly too much and teetered on the level of a Michael Bay film. Luckily, this film learned from the mistakes of that film and actually tried to focus on a story. The insane action and ridiculous amount of family quotes are there, but this was dare I say, more toned down than the last few entries of the franchise. The cast of characters continues to grow and some were fun and some others felt shoved in for no reason. Also, there is an abundance of magic that happens in this film where somehow a character just appears without any explanation or origin.
Like I said the cast keeps growing in these films so I'm just gonna highlight the ones that actually stood out. Vin Diesel continues to lead the franchise as Dominic Toretto and I liked that he starts to actually show some worry this time around. He takes to the role of fatherhood very well in a number of scenes, but he can't help himself and somehow gets back in the action. Michelle Rodriguez is always fun and as Letty, she gets to have her moments to kick ass in the last half of the film. Ludacris, Tyrese Gibson and Nathalie Emmanuel return as the fun hacker trio Tej, Roman Pearce, Ramsey and they continue to have the best chemistry in the more comedic scenes. Sung Kang returns as Han and he doesn't really have much to do until he finally faces off with Jason Statham's character, Deckard Shaw. Its not the fight we dreamed of, but a decent fight and eventual team up. John Cena returns as Dom's brother Jakob and he is a far step away from the tough and stoic nature he was from the previous film. He was still fun to watch though and did what he does best in the action and comedic set pieces. Alan Ritchson was so much fun and excellent as the new Mr. Nobody's Agency leader, Aimes. He isn't as predictable as he may seem and he fits in the fold of the franchise so well. Brie Larson was good as the daughter of Mr. Nobody, Tess. She reminded me why I like her as an actress and she was definitely having fun throughout the film. Charlize Theron returns as the fun and villainous vixen Cypher. She continues that cunning and quiet sinister charm to her personality and I loved that she wasn't the only villain on the roster. Jason Mamoa was a complete maniac of a rockstar as Dante Reyes. If there was ever a villain that felt shoe horned, but then evolved into something memorable, he would be the very definition. He is flamboyant yet unpredictable and vicious in his devilishly playful nature. I loved that he played mind games with Dom and others as his words always had multiple meaning. He is too good for this franchise and he lets you know it with all the genuine fun he is having.
The score by the great Brian Tyler keeps the adrenaline pumping in all the action scenes and brings back all the familiar themes he created throughout the series. The action in this film is on par with the absolutely ridiculous and over the top nature this franchise has turned into. Even with that said, I couldn't help but notice that there was an actual effort to tone it down this time. Yeah sure you have the pinball machine sequence in Italy and then the Dam sequence, but for the most part, it was actually believable. I think the team behind these films realized the problem and are slowly going back to basics maybe. There was an actual race in this film and it was the most tension fueled race I've seen in this franchise since the fourth film. There are so many moments where people just show up out of nowhere and the pacing of this entry was very quick which was a plus. Overall, I found this entry to be easily entertaining and without the amount of idiocracy of F9. There is a character that returns and you'll ask yourself how and I hope in Fast 11 they actually explain it instead of the nonsensical way they did with Han. Do stick around for the mid credit scene that has a surprise, but with the launching point of the story of Fast Five, you'll know who it is immediately. Let me know what you thought of the film or my review in the comments below. Thanks for reading!
