movie review fast x

Has the Fast & Furious franchise earned a victory lap? That’s the key question behind an appraisal of “Fast X,” a film that brazenly plays like a Greatest Hits collection from a hit artist. Not only does it directly link to the massive, franchise-turning “ Fast Five ” in its narrative, but it constantly recalls other films in this series either through direct mention or action beats designed to recall similar moments in movies like “ Fast & Furious 6 ,” “ Furious 7 ,” and “ The Fate of the Furious .” The script by Dan Mazeau and “Fast Five” director  Justin Lin (who left the film after creative differences and whose absence is felt in terms of action choreography) is like a snake eating its own tail, often playing like a parody of the franchise more than a new entry that cruises on its own four wheels. Even as it’s spinning through enjoyably goofy action set pieces, most of them enlivened greatly by a fun performance from Jason Momoa , there’s a desperate familiarity to all of “Fast X” that makes it even more like reheated leftovers than it has before. This is reportedly the start of a trilogy that will close the series. Let’s hope they come up with at least one fresh idea in the next two flicks.

Maybe it’s the leaden way in which director Louis Leterrier treats these beloved characters, but the opening scenes of “Fast X” are among the worst in all ten films, a cavalcade of conversations about family, legacy, and other FF tropes. It’s one thing for a character like Dom Toretto ( Vin Diesel ) to preach the importance of family, but it’s another with notes of Charlie Puth playing over gauzy shots of him looking at press stills of Paul Walker . There was an opportunity here to give us “Old Man Dom”—he is 56, after all—but it’s as if Diesel and his team have no idea what that looks like other than to make their tough guy a little wistful. There’s an odd construction to these early scenes that use the oft-parodied trope of Dom saying “family” as a constant whipping post. They diminish what these films were at their best (installments five through seven) by reducing Toretto and his gang to their most obvious qualities. No one expects great character depth at this point, but do we need so many scenes of Dom grunting “family” and looking worried when he sees his son ‘Little B’ ( Leo Abelo Perry )?

“Fast X” improves greatly when Momoa’s Dante Reyes begins his plan to torture Dom and his furious family. Roman ( Tyrese Gibson ), Tej (Ludacris), and Ramsey ( Nathalie Emmanuel ) head off to Rome on a mission, but it’s a trap designed by Reyes, the son of Hernan Reyes, who was killed when Dom and company rolled a safe through Rio in “Fast Five.” Dante says repeatedly that he doesn’t want to kill Dom; he wants him to suffer. That apparently entails an elaborate scheme to frame the gang as terrorists after a bomb explodes in the Italian capital. Following the construction of these films, at least since Vin and The Rock broke up, it’s just a way to divide the crew. Roman, Tej, Ramsey, and Han ( Sung Kang ) flee to London, where they run into Shaw ( Jason Statham ), of course. Letty ( Michelle Rodriguez ) ends up captured, and only Mr. Nobody’s daughter Tess ( Brie Larson ) and Cipher ( Charlize Theron ) can get her out. And that crowded synopsis doesn’t even include John Cena , Jordana Brewster , Daniela Melchior , Helen Mirren , Rita Moreno , or Alan Ritchson . It’s a crowded street race of a blockbuster.

And yet all of these famous faces are given so little to do. The Roman/Tej banter has never felt more tired; Moreno & Mirren each get one “supporting Dom” scene that sounds like A.I. wrote it; Cena gets trapped with Perry on an awkwardly conceived and executed road trip; only Theron and Rodriguez get to have any real fun in their subplot, fighting it out in one of the film’s best combat scenes. For the most part, “Fast X” is the Dom & Dante Show, and the film is at its most effective when it bounces Diesel & Momoa’s very different screen personas off each other. Diesel seems more stoic than ever while Momoa plays to the back row, going for flamboyant psychotic with every scene. He’s like a giant child in a superhero’s body, sticking out his tongue and gleefully hopping into chaos with a “Here we go!”

“Fast X” opens with a repurposing of one of the most famous scenes in the franchise from “Fast Five,” only inserting a de-aged Momoa into the action that fans remember. It’s almost as if that inciting idea became the creative force behind the entire film. Someone listed the best action scenes on a whiteboard and then asked how the energy of Momoa’s Dante could shift them. Sometimes it works. A drag race scene in Rio captures that more grounded energy from when the series was actually about people driving fast instead of defying physics. There’s a plane dropping a car again and harpoons with wires on the end. Even when the goofy action is working, it’s hard to shake the sense that all of “Fast X” is an echo of something you’ve seen before, and often done better with a director who understands stunt work and action geography better than the mediocre Leterrier. It doesn’t help that “Fast X” often looks poorly rendered in CGI terms, with actors more obviously against green-screen backgrounds than before. It reduces the stakes when we’re clearly watching something that’s more visual effects than stunt work.

All of this “rock band encore with new pyrotechnics” approach becomes even less forgivable because of where “Fast X” lands. Or rather doesn’t. Without spoiling, Diesel has revealed that this is the start of a franchise-ending trilogy, and that information probably leaked pre-premiere to soften the blow of a blockbuster with no ending. I’m talking “ Avengers: Infinity War ” level climax here. Characters are left presumed dead, in jeopardy, and still divided. This movie’s race down memory lane goes arguably nowhere, forcing fans to wait for satisfaction. It makes “Fast X” into less of a victory lap than a loud, expensive revving of engines that haven’t even crossed the starting line. It just adds to the sense that this isn’t so much about family or fun as it is finances.

In theaters tomorrow, May 18 th .

Brian Tallerico

Brian Tallerico is the Managing Editor of RogerEbert.com, and also covers television, film, Blu-ray, and video games. He is also a writer for Vulture, The Playlist, The New York Times, and GQ, and the President of the Chicago Film Critics Association.

• Vin Diesel as Dominic Toretto
• Michelle Rodriguez as Letty Ortiz
• Tyrese Gibson as Roman Pearce
• Ludacris as Tej Parker
• Jason Momoa as Dante Reyes
• Nathalie Emmanuel as Ramsey
• Jordana Brewster as Mia Toretto
• John Cena as Jakob Toretto
• Jason Statham as Deckard Shaw
• Sung Kang as Han Lue
• Alan Ritchson as Agent Aimes
• Daniela Melchior as Isabel
• Scott Eastwood as Little Nobody
• Helen Mirren as Magdalene 'Queenie' Shaw
• Charlize Theron as Cipher
• Brie Larson as Tess
• Rita Moreno as Abuelita Toretto
• Brian Tyler

Writer (story by)

• Dylan Highsmith
• Kelly Matsumoto

Writer (characters)

• Gary Scott Thompson
• Louis Leterrier

Cinematographer

• Stephen F. Windon

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‘fast x’ review: jason momoa makes a memorable villain in an action-stuffed franchise installment that’s for fans only.

Vin Diesel headlines a huge cast of new and familiar faces in this 10th film in the hugely successful, car-driven franchise, directed by Louis Leterrier.

By Frank Scheck

Frank Scheck

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The Fast and Furious movies may all be about fast cars, but the franchise has gotten so congested it’s a wonder they’re able to break the speed limit.

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Considering the amount of money these films have made for Universal, and the fact that the series has gone longer than many of its current viewers will have been alive, it’s hard to blame Vin Diesel and company for taking a victory lap. Or laps, as this supposed end to the franchise (please contact me about the bridge I’m selling) has recently been rumored to be the first of not two parts but three.

This edition provides more of what its fans have come to expect, and by “more” I mean “MORE.” As in: more characters, more stunts, more explosions, more chases, more locations, more everything. Thankfully, Fast X doesn’t venture into outer space, which should really be left to James Bond and Tom Cruise. The film also harkens back to its hardscrabble beginnings by featuring a mid-film racing scene between its main hero and villain for no apparent reason whatsoever. But then again, there’s always time in this cinematic universe for a totally extraneous street race.

The Fast franchise has gotten so convoluted that non-rabid fans should prepare to do serious homework before seeing this installment, directed by series newcomer Louis Leterrier ( The Transporter , Now You See Me ), who stepped in on short notice when original director Justin Lin backed out after coming to the conclusion that “this movie is not worth my mental health.”

That’s because Fast X is directly connected to that predecessor in that the main baddie in this one, Dante ( Jason Momoa ), turns out to be the son of the Brazilian drug kingpin killed by Dom Toretto (Diesel) and crew back in 2011. And don’t blame your memory if you don’t remember Momoa appearing in that elaborate chase on the bridge in that film. He’s been retconned into the footage to make it clear that Dante holds a very strong grudge over his father’s death. It seems that Dom isn’t the only one in this series who gets emotional over the loss of family members.

Momoa, it turns out, is one of the best things to ever happen to the franchise. He’s the best villain by far (not to mention that he does many of his own stunts) and thoroughly steals the film with his delightfully unhinged portrayal of Dante, who interrupts his nefarious activities to inform the ever-macho Dom that his “carpet matches the drapes.” Momoa is not exactly an actor associated with lightness, but here he practically dances the role as much as acts it, taking such frenetically gleeful delight in his character’s sadistic taunting that you practically root for him even when he threatens to destroy the Vatican. He gives the impression of having huffed nitrous oxide before every take. Dante makes the Joker look like a depressive, and he’s so damn entertaining that he lifts the series to new heights.

The core crew — including Michelle Rodriguez , Tyrese Gibson , Chris “Ludacris” Bridges, Brewster, Nathalie Emmanuel, Sung Kang, etc. — is back, except this time they’re divided into various groups scattered across the globe, the better to showcase locations including Rome, Lisbon and London, among others. (I assume the film didn’t actually shoot in Antarctica, where some scenes are set, but with this kind of money involved you never know.) Needless to say, most of these cities become the worse for wear from the experience, especially Rome, which suffers mightily as a result of an extravagant chase sequence and a massive bomb going off. With both this film and the upcoming Mission: Impossible — Dead Reckoning: Part One nearly laying the city to waste, it wouldn’t be surprising if skittish tourists avoid the Spanish Steps for a while.

Cena is another standout, displaying charm and solid comic chops in the numerous scenes in which Jakob protects Dom’s young son (Leo Abelo Perry, delivering perfectly calibrated wide-eyed stares) from Dante. This includes the pair escaping a passenger plane filled with bad guys by taking off in, what else, a smaller plane located in the cargo hold.

Twice in the film, giant lumbering objects ricochet through crowded city streets, wreaking absolute havoc in their wake. They’re perfect visual metaphors for the movies themselves, so stuffed with over-the-top mayhem and testosterone-fueled macho aggressiveness that they’ve become utterly ridiculous. What saves Fast X is that it’s so aware of its own absurdity that it becomes an entertaining parody of itself. Why else would one of the characters point out, “The real question is, How did we let this go on so long?” It seems a safe bet that this opening weekend’s grosses will provide enough of an explanation.  

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‘Fast X’ Review: Massive ‘Fast & Furious’ Endgame Explodes Into View with an Outrageous New Villain

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Relying on homages to past stunts (like Diesel’s Dom Toretto driving out of a moving plane) and surprise appearances by long lost characters, the movie lays the groundwork for a possibly three-part finale (as Diesel has indicated) . Whether it has any new tricks up its sleeve still remains to be seen, though it’s unclear if that matters to its many diehard fans. Related Stories Philadelphia Film Festival 2024 to Honor Sean Baker with Retrospective and ‘Anora’ 35mm Screening Donald Glover Says ‘Lando’ Film Still Lives and Will ‘Bring Fun’ Back to the ‘Star Wars’ Franchise

Following the mantra of go ginormous or go home, “Fast X” rallies its many disparate characters against a shared enemy. (Never mind that some of the more forgettable ones would have been better left alone.) Operating on the adage that “the enemy of my enemy is my friend,” this installment brings previous rivals together to stop a demonic psychopath who will stop at nothing to teach Dom the painful lesson that he can’t save everyone.

It must be gospel in Hollywood that every leading man reveres and studies Heath Ledger’s Oscar-winning Joker performance, proven out by Jason Momoa’s outrageously flamboyant take on the aggrieved villain Dante. Often laughing maniacally at his own evil genius, Dante drives a purple car, and sports silk pants and purple nails, because: “It tones down the masculinity, which we all need these days.” This winking nod at shifting norms might be less complicated to enjoy if it wasn’t said while giving pedicures to a group of corpses. Instead, Universal is engaging in the oldest trick in the book, using flamboyance (read: queerness) to signal psychopathic supervillain. Pitted against the raging paternalism of Dom Toretto’s singular guiding purpose to protect his family at all costs, the moral edict is crystal clear.

Now 12 years old and able to sustain his own B-plot, Brian gets his own mini road movie while on the lam with Uncle Jakob (John Cena). Introduced as the tepid villain of “F9,” Dom’s long lost brother fits much more easily into the family as the good guy he was always meant to be. Tasked with keeping Brian safe, he and the kid set out on a charming little side adventure that offers a sweet diversion from the flashier antics. Cue adorable hijinks surrounding the nostalgic magic of mix tapes and lessons in swearing.

The same can’t be said for the other members of the extended family, though they certainly start things off with a bang. Running point on an operation in his namesake city Rome (a confusing choice), Roman (Tyrese Gibson) heads up the dream team of longtime favorites Tej (Ludacris), Han (Sun Kang), and recently introduced hacktivist Ramsey (Nathalie Emmanuel). But the for-hire job ends up being a trap set by Dante in order to lure Dom to come to their rescue. When a truck of what they think is computer chips ends up carrying a massive bomb, suddenly a simple heist turns into a world-saving mission.

With their old CIA contact Mr. Nobody (Kurt Russell) mysteriously in the wind, Dom and the family find themselves the target of unsympathetic new boss Aimes (Alan Ritchson). Luckily, Dom is saved by a rogue agent determined to fulfill her father’s legacy, a cheerful but competent Brie Larson as his new CIA ally Tess. Defying her shifty new meathead of a superior Aimes, Tess tracks down Letty in a remote black-ops site, reuniting her with her old pal Cipher for an epic escape and survival plan.

With Dante’s fixation on proving to Dom that family isn’t forever, motivated by his back story, it’s only natural that the climactic battle end in an epic chase for Brian’s survival. Dom has to make some sacrifices along the way, but not before yet again landing a race car from a moving plane, and driving full speed down the side of a Hoover-sized dam. The action delivers, but the film ‘s third act suffers from an excess of set-ups, cameos, and minor deaths played up as major losses. After all, they have (at least) two more to go.

Universal Pictures will release “Fast X” in theaters on Friday, May 19.

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Fast X Reviews

Fast X is big dumb fun in its purest form, an example of a troubled production turning into a diamond under pressure. Guilty or not, there’s no mistaking the pleasure at the center of Fast X.

Full Review | Original Score: 4/5 | Aug 22, 2024

It's a 141-minute barrage of car carnage, beautiful women gyrating in short skirts, street races, insane tricks, explosions, double crosses, globe-trotting missions and Dom’s iconic black Dodge Charger R/T. Vroom-vroom.

Full Review | Original Score: B | Jul 7, 2024

Fast X has many inconsistencies. It has plenty of mediocre performances and egregious attempts at fan service, too. But it doesn't matter. No one who pays money to see the TENTH installment in The Fast and the Furious watches the film for these reasons.

Full Review | Original Score: A- | Mar 6, 2024

The entire movie is an intellectual nightmare... This franchise peaked long ago.

Full Review | Original Score: 1/5 | Oct 27, 2023

Fast X maintains the key ingredients and takes them to the max. [Full review in Spanish]

Full Review | Original Score: 3/5 | Oct 3, 2023

Tiresome in all the ways it should kick ass.

Full Review | Original Score: D+ | Oct 2, 2023

Roman and Tej have their banter, and Cena's Jakob brings some much needed self-deprecation, but Momoa's Dante is a delightfully catty bitch, and really saves Fast X from getting bogged down in the franchise's combo of gonzo idiocy and weepy telenovela.

Full Review | Original Score: 3/5 | Sep 8, 2023

Fast X devours every iteration of the franchise and spits the biggest, fastest, and most ridiculous parts back at you, sometimes without chewing.

Full Review | Sep 7, 2023

Vin Diesel’s Dom is particularly monosyllabic and earnest (Vin does takes these films very seriously) but mostly the rest of the crew turn up in scenes that are so disparate that it’s hard to connect with them.

Full Review | Sep 6, 2023

All that we liked about the franchise is there including monster motors, vaguely juvenile jousting (we did find it funny when we were younger and more confused) and a spot of street racing

Full Review | Aug 27, 2023

Just as surely as the Earth circles the sun, there are some certainties to be found in the Fast & Furious franchise as it hits #10 in the series.

Full Review | Original Score: 2/4 | Aug 12, 2023

A certain degree of improbability is acceptable in a massive action film but eventually the laws of physics do trump everything else.

Full Review | Original Score: C- | Aug 11, 2023

It shows clear signs of wear and tear in every boring chase that sends Vin Diesel down avenues to defy the laws of physics in his 1970 Dodge Charger R/T. [Full review in Spanish]

Full Review | Original Score: 4/10 | Aug 9, 2023

... pushes the envelope on everything, reason be damned, resulting in the high-octane excitement you expect, though it makes the least amount of sense out of the entire series.

Full Review | Original Score: 3/5 | Aug 7, 2023

As a direct counterpart to Vin Diesel, who still seems like the only one in the cast still taking any of this remotely seriously, Momoa has quickly shot to the top of the list of series bad guys by being just as over-the-top as he can be.

Full Review | Original Score: 3.5/5 | Jul 25, 2023

There's no telling how many more of these movies Diesel and Company have up their sleeves, but at least this one tries its best to set the stage for a new trilogy with a befitting villain in Jason Momoa.

Full Review | Jul 25, 2023

Look, if you're gonna see and Fast & the Furious you know what you're gonna get. You know there's gonna be car chases, you know it's gonna be over-the-top, but I still enjoyed this movie.

Full Review | Original Score: 8/10 | Jul 24, 2023

Fast X desperately wants to be a fun popcorn summer flick. The film manages to achieve that status quite a few times, but the runtime is so sprawling, the script so nonsensical, and the action sequences so drawn-out that it cannot sustain the levity.

Full Review | Jul 24, 2023

Not the best Fast & Furious film but the fact that the film goes back to the basics and forgets about things like going into space makes it a worthy addition to the franchise.

Full Review | Original Score: 3.5/5 | Jul 22, 2023

Living on-screen life a quarter mile at a time now seems more like a variety show than a movie, at least where all that recognisable talent is involved.

Full Review | Jul 22, 2023

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‘Fast X’ Review: Drivers Wanted. Again.

Twenty-two years and nine sequels in, the “Fast and Furious” franchise is finding it hard to keep the thrill alive.

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By Wesley Morris

So much has gone over the top in these “Fast and Furious” movies — stunt work and demolition, obviously; but also family trees, racing, race , plots, pates, biceps, upper backs — that it wasn’t until I saw what Jason Momoa was up to in this new installment, “Fast X,” that I realized how much the acting had stayed under the table. He swoops in to play a flamboyant terrorist named Dante Reyes. And it’s pretty clear, from the pitiful quips he’s been given and the light-loafer treatment he’s going for, that the mustache Momoa’s twirling isn’t his. It’s Rip Taylor’s.

For half a century, Taylor ran all over American TV in a hail of confetti that he threw for himself. He didn’t act. He made appearances. That’s how Momoa operates here, showing up wherever the movie needs him (on patio furniture, at the top of the Aldeadávila Dam ) in lavender and snakeskin and billowing everything, horny to blow something up. These movies have been out of good ideas since “Furious 7” eight years ago , mired in government-flavored tug-of-wars over hacking, surveillance and tech. And Momoa’s here to zhuzh things up. So along with Taylor’s mustache, Momoa twirls himself. It’s like watching an overcup oak go trick-or-treating as a Christmas tree.

And yet, even though he destroys the Spanish Steps of Rome with alacrity and purrs lines like, “I know what you’re thinking. And yes: the carpet matches the drapes,” it’s not zhuzh-y enough. Momoa is giving the Joker. But Cesar Romero’s. Of course, he’s the only person here committed to clear and present lunacy, going for post-macho chill, refashioning the quote marks around him into neck pillows.

Five movies and a dozen years ago, Dom (Vin Diesel) and the gang trashed favelas in Rio de Janeiro and killed Dante’s drug-lord father (along with scores of innocent Brazilians, but we’re not going there today). Now, with the series at the bottom of its barrel, Dante wants revenge. This means sending a giant bomb barreling toward the Vatican. He doesn’t quite pull that off, but his wish comes true to make wanted terrorists of Dom and the rest of the gang, creating a rift between them and the feds they covertly work for and spoiling the driving lessons Dom had been giving to his 8-year-old son, Brian (Leo Abelo Perry).

There are about five intersected plot lines, credited to Justin Lin and Dan Mazeau (the director Louis Leterrier replaces Lin as mayhem manager). Dom on the run; Dom’s brother, Jakob (John Cena), babysitting Brian (they’re on the run, too); some of Dom’s crew — Roman (Tyrese Gibson), Tej (Chris “Ludacris” Bridges), Han (Sung Kang) and Ramsey (Nathalie Emmanuel) — all but backpacking through Europe; Dom’s wife, Letty (Michelle Rodriguez), arrested and locked up alongside the crew’s cyberterrorist nemesis, Cipher (Charlize Theron); and the two feds, Aimes (Alan Ritchson) and Tess (Brie Larson), at odds with each other over whether to aid or apprehend the “F&F” gang. And just about every strand stems from Dante’s pique and gets left as a cliffhanger that won’t be resolved until years from now in, what, “Fast X+1”?

The best I can say about all of this is that it didn’t bore me. But this is a series that, by the time its fourth and fifth installments arrived, had merged the original movie’s casually erotic, multiethnic, omni-racial car culture with the “can’t top that” set pieces of Hollywood summer movies. It wasn’t that that fusion was never boring. It had the thrill of newness. How many times have I laughed, in awe, at what this series could do with all kinds of vehicles and the people behind them. It insisted that a universe of nonwhite folks could meet the priorities of blockbuster filmmaking and still rake up money around the globe. And it was exciting to see who they could enfold into that agenda (Dwayne Johnson, Jason Statham, Helen Mirren, Kurt Russell).

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‘Fast X’ review: Jason Momoa’s big bad revs up the franchise engine

Clever cameos and a delicious new villain mean this is the best F&F movie for years

W here do you take a series when you’re 10 films in and you’ve already driven a car into space? The mad beauty of the Fast franchise is that it can pretty much go anywhere, even when it’s been everywhere. If we can believe it though, the supercar saga is finally running out of road, with this the first of a mammoth two-part finale.

It only takes a few minutes for the action to rev up. Within a few scenes we’re watching a plot to blow up The Pope with a giant comedy bomb that rolls through Rome like a boulder. Throw in a gold Lamborghini that’s so shiny it blinds people; a pop-up glider that’s powered by whiskey miniatures; and a scene where Pete Davidson feeds Sung Kang an acid-laced muffin, and we’re firmly back where we left off last time when everyone flew back from the moon in time for a BBQ.

You can still play a dangerous drinking game by taking a shot every time Vin Diesel says “it’s all about family” (It’s not, of course, it’s all about cars), but the plot this time really does manage to involve everyone’s brother, mother and long-lost uncle.

Opening with a flashback to the best bit of the best film in the franchise so far, we watch the Rio heist from 2011’s Fast Five from a different angle – this time seeing that dastardly baddie Hernan Reyes also had a dastardly son called Dante (Jason Momoa). Spending 10 years plotting vengeance on the Fast family for stealing his dad’s money, Dante now buys an army of tanks, sports cars and military jets to try and blow everyone up in beautiful locations.

The last film topped up the cast list with John Cena, Puerto Rican rapper Ozuna and Cardi B . This time we also get Momoa, Rita Moreno, Daniela Melchior and Brie Larson. And that’s on top of the massive roster of big names that are already part of the family – including some that have technically died already (who’s counting?). The credits alone go some way to explain how this is one of the most expensive films ever made, but throw in a few hundred exploding cars and $340million seems like a steal.

Director Louis Leterrier ( The Transporter , Now You See Me ) replaces Justin Lin behind the wheel without letting up on the pedal, but the real draw here is Momoa. Looking like he’s having more fun than anyone ever has at their job, Momoa’s evil peacock is the best thing in the series so far – singing and dancing his way through all the cartoon mayhem in a pair of pink hair ribbons. The franchise has always been deeply homoerotic, but it’s never been this openly, joyfully camp – adding the one extra sundae topping that no one even knew they were missing.

Recommended

When Momoa isn’t on screen and stuff isn’t exploding, the daft dialogue almost sinks the film into parody. Sure, no one’s ever watched a Fast film for the talking, but so much time spent between set-pieces means we only really get half of a film a here – the big final cliffhanger stopping just as it’s getting going.

One last-minute cameo makes no sense, and is hilarious, followed by a mid-credit cameo that makes plenty of sense and is even funnier – lining up a 2025 encore to sink all encores. Has Fast 11 got anywhere left to go? Of course not. But that’s not going to stop it flooring it all the way there anyway.

• Director: Louis Leterrier
• Starring: Vin Diesel, Jason Momoa, Charlize Theron
• Release date: May 19 (in cinemas)
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Dom Toretto and his family are targeted by the vengeful son of drug kingpin Hernan Reyes. Dom Toretto and his family are targeted by the vengeful son of drug kingpin Hernan Reyes. Dom Toretto and his family are targeted by the vengeful son of drug kingpin Hernan Reyes.

• Louis Leterrier
• Michelle Rodriguez
• Jason Statham
• 1.2K User reviews
• 250 Critic reviews
• 56 Metascore
• 2 wins & 15 nominations

Top cast 61

• Dominic Toretto

• (as Chris 'Ludacris' Bridges)

• Little Nobody

• Little Brian
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• Trivia The word family is said 56 times in this film.
• Goofs Lifts cannot fail in the way shown. The instant the tension in the cables drops the brakes engage and the car is then held in place by it's own weight. The lift would have dropped a few feet at most and more likely only inches.

[from trailer]

Cipher : [waking up on operating table alongside Letty] Good morning, sunshine.

Letty Ortiz : You gotta be kidding me.

• Crazy credits SPOILER: A mid-credits scene shows a special forces team entering a theater, finding a video message from Dante Reyes announcing another target for his revenge: even though Dominic Toretto injured his father, it was Luke Hobbs who finally shot and killed him. It is then revealed that it is Hobbs who is leading the team and watching the message, stating that he is ready to take on Dante Reyes.
• Connections Edited into Fast X: Gag Reel (2023)
• Soundtracks 9 in My Hand (Fast X Remix) Written by Key Glock (as Markeyvius Cathey), Kordhell Performed by Kordhell & Key Glock Produced by Kordhell Kordhell appears courtesy of Artist Partner Group, Inc./Black 17 Media Key Glock appears courtesy of Paper Route Empire

User reviews 1.2K

• May 21, 2023
• How long is Fast X? Powered by Alexa
• May 19, 2023 (United States)
• United States
• Aksiyon Filmleri
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• Rápidos y furiosos X
• A24 Highway AKA Autoestrada do Interior Norte, Portugal (A24 Highway, Portugal)
• Universal Pictures
• China Film Co., Ltd.
• See more company credits at IMDbPro
• $340,000,000 (estimated)
• $146,126,015
• $67,017,410
• $704,875,015

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• Runtime 2 hours 21 minutes
• Dolby Digital
• Dolby Atmos

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Movie Review: A delicious Jason Momoa saves ‘Fast X’ from furiously speeding off into numbness

This image released by Universal Pictures shows Vin Diesel in a scene from “Fast X.” (Peter Mountain/Universal Pictures via AP)

This image released by Universal Pictures shows Vin Diesel, left, and Daniela Melchior in a scene from “Fast X.” (Peter Mountain/Universal Pictures via AP)

This image released by Universal Pictures shows Vin Diesel in a scene from “Fast X.” (Universal Pictures via AP)

This image released by Universal Pictures shows a scene from “Fast X.” (Giulia Parmigiani/Universal Pictures via AP)

This image released by Universal Pictures shows, clockwise from left, Michelle Rodriguez, Sung Kang, Nathalie Emmanuel, Vin Diesel, Leo Abelo Perry, Rita Morena, Jordana Brewster, Ludacris and Tyrese Gibson in a scene from “Fast X.” (Peter Mountain/Universal Pictures via AP)

This image released by Universal Pictures shows Jason Momoa in a scene from “Fast X.” (Giulia Parmigiani/Universal Pictures via AP)

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Fans and critics may disagree over when exactly the “Fast & Furious” franchise jumped the shark, but there is only one correct answer: When the Pontiac Fiero went into space.

Weightless and violating every physical law, the floating car — tasked with bumping a satellite in the ninth installment — was the very symbol of how bloated and crazed the once-plucky series had become. There really was no way down after that.

And yet we have come to 10, part of a planned series of films finally saying goodbye. “Fast X” is, thankfully, shackled to Earth’s gravity — sometimes tenuously, it must be said — but it has become almost camp, as if it breathed in too much of its own fumes.

“Fast X” reaches into the fifth movie — 2011’s “Fast Five” — for the seeds to tell a new story. In a memorable moment five movies ago, Vin Diesel’s Dom Toretto wrecked a bad guy and his team on a bridge in Rio de Janeiro. Little did we know then, but that bad guy had a son who survived and now, years later, vows vengeance. That’s it. That’s the plot.

That said, “Fast X” is monstrously silly and stupidly entertaining — just Wile E. Coyote stuff, ridiculous stunts employing insane G-forces and everything seemingly on fire. There are elements of “Mission: Impossible,” 007 and “John Wick,” as if all the action franchises were somehow merging. But here’s a warning: It careens to an end without a payoff, a more dangerous stunt than any in the movies themselves.

The film would not be near enough as fun without Jason Momoa, who plays the bad guy’s son as a full-on flamboyant psycho, licking a knife clean after killing someone with it and painting the toenails of a dead victim as he displays the corpse in a demented garden party. “Never accept death when suffering is owed,” he says.

He is half Joaquin Phoenix from “The Joker” and half Jack Sparrow from “Pirates of the Caribbean.” Momoa has a penchant for planning explosions and then standing on a high spot and throwing his arms wide like Christ the Redeemer as the blast wave hits. The film sags as soon as he’s not in it.

Momoa is part of the franchise’s familiar tactic of stacking ever more stars with not enough to do — this time we also welcome Brie Larson, Alan Ritchson, Daniela Melchior and Rita Moreno. There’s even a Pete Davidson cameo.

That’s on top of regulars Michelle Rodriguez, Tyrese Gibson, Chris “Ludacris” Bridges, Jordana Brewster, John Cena, Jason Statham, Charlize Theron, Sung Kang, Scott Eastwood and Helen Mirren, whose attempt once again at a working-class accent is comical. This is a clown car of talent. The poster for the film includes 14 characters, like an Avengers movie.

At the center is the always-sleeveless Diesel, who keeps getting exposed as a truly terrible actor, one who evidently only attended the Brooding 101 seminar in drama school. The filmmakers usually just prop him up in front of a wall of family photos and he stares at them intently. “I only care about protecting the people that I love,” he will growl.

Family — as fans of the franchise know well — is always central, or rather, a gothic zero-sum notion of blood’s bond explained with soap opera dialogue. Toretto must protect family no matter the cost (but apparently OK with leaving his 8-year-old son in someone else’s care as he drag races in Rio). “You know what your problem is?” teases Momoa. “Family. You can’t save them all.”

New director Louis Leterrier — from a screenplay by veteran Justin Lin and newcomers Zach Dean and Dan Mazeau — take us from Los Angeles to Antarctica, threatening much of Rome with a 20 kiloton bomb along the way and ending the movie at the side of a dam in Portugal in a cliffhanger. Stick around for the credits and even more mega-stars are promised for the next installment.

What you get this time are two brutal hand-to-hand fights, a car smashing two helicopters and rush hour traffic, car bombs, remote-controlled cars (big and small), vehicles that leap into the sky like salmon and a plane that drops a souped-up racer from its belly onto the highway.

Taking material from “Fast Five” means the delicate task of returning to Paul Walker, the franchise veteran who died in 2013. Old footage of Walker does appear in “Fast X” as the movie recreates events on that Rio bridge. It is handled respectfully and coolly. In a nice touch, Walker’s daughter, Meadow, has a cameo as a flight attendant.

With a foot in the past, one in the future and one on the gas, “Fast X” is pure popcorn lunacy. Was that too many feet? Oh, excuse us, you wanted logic?

“Fast X,” a Universal Pictures release, is rated PG-13 by the Motion Picture Association of America for intense sequences of violence and action, language and some suggestive material. Running time: 134 minutes. Three stars out of four.

Online: https://www.fastxmovie.com

Mark Kennedy is at http://twitter.com/KennedyTwits

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Fast X review: This franchise is running out of gas

Whenever the newest chapter of the Toretto family saga isn't coasting off the past glories of Fast Five, it's desperately trying to be a superhero movie.

Christian Holub is a writer covering comics and other geeky pop culture. He's still mad about 'Firefly' getting canceled.

Anyone sitting down to watch Fast X is surely a fan of Fast Five … or at least, that's what the makers of the newest installment are counting on. The 2011 blockbuster still stands as the peak of this franchise, the one that turned things up a notch by uniting all the stars from the disparate first four Fast & Furious films into a globe-trotting Avengers-like super-team. The four sequels since then, alas, have gotten more than a little repetitive with their constant cyber-heists and celebrity cameos, so Fast X begins by trying to remind fans of past glories.

The new film from director Louis Leterrier literally reuses footage from the climax of Fast Five , where Dominic Toretto ( Vin Diesel ) and pals stole a bank vault by dragging it through the streets of Rio de Janeiro. This time, new character Dante Reyes ( Jason Momoa ) is clumsily inserted in the background. He's the son of Fast Five antagonist Hernan Reyes (Joaquim de Almeida), you see, and was there the whole time! This is a cheap way to make a new villain seem menacing and meaningful. Though having Momoa glower and grimace through one of the high-octane highlights of 2010s action cinema is not quite as sacrilegious as Ghostbusters: Afterlife digging up the CGI ghost of Harold Ramis, it's definitely annoying.

It would be one thing if Fast Five director Justin Lin were at the helm, as he was originally supposed to be after returning to the franchise for 2021's F9 , but Lin mysteriously dropped out as director of Fast X less than a week into filming. That makes the recycled footage feel a bit too much like stealing valor by ripping off the work of a master action filmmaker to make this less-stellar successor seem more important.

In any case, the plot of Fast X (out this weekend) follows Dante's revenge scheme against Dom for killing his father. This isn't "eye for an eye," though; Dante believes that he should "never accept death when suffering is owed." So rather than kill Dom, Dante seeks to hurt him by targeting his beloved family that you've heard so much about. First introduced in 2017's The Fate of the Furious , Dom's son Brian Marcos has grown from a baby into a young teenager (Leo Abelo Perry) who's inherited his dad's love of cars. Naturally, he is Dante's primary target.

Momoa plays Dante like a flamboyant Disney villain, which is a cute change of pace but fits uneasily in the world of the movie. No question this franchise is silly — remember when Tej (Ludacris) and Roman (Tyrese Gibson) went to space in the last one? — but having one character constantly ridiculing the others and making mockery of everything feels maybe a little too on-the-nose.

After that opening retcon flashback, Fast X employs another tired cliche to artificially inflate Dante's menace. Within minutes, the franchise's former top villain Cipher ( Charlize Theron ) shows up at Dom's door, beaten and bloodied, to moan about how Dante is "the devil" and way worse than she ever was. Okay.

Fast Five 's main competitor for "best 2010s action film centered on cars" was Mad Max: Fury Road , so it made sense to slot that movie's star into this franchise starting with The Fate of the Furious . Yet it's alarming how little they've utilized the greatest action star of our time . After two movies of mostly sitting around in glass boxes and performing hand-wavey feats of "hacking," Theron finally gets a couple Atomic Blonde -worthy fistfights in Fast X , but the actress who played Imperator Furiosa still hasn't been allowed to drive a car. What's that about?

Dante isn't the only new character introduced for Fast X , either. Reacher star Alan Ritchson arrives as Aimes, who has taken over the spy agency once led by Kurt Russell 's Mr. Nobody but is a lot less friendly to Dom and pals than his former boss. Brie Larson , meanwhile, shows up as Mr. Nobody's daughter Tess, who does want to help the Toretto crew. With so many faces new and old squeezed into one 142-minute runtime — we should also mention that another former villain, Jakob Toretto ( John Cena ), is back in a more heroic role — it's hard to get a handle on who exactly Tess is or why we should care about her. There sure are a lot of references to the absent Mr. Nobody, though.

It doesn't help that one of Tess' introductory scenes is set in a biker bar, which feels a little too much like a similar scene from Captain Marvel . In fact, whenever Fast X isn't trying to coast off the highs of Fast Five , it's desperately trying to be a superhero movie. Dom spends most of the movie trying to save lives, which is always nice, but at one point he literally deflects a hail of bullets with a car door like it's Captain America's shield.

Several moments are so reminiscent of Christopher Nolan 's Batman movies that they feel intentional. Fast X 's first action setpiece involves Dom trying to save a city from a gigantic bomb like the one that threatens Gotham in The Dark Knight Rises . When one character pleads "you've done everything you could," Dom even replies "not everything." You can practically hear Christian Bale 's voice completing the quote with "...not yet." Later, Letty ( Michelle Rodriguez ) tries to break out of an underground prison fortress like she's scaling Bane's pit. It's these seemingly serious stakes that sit oddly alongside Momoa's over-the-top campiness. Are we supposed to feel threatened, or is it all just in good fun? Why so serious, Dom?

Obviously our culture is drowning in superhero movies, so it's hard for other stories to escape their gravitational pull. But one nice thing about the Fast franchise used to be how it could deliver a similar type of blockbuster spectacle as the Marvel Cinematic Universe while also doing something distinctly different. Those lines have now blurred, and Fast X has even echoed the most annoying aspect of the superhero genre: The endless serialized storytelling. "The end of the road begins" is a fitting if nonsensical tagline for the new film, because it literally ends on a cliffhanger. Fast X wants all the grandiosity of finality while not actually ending anything. Grade: C

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Fast X Is For the Fans

Our latest ride with the family doesn't quite reach the heights of Fast Five —but it's still fun as heck. And it has Jason Momoa.

“Everyone becomes family. It’s like a cult with cars.” That line from Alan Ritchson’s extremely-tan Aimes comes during the character’s Fast X introduction, a scene that essentially acts as a recap of the Fast & Furious franchise . While this might be seen as an olive branch to the uninitiated, Fast X is best viewed as a ride for just the existing family who have already formed their own very big Fast cult—and that’s OK.

Much has been made of how far Fas t has strayed from the original film, 2001’s The Fast and the Furious , in which a couple of amateur street racers stole DVD players—and the climactic scene was a quarter-mile race in Los Angeles. Fast-forward two decades, and Dominic Toretto (Vin Diesel) and company have flown cars (multiple times), jumped buildings, raced a submarine, and soared into space. Fast X director Louis Leterrier , who took over Fast when veteran Justin Lin suddenly departed the project, is a full-fledged member of the Fast fan cult. He promised a return to the early days of the franchise, and, specifically, street racing. Unfortunately, when your characters have suddenly become a mix of James Bond, Ethan Hunt, and the Incredible Hulk, the stakes have been raised to such a heightened level that a gritty, old-school race feels out of place.

But the Fast installment that X is most easily compared to isn’t The Fast and the Furious , but rather Fast Five. It probably isn’t the shadow you want to live in, considering Lin’s 2011 masterpiece is the consensus high point of the franchise, and one of the best action films of its time. With a script co-written by Lin, X opens by showing Five ’s infamous safe heist through the streets of Rio de Janeiro via a new perspective: Dante Reyes (Jason Momoa), the son of Five big bad Hernan Reyes (Joaquim de Almeida). As seen in Five , Papa Reyes is killed. Dante is retconned into Fast and onto that bridge in Rio, as he barely survives. Jumping ahead 10 years, “the devil,” as he’s described by fellow villain Cipher (Charlize Theron), Dante lures Dom and the family to Rome to begin his vengeance tour. “Never accept death when suffering is owed,” he constantly declares.

There are at least five different movies going on within Fast X : reformed villain Jakob (John Cena) is now-jolly and fun-loving, and on a road trip with his nephew. Cipher and Letty (Michelle Rodriguez) are forced into a reluctant partnership (give us this spinoff!). Han (Sung Kang), Roman (Tyrese Gibson), Ramsey (Nathalie Emmanuel), and Tej ( Chris “Ludacris” Bridges ) are just kind of hanging out. For some reason, The Agency gets a full-blown expansion, featuring Aimes, Little Nobody (Scott Eastwood), and Tess (Brie Larson). Then, by far, the most entertaining film-within-an-overstuffed film, is the cat-and-mouse game between Dom and Dante. There’s plenty of fun to be had in Fast X , whether it be Cipher and Letty’s brutal fight, or a never-ending pursuit of a bomb through Rome. While Fast X is far from reaching the heights of Fast Five , or one of the other top-tier Fast s, it does have something that the previous films can’t compete with: MOMOA.

[Jason Momoa's Dante] paints the toenails of dead men, licks a hostage, and calls Dom a butthole.

Having now seen the film twice, it’s still hard to believe that Momoa’s hilariously weird and insane performance was allowed in a reported $340 million blockbuster. Here’s just a small list of things that Dante does in Fast X : he curtsies and says “enchanté” when he first meets Dom, paints the toenails of dead men, licks a hostage, and calls Dom a butthole. Still, that’s not even doing it justice. Momoa is the definition of going for it —and the Aquaman star being turned up to 100 is worth the price of admission alone.

Fast X is (allegedly) the penultimate installment of the series, and the first in a two-part grand finale. Leterrier isn’t afraid to fall back on using the earlier films as references and Easter eggs; diehards might not even catch the shoutout to Los Bandoleros , a 2009 short film written and directed by Diesel that served as a Fast 4 prequel. Some might think that it’s bad business to make a movie that might require homework or a working knowledge of the Fast Universe, but Fast X is the 10th film in a franchise that has raked in more than $6 billion around the globe—there’s an existing audience that has been locked in for 20 years. It’s unlikely that newcomers will finally give Fast a chance because, say, Rita Moreno is joining the family as Dom’s abuela. So you might as well appeal directly to those who have traveled from the streets of Los Angeles all the way to space.

That said, in comparison to the last film, F9 , Fast X is an improvement. When positioned as a sequel to Fast Five , asking for judgement alongside that level of perfection, X falls short. Fast Five was a heist film that felt like a big departure from Fast 1 , but it still had some of the same ingredients and heart. It worked because of the impressive, but practical, action set pieces and the beloved family all being together. (Plus Dwayne Johnson’s unforgettable Fast debut.) Meanwhile, X tries to recapture some of the Five magic, but with too much going on and the characters completely separated.

Then, suddenly, X remembers that it’s supposed to be the Infinity War to Fast X Part II ’s Endgame , concluding with, at minimum, four major cliffhangers. The instinct is to leave the theater annoyed that you’ll be waiting two years for resolution, especially considering the obvious: the characters whose fates are left up in the air will survive. And yet, two shocking tags will have real fans buzzing on their way out. So, even if Fast X largely gives you the sense that the end of the road should be imminent , Part II is set up to be an epic swan song.

And yes, I can’t quit this cult.

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‘Fast X’ Review: Bizarro Jason Momoa Villain Hijacks Overcrowded and Predictably Ridiculous Sequel

With a new director (Louis Leterrier) in the driver's seat, this first part of a vaguely defined finale spins its wheels while Vin Diesel & Co. try to decide where the franchise is going.

By Peter Debruge

Peter Debruge

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Every race needs a finish line. For the “Fast & Furious” franchise, the studio keeps shoving it farther down the road, at least according to Vin Diesel , who suggested at the world premiere of the 10th installment — a brainless but action-packed thrill ride billed as “ Fast X ” — that Universal might split the “finale” over three movies . Why not seven? Or 20 more, for that matter? That might allow Diesel to merge these increasingly desperate sequels with his other running-on-fumes franchise, “XXX.”

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“There’s a war coming. Sides are being chosen, and everyone you love will be destroyed,” warns Charlize Theron’s super-hacker Cipher, who was also a villain last time we checked. But “the enemy of my enemy” and all that. I told you to ignore the script. The filmmakers did, to the point that “X” marks the spot where the property’s most dependable director, Justin Lin, called it quits. You may be tempted to do the same. Then again, if you’ve made it this far, you may as well hold on till “F11” or “FasTwelve.”

Leterrier’s bad with story but reasonably strong on the action front. Characters are constantly jumping in and out of speeding vehicles in these movies, and Leterrier’s job here must have felt somewhat similar, clambering aboard the juggernaut that is the “Fast” franchise in full steam. Fans may forgive the giant leaps of logic, the way pointless scenes (like Pete Davidson’s cameo) devolve into fistfights for no good reason, since such conflict keeps things exciting.

Most of the time, it’s hard to follow why Dom and company are doing what they’re doing, apart from the obvious point that they’re trying not to repeat themselves — which is ironic, since the movie opens with a six-minute rehash of the “Fast Five” climax, with Momoa inserted into the action. He gets blasted off that bridge in Rio, dies for a few seconds and then dedicates the next decade (off-screen) to studying Dom’s every move.

Dante is one of those characters who knows way more about the franchise than you do (Marvel is full of them), making casual viewers feel like they should have done their homework before watching a movie that otherwise asks them to park their brains at the door. Between his Prince-meets-Tiger King wardrobe and the theatrical way he treats mass destruction like a Siegfried and Roy show, Dante’s a weirdly ambiguous character — a curious case of queerbaiting (or just a bad actor’s attempt to make an impression) that coexists alongside the series’ clearly hetero appetites. As always, “Fast X” features extended montages of unnamed and often faceless women in booty shorts twerking before each street race.

Daniela Melchior plays Isabel, one of two new female characters who actually get a name. As Agency operative Tess, Brie Larson is the other. Both are related to friends of Dom’s from previous movies — which makes them “family,” too, by his logic. The trouble with having such an extended circle (apart from it being tricky to give them all things to do, with some, like Helen Mirren, showing up for just one or two scenes) is that it makes Dom super vulnerable to the kind of “suffering” Dante intends.

First, he unleashes a sloppily rendered, giant rolling neutron bomb on the streets of Rome, nearly blowing up the Vatican. There are explosive scenes in Brazil, Portugal, Los Angeles and Antarctica, all of which seem to be a five-minute commute from one another. While Dom spends much of the movie trying to protect his 8-year-old son (Leo Abelo Perry), a whole bunch of beloved long-timers wind up “dying,” although these movies have shown such a flexible understanding of mortality (not to mention physics and plausibility) that it doesn’t make sense to mourn them just yet.

Reviewed at Publicis Cinémas, Paris, France, May 15, 2023. MPA Rating: PG-13. Running time: 141 MIN.

• Production: A Universal Pictures presentation of an Original Film, One Race Films, Perfect Storm production. Producers: Neal H. Moritz, Vin Diesel, Jeff Kirschenbaum, Samantha Vincent, Justin Lin. Executive producers: Joe Caracciolo Jr., David Cain, Amanda Lewis, Chris Morgan, Mark Bomback.
• Crew: Director: Louis Leterrier. Screenplay: Justin Lin & Dan Mazeau, based on characters created by Gary Scott Thompson. Camera: Stephen F. Windon. Editors: Dylan Highsmith, Kelly Matsumoto. Music: Brian Tyler.
• With: Vin Diesel, Michelle Rodriguez, Tyrese Gibson, Chris “Ludacris” Bridges, John Cena, Nathalie Emmanuel, Jordana Brewster, Sung Kang, Scott Eastwood, Daniela Melchior, Alan Ritchson, Helen Mirren, Brie Larson, Rita Moreno, Jason Statham, Jason Momoa, Charlize Theron.

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Fast X Review

19 May 2023

The road is long, with many a winding turn. That leads us to who knows where…  who knows where.

Given this is a franchise that started in 2001 with Californian street racers ripping off Panasonic VCRs, then turned them into international secret agents last seen launching a car into effing  space  (in 2021’s  F9 ), it was hard to fathom where the Fast Saga could possibly escalate to next. But, with a new and capable pair of hands at the directing wheel in Louis ‘ The Transporter ’ Leterrier ,  Fast X  screeches in determined to top all that’s gone before — while clinging tight to the  Fast & Furious  formula that made the series an unlikely box-office phenomenon.

It's all here: the perma-sleeveless Dominic Toretto ( Vin Diesel ) dispensing gravelly dime-store wisdom (“No-one starts at the finish line”; “Fear is the best teacher”; “Nothing’s impossible, you just have to have faith”). His ever-expanding team of heisters, bantering and bickering and making up and hugging. A token street race, featuring many close-ups of ladies’ bottoms. A bunch of ‘surprise’ guest appearances. Repeated use of the ‘f’ word (and we don’t mean ‘fuck’). A barbecue. And, of course, a fistful of OTT car stunts that “violate the laws of God and gravity,” as new Agency antagonist Aimes (Alan ‘ Reacher ’ Ritchson ) puts it during one chokingly tongue-in-cheek monologue.

It’s utterly ridiculous. It’s kinda brilliant.

So you’ll witness Dom tackling a flaming neutron bomb on the streets of Rome, using his car to fight with helicopters, and driving it down the side of a dam pursued by what appears to be an avalanche of fire. It’s utterly ridiculous. It’s kinda brilliant.

The thin plot-tissue connecting these entertainingly preposterous set pieces is provided by a bit of retconning (another  F&F  tradition) that inserts Jason Momoa ’s Dante Reyes into the thick of the climactic action of  Fast Five , where his evil pappy Hernan dies. Described as both “a monster” and “the Devil”, this vengeful villain is hyped up as the deadliest baddie the Toretto crew has yet faced. But, if we’re supposed to treat  Fast X  as  Infinity War  on wheels, Dante doesn’t convince as a muscle-car Thanos. He spends much of his time perched in a high place with an impossibly good view, remote-controlling vehicles while cackling like a chunky Joker, dressed in a style reminiscent of  Everything Everywhere ’s Jobu Tupaki and pulling off ballet poses. Momoa’s commitment to unhinged flamboyance  almost  works, but for the most part he’s just flummoxingly irksome. We’d like to have seen a bit less of Dante, and a bit more of the psychedelic muffin (don’t ask, just watch).

After recent revelations by Vin Diesel about the film being part one of a climactic  trilogy , it doesn’t feel too spoilery to say  Fast X  ends on a massive cliff-hanger, giving its final moments the vibe of those old-timey matinee serials where you know you can’t trust anything you’ve just seen — especially given this 22-year-old series’ predilection for resurrection. But, hey, one shouldn’t overthink such things. This is  Fast & Furious . Logic is but a vanishing point in its rear-view. And we wouldn’t have it any other way.

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• DVD & Streaming
• Action/Adventure , Crime , Drama

Content Caution

In Theaters

• May 19, 2023
• Vin Diesel as Dominic Toretto; Tyrese Gibson as Roman; Michelle Rodriguez as Letty Ortiz; Ludacris as Tej; Sung Kang as Han; Nathalie Emmanuel as Ramsey; Jason Momoa as Dante; John Cena as Jakob; Jordana Brewster as Mia Toretto; Jason Statham as Deckard Shaw; Rita Moreno as Abuela Toretto; Helen Mirren as Queenie; Brie Larson as Tess; Charlize Theron as Cipher; Alan Ritchson as Aimes; Leo Abelo Perry as Little Brian; Luis Da Silva Jr. as Diogo; Scott Eastwood as Little Nobody; Daniela Melchior as Isabel

Home Release Date

• June 9, 2023
• Louis Leterrier

Distributor

• Universal Pictures

Positive Elements   |   Spiritual Elements   |   Sexual & Romantic Content   |   Violent Content   |   Crude or Profane Language   |   Drug & Alcohol Content   |   Other Noteworthy Elements   | Conclusion

Movie Review

Dominic Toretto is one lucky guy.

He’s driven cars out of flying airplanes. He’s driven cars through skyscrapers. (Not through the lobbies of skyscrapers. We’re talking about vaulting through the air 50 stories up.) He’s driven cars that pull 10-ton safes straight out of walls, then has used said safes as square bowling balls to knock other cars off the road.

Perhaps, given all the explosions and engine noises he’s dealt with the last 22 years, Dom’s luckiest break (brake?) of all is that his eardrums are still intact.

But the mechanic/street racer/carjacker/international spy’s luck-tank may be running out of gas. Dom has made some enemies over time. And after a career built on breaking both the laws of man and physics, someone wants to break him —one piece at a time.

That man is Dante Reyes, son of the late drug kingpin Hernan Reyes. Dante watched as Dom and his friend, Brian O’Conner, swiped said 10-ton safe from his pops, after which Dom used it to slingshot his own car into Hernan’s vehicle. (Who knew that safes could be so mobile and useful?) And while Dante was conspicuously absent from the event as chronicled in Fast 5 , don’t tell Dante he wasn’t there. Because he’ll take offense and kill your whole family.

That’s kind of Dante’s style. If someone wrongs him? Threaten that someone’s family. If Dante wants someone to work for him? Why, he’ll threaten his family. If someone kills Dante’s father? Ooooh, yeah, that’s a threatenin’.

Dante is rich enough—and insane enough—to make good on those threats against Dom’s family. And if you’re familiar with the Fast & Furious movies at all, you know Dom’s all about family.

He’s married these days, to fellow street racer Letty Ortiz. He’s got a kid, too. Brian—Little B., they call him—is about 10 years old and just now learning how to drift. And Dom’s siblings, Jakob and Mia are as close as close can be.

But Dom considers his crew family, too. Roman, Tej, Han, Ramsey … they’re as connected as a crankshaft and timing chain, as tight with each other as pistons and O-rings. When you burn as much rubber together as these folks do, you burn a little of their love into your soul, too.

Yep, Dom’s got a big family. And Dante hopes to destroy that family, bit by bit. It’s not enough for Dom to die. No, his father taught Dante that their enemies must suffer . So while Dom can make cars fly and safes swing and the laws of gravity itself bend to his whim, Dante believes that he’s more than a match for Mr. Toretto.

Dom’s luck might be on its last fumes.

Positive Elements

As you’d expect, you hear a lot about family in Fast X , and that familial angle leans particularly hard in the direction of Dom and his son, Little B.

Dom does his best to pass on everything he knows to his child. He brags that Little B. will be better than him one day: “Each generation better than the last,” he says. “That’s fatherhood.”

And he takes fatherhood very seriously. Dom prides himself on always keeping his promises to his son—and he promises (somewhat redundantly?) that he’ll never break one. When someone asks him why he’s still driving and working on cars with carburetors in them instead of faster, “better” fuel-injected vehicles, Dom explains that the carburetors teach Little B to listen—something that, in Dom’s estimation, people do far too little of. And, of course, he’ll risk his life habitually to save the life of his boy.

“I only want to protect the people I love,” Dom says. That covers plenty of people we meet here, and the street runs both ways. Plenty of folks risk their lives (and sometimes give them) to save their compatriots. Others push against unfair directives aimed at Dom’s team, both out of loyalty and a sense of fair play. And despite the outlandish levels of collateral damage we see here—mainly to cars and buildings—Dom and his pals care about the innocents imperiled by the events of this movie, and they often do everything they can to minimize unnecessary casualties. (At other times, such collateral damage feels like a bit of an afterthought, but hey. This is a Fast & Furious movie.)

Spiritual Elements

Dom and others make several references to faith during the film, often connecting that faith to the crucifix that Dom wears around his neck. These sincere-but-superficial references to faith go little farther, but it clearly implies that Dom is not just a Christian, but one who relies on God in any number of impossible situations. “Nothing is impossible,” he reminds his son. “You just have to have faith.”

We also hear other, less spiritual references to faith and religion.

Dante’s name may be designed to point viewers to the Italian author Dante. He’s famous for his Divine Comedy , of course, which takes readers on a tour of hell, purgatory and heaven—with the first book, Inferno , being the best known. That’s where the concept of the nine circles of hell comes from, and you could argue that the movie’s makers are suggesting that Dante is dragging Dom through his own nine circles.

Dante also wryly suggests that Dom is some sort of saint—reminding him that to be a saint, one must either perform miracles or die a martyr. Dante also tries to blow up the Vatican, though he blames the choice on his unwilling henchmen. (“OK, I’ll do it,” Dante says, feigning reluctance. “But you guys are going to hell.”) When Dom saves the Vatican from the bomb, Dante mentions his heroism later. “Who does that?” he says, referencing saving the holy city. “The pope? God?”

Cipher, another ongoing villainess in the Fast & Furious franchise, reluctantly warns Dom about Dante after she has a run-in with the latter. “I met the devil tonight,” she tells Dom. “Honestly, I always thought it was me, so it was kind of disappointing.”

We see churches (some of which have been damaged by explosions) and crucifixes. A bit of technology is referred to as “God’s eye.” There’s a suggestion that someone may be helping bring people together beyond the grave.

Sexual & Romantic Content

A scene in Rio de Janeiro features plenty of dancing women in tight, skimpy outfits. The camera seems to focus especially on barely clad posteriors and the like.

Dom and Letty spend some time on their bed, engaging in gently suggestive talk. (Dom asks if Little B.’s in bed and marvels that Letty gets more beautiful with each day.) He squeezes her thigh, but the scene goes no farther. Other women can wear somewhat revealing garb. Ramsay, a female hacker for Dom’s team, renews an acquaintance with an old flame.

While Dante’s sexual preferences aren’t dealt with here, actor Jason Momoa (famous for his role as Aquaman ) intentionally plays with the character’s sexuality. “He’s very sadistic and androgynous, and he’s a bit of a peacock,” he told Variety . “He’s got a lot of issues, this guy.”

Violent Content

Holy Toledo, we could fill up the entire internet with this section.

It’s not that the violence here is gory or even particularly bloody. But if you’ve seen a Fast & Furious film, you can take that and goose it with a little nitrous oxide for this installment. The plot may feature more explosions than words. As such, we’ll not detail every conflagration here, but we will give you a little overview of what to expect.

The opening set piece features a giant bomb literally rolling through the streets of Rome. It smashes cars (moving and not), crashes through a bus, destroys countless bits of property and catches fire. Dom helpfully crashes his own car into restaurant awnings, thus protecting diners from the blaze. The bomb goes off, but not as had been planned: Had it done what Dante wanted it to do, it would’ve leveled Rome’s famous seven hills down to “two-and-a-half.” Other, smaller explosives send various vehicles flying and exploding. But despite the incredible destruction the bomb leaves in its wake (not to mention that of the folks chasing it), we learn later that, improbably, no one died.

That is what this movie would like us to believe: Even though dozens—perhaps hundreds—of vehicles are smashed, mashed and completely obliterated, the movie’s junkyards are far busier than its hospitals.

People do die, however. Some are killed in fiery explosions. Others are shot or stabbed or sliced, and at least one appears to suffer a broken neck. Another is impaled by a bit of elevator machinery.

We see the corpses of two such victims, their faces disfigured by what looks like packing tape as someone paints their toenails. Both have bulging eyes, and a fly lands grotesquely on one eyeball.

Characters fight frenetically in several scenes—leaving each other bloody and bruised. Many people get shot; some survive, others do not. One woman stabs another in the shoulder. People fall down from a couple of stories up. Two characters nearly drown. Someone loses a tooth. Planes explode. Cars explode. Buildings explode. Restraint explodes.

Crude or Profane Language

When Little B. nearly says the s-word during one scene, his Uncle Jakob tells him that that word is only allowed for “song lyrics and stubbed toes.”

Later he amends that statement to include “cannon cars,” and the film itself makes plenty of other exceptions as well. The s-word is used at least 13 times (not to mention the two times that Little B almost says it). We hear other profanities as well, including “a–,” “b–tard,” “d–n” and “h—.” God’s name is misused five times, four of which also involve the word “d–n.”

Drug & Alcohol Content

Characters drink beer. A covert equipment dealer also sells “fun muffins.” Han eats one and begins to hallucinate. We know that Dante’s father was a notorious drug lord. Liquor flows at a party. Vodka is used as fuel. When someone suggests using bottles of wine as well, he’s told that just won’t work.

Other Noteworthy Elements

This probably won’t surprise you, but people drive recklessly here. We hear about Dom’s crew’s checkered, sometimes felonious past (complete with clips from previous movies).

Given the Fast & Furious series’ emphasis on cars, it seems appropriate that most of its best messages would fit on a bumper sticker.

“You got no honor,” Dom tells Dante at one point. “Without honor, you got no family. Without family, you got nothing.”

Fast X is filled with similar aphorisms, embracing the values of family and friendship, faith and sacrifice. Those messages are nice, and sometimes even praiseworthy.

But, of course, encouraging its viewers to be better people isn’t Fast X ’s primary goal. This is all about giving its audience the adrenaline-fueled experience they’ve come to expect.

Naturally, Plugged In has come to expect the issues that go along with said experience. The violence and mayhem here are unremitting. People get hurt and sometimes die. The film sneezes out explosions as if it had some wicked seasonal allergies.

But while Dom trumpets the value of honor, let’s not lose sight of how many laws are broken in pursuit of Dom’s honorable goals. Or how many law enforcement officers have their patrol cars smashed and various bones broken.

If those elements went AWOL in Fast & Furious , of course, it wouldn’t be a Fast & Furious film. Those are necessary ingredients in this high-octane dish. The swearing? Well, this frenzied feast could easily throttle back on the spicy language.

For fans of the franchise, Fast X is an entertaining, somewhat frustrating addition to the canon. The series is beginning a long curtain call. So this installment features plenty of cliffhangers to ensure fans will be back for the next two chapters.

But while the storyline features a few surprises (which we’ve not spoiled here, hopefully), the content concerns are no surprise at all.

Paul Asay has been part of the Plugged In staff since 2007, watching and reviewing roughly 15 quintillion movies and television shows. He’s written for a number of other publications, too, including Time, The Washington Post and Christianity Today. The author of several books, Paul loves to find spirituality in unexpected places, including popular entertainment, and he loves all things superhero. His vices include James Bond films, Mountain Dew and terrible B-grade movies. He’s married, has two children and a neurotic dog, runs marathons on occasion and hopes to someday own his own tuxedo. Feel free to follow him on Twitter @AsayPaul.

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‘Fast X’ Review: Jason Momoa Steals the Show in This Overstuffed, Yet Still Entertaining Installment

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“No one outruns their past,” a wise man once said. But Dominic Toretto ( Vin Diesel ) also said it in F9 , a movie where the guy who sang “Pimpin’ All Over the World” went to space and John Cena ziplined over Edinburgh. As the Fast & Furious franchise has grown through 10 films, a spinoff, an animated series, a terrible theme park ride, and more, this group has grown from street racers stealing DVD players to freelancing for secretive government agencies. They’ve put a lot of road behind them, going from thieves to apparently the world’s greatest defense against terrorist threats, but one thing has always remained consistent: family.

Fast X is supposedly the beginning of the end (whether Fast X is the beginning of a two-part finale or the start of a trilogy is still unknown), which has the whole family going even bigger than ever before against a threat that could destroy them all. Especially in recent years, Fast & Furious has embraced the ridiculousness, expanding the possibilities beyond what we could’ve ever expected back when this series started in 2001, and that absurdity has been part of this world’s charm. Dwayne Johnson can redirect a submarine’s missile with a punch, and Dom can completely rewrite the laws of physics, and it’s this insanity that makes these movies the rare theatrical experience that makes you want to stand up and cheer at the screen. With the finish line in view, Fast & Furious is going big before it goes home (likely for a barbecue), and Fast X shows how this can be a double-edged sword.

The biggest, wildest, and most brilliant addition to Fast X is the new antagonist Dante ( Jason Momoa ), the son of Fast Five ’s drug lord Hernan Reyes. Since Dom brought an end to Hernan in that film’s climactic chase, Dante wants revenge and to make Dom suffer. And since Dom literally can’t go more than ten minutes without mentioning how much family means to him, Dante knows exactly where to hit to hurt Dom the most. With tech stolen from Cipher ( Charlize Theron ), a deep need for vengeance, and the desire to destroy Dom’s family, Dante might be the most intimidating villain that the F&F franchise has seen so far.

RELATED: First 'Fast X' Reactions Call It Absolutely Bonkers as Jason Momoa Steals the Show

And Momoa is certainly having the time of his life in Fast X . Not only does he play Dante as an unhinged maniac who seemingly has no chance of becoming yet another villain brought into Dom’s family, but he acts like the only character in this entire series to realize just how batshit bonkers this entire universe is. He’s an absolute flamboyant goof, popping up in wild outfits, ready with a slew of instantly quotable lines, and with a personality that is both hilarious and unpredictable. If Dom represents stoic, stern masculinity, Dante is the exact opposite, and Momoa is a true joy to watch as he chews every piece of scenery he can find. But Momoa manages to be one of the most entertaining new additions to this world in quite some time, and also the most intimidating villain within this series.

The problem with Fast X ’s approach to going big in what seems like the final chapters is that there’s just too much to lasso in, even with a runtime pushing two-and-a-half hours. With this cast scattered around the world, there’s only so much time to spend with any one group of characters, and while part of what’s always made this series fun is the group dynamics, separating these groups from each other makes you miss the family not being together. With at least one more entry left in this specific story, that means there’s plenty of room to branch out, but as is often the case with films that are building towards a larger story that can’t be contained into one film, Fast X often feels more like it’s building towards what’s to come as opposed to what this film’s story should be.

This segmentation of the story makes this frequently seem like several mini-movies crammed into one incomplete narrative—many of which have their own tone. While Dom is after Dante, Roman ( Tyrese Gibson ) is leading his own first mission with Tej ( Ludacris ), Ramsey ( Nathalie Emmanuel ), and Han ( Sung Kang ), which primarily becomes about dropping exposition, random cameos, and classic Roman and Tej antics. Meanwhile, Letty ( Michelle Rodriguez ) has to escape her own strange situation, Mr. Nobody’s associates (newcomers Brie Larson and Alan Ritchson ) have conflicting ways of handling “the family,” while John Cena ’s Jakob is on his own family adventure with Dom’s kid, Brian ( Leo Abelo Perry ). This is already a sprawling story, but throw into that mix that Oscar-winners Helen Mirren and Rita Moreno pop in for only a few minutes without anything to do, Mia ( Jordana Brewster ) is once again mostly left out, and characters like Scott Eastwood ’s Little Nobody quickly appear and are phased out of the story immediately. The scope and size of this series have always centered around the bombastic and truly unbelievable action sequences that this entire crew is a part of, so scattering this massive cast around the globe severs a major part of what makes these movies so fun to begin with.

It’s also a shame that because this film was made with future installments in mind, none of these stories find any sort of conclusion—instead, they’re just paused until Fast 11 , whenever that may be. This fragmentation of stories also makes it easier to criticize what doesn’t work. Sure, when this group is all together, racing around and blowing things up, it’s easy to get caught up in the excitement of it all. But with some of these stories—especially Cena and Perry’s journey—managing to be fun, they seem inconsequential and even counterproductive to the larger mission. Again, it’s as if Fast X has to cram these characters into this film, and there’s just too much to handle.

Thankfully, despite there already being ten films worth of characters to draw from, the new additions are quite solid. It can’t be understated how great Dante is as a villain, while Larson fills Mr. Nobody’s shoes quite well, and Ritchson’s Aimes is a decent addition to this cast of massive actors who could snap any of us into a twig at any moment. Daniela Melchior , who doesn’t get enough to do, is still a nice reminder of these characters’ pasts, and it would be great to see more of her in later installments.

And considering the drama behind the scenes, in which Justin Lin left the production after filming had started, Louis Leterrier does a decent job with his first go at this world. He gets the over-the-top tone that this franchise needs, and working with a script by Lin and first-time F&F writer Dan Mazeau , Fast X acknowledges and has fun with just how wild this series can go. Characters comment on how this team went from low-level thieves to a major part of the world’s safety, and there are plenty of jokes at Dom’s expense and his frequent talk about family. Like F9 , Fast X is in on the joke and wants to joke around with the audience about how insane this series is at its core.

Even though Fast X is spread too thin, and we’re starting to see the consequences of this ever-expanding family, it’s still a blast to watch. There are parts that certainly don’t make a lick of sense, and there are entire characters and stories that this installment probably could’ve done without. Yet that’s all par for the course with Fast & Furious, and at this point, it’s the type of series you either embrace with open arms, flaws and all, and enjoy the ride, or you don’t—and both are understandable. For all its flaws, Fast X is still an absurdly fun time at the movies that is ridiculous and charming in all the right ways, even at its worst.

Fast X comes to theaters on May 19.

• Movie Reviews
• Fast X (2023)
• Fast and Furious

Review: Vin Diesel's chaotic 'Fast X' stalls out, even with an enjoyably evil Jason Momoa

Not too long ago, one could reasonably expect that when a new “Fast and Furious” film rolled off the assembly line, there’d be some fresh upgrades: a submarine chasing a Dodge Charger on ice, for example, or a Pontiac Fiero rocketing into space.

“ Fast X ,” however, is mostly the same old vehicle with familiar features and accouterments, with one key (and extremely welcome) exception: Jason Momoa gleefully drenches this ride in neon and finger-paints flames on the side.

Directed by Louis Leterrier, the 10th installment (★★½ out of four; rated PG-13; in theaters now) is another globetrotting affair putting ex-street racer Dominic Toretto ( Vin Diesel ) and his merry gang of world-saving hackers, gearheads and antiheroes through explosive situations, all-out brawls and, yes, some nitrous-fueled vroom-vrooming. While the “Furious” franchise is beginning to feel bloated with characters and subplots, “X” at least delivers a proper cliffhanger for its “Empire Strikes Back”-esque, heroes-in-deep-trouble chapter.

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After nine movies of grand theft auto, vehicular warfare and spy missions working for a shadowy government group called The Agency, Dom is fairly at peace in LA: He gives driving lessons to his 10-year-son Little Brian (Leo Abelo Perry) – named after the late Paul Walker ’s character – and welcomes his grandma (Rita Moreno) for a heartfelt barbecue with his “family.” 

Cautiously in domestic bliss, Dom hands the reins of a new mission in Rome to his old friend Roman (Tyrese Gibson) but it's actually a trap set by Dante Reyes (Momoa), the sociopathic and sadistic son of a powerful Brazilian drug lord the crew took out permanently a decade ago (see: “Fast Five”). This vengeful dude doesn’t just want Dom to die, he wants the big guy and everybody associated with him to suffer. Many nefarious machinations ensue, including blaming our heroes for a massive terrorist attack, Dom being placed atop the global most-wanted list (again) and the bad guys going after his son. 

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As usual, laws of physics are pummeled at length and all logic is shot out of a cannon amid a "James Bond meets Popular Mechanics" vibe, yet “Fast X” is particularly head-scratching in its bizarre character choices and decisions: Jakob Toretto (John Cena) spent most of the last film trying to kill his big brother and now he's a goofball uncle? For those who prefer nonstop action, no movie series is this good at sending a flaming metal bomb careening through Rome. That said, much of the spectacle in this 10th film rehashes bonkers situations and scenes done before (and better), a running theme that also pervades much of the narrative.

In one sequence, buff lawman Agent Aimes (Alan Ritchson) runs down the plot of every film for Tess (Brie Larson), the daughter of Kurt Russell’s mysterious Mr. Nobody. (Fun fact: "Fast X" is actually quite accessible for newcomers.) Dom is often seen looking at pictures from previous “Fast” movies, and the newest outing essentially begins with a replay of the “Fast Five” finale: The old footage is a bittersweet reminder of Diesel and Walker’s exceptional chemistry and how the films have never been able to replicate that magic. Dom’s wife Letty (Michelle Rodriguez) even tells him he needs to stop looking in the “rear-view mirror” and live in the present – it’s a lesson the movie could stand to learn.

First 'Fast X' trailer: Vin Diesel rides again in explosive showdown with Jason Momoa's villain

Thankfully, Momoa puts the entire film on his back as the preening, devilishly excellent Dante unleashes rampant chaos and mayhem. While “Fast” heroes and villains usually veer macho, Momoa embraces a playful flamboyance you miss whenever he’s not on screen. And while the script is awash in ludicrous dialogue, Dante winds up with all the good lines, even while doing his nails and conversing with corpses. He and the legendary Moreno are great additions, as is Ritchson – those who dug Amazon’s two-fisted “Reacher” series will love him in this.

Both fun and frustrating, “Fast X” gets it in gear enough for a gutsy finale that leaves characters in serious peril. Yet with an end game in motion, and only one movie ( perhaps two ) left in this long-running franchise, it’s not the time to be stalling out this close to the finish line.

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Screen Rant

Fast x review: who needs a great script when jason momoa is this good.

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Over the last two decades the Fast & Furious franchise has evolved from a simple movie about street racers into one of the highest grossing franchises in history. Newcomer to the Fast series, Louis Leterrier ( The Incredible Hulk , Now You See Me ), takes on directing duties for Fast X , working from a script by Dan Mazeau ( Wrath of the Titans ) and longtime franchise director Justin Lin. Continuing the story of Dominic Toretto (Vin Diesel) and his family of racers and car enthusiasts, Fast X flips the script by making Dom the target of an old vendetta. Fast X is a breathless thrill ride that occasionally gets bogged down in melodramatic dialogue, but Jason Momoa's villain makes it a blast to watch.

Fast X 's plot is more of an excuse to jump from one action set piece to the next, with brief interludes about the importance of family that flirt with, but never truly convey, a compelling emotional heart. The story centers around revenge, with new villain Dante Reyes (Momoa) being retconned into the Fast & Furious franchise as the son of Fast Five villain Hernan Reyes. Years later, he emerges to cause Dom as much suffering as possible by creating an international incident and pinning it on Dom's family, who are then hunted by the Agency for which they previously worked. Though Dom's family is scattered across the globe and Dom himself does little more than play cat and mouse with Dante, it's one of the Fast franchise's more simple and easier to follow plots.

For Fast X , the more simple storyline works since the movie is clearly more interested in violating the laws of gravity and pushing the boundaries on what can be accomplished in a car. This creates an interesting visual spectacle, with death-defying stunts and exciting, gripping action set pieces broken up by what's become trademark quipping from its characters. Fast & Furious is a franchise that has become known for its action and stunts and, in this regard, Fast X exceeds all expectations. However, the script by Lin and Mazeau leaves something to be desired, largely because it's at odds with itself. Fast X wants to be a movie that smirks cheekily at its audience, letting the viewer know they're in on the joke, but it also wants to have a grounded and emotional throughline. Unfortunately, it doesn't pull off a compelling balance, waffling between nudge-nudge wink-wink jokes and soapy dialogue about family. It's almost, but not quite, a parody of itself.

Still, the film is by no means a slog to get through and a big part of that is the delightful deviousness of Momoa's Dante. While Diesel plays Dom at the character's most stoic and, as a result, most boring, Momoa has enough personality to carry the main antagonistic relationship of the movie. The actor is very clearly having a blast in the role, playing the flamboyant villain to Diesel's unflappable hero, and he makes Fast X a much more entertaining watch than it would have been without his performance. However, with so much screen time dedicated to Dante, it's less spent with the other members of Dom's family. While most get moments to shine, John Cena's Jakob is perhaps the next most entertaining of the bunch, getting a fun storyline as he protects Dom's son Brian (Leo Abelo Perry). The rest of the cast is perfectly fine, but Fast X clearly starts to show the cracks of the Fast franchise's tendency toward too-large casts.

For all the issues with the script, Fast X is still a solid entry in the Fast & Furious franchise, offering what viewers have come to expect — over-the-top action sequences and brief moments of familial sentimentality. It's very much the Avengers: Infinity War of this franchise, putting a great deal of focus on the villain, splitting up the heroes and ending on a cliffhanger. Because of the cliffhanger ending, Fast X does feel a bit unfinished, but with Fast & Furious 11 already confirmed, we at least know we'll get some answers in the sequel. It's a risk to end a movie this way, but in a franchise that flouts the rules of gravity and storytelling all the time, it makes sense for Fast X .

Fast X is certainly a must-watch for any die-hard fan of the franchise. Though it may not live up to the heights of some of the franchise's past films, it's an entertaining action thrill ride from start to finish, one that will surely keep you hooked. Even casual viewers will find entertainment in the action set pieces, and thanks to flashbacks, it's fairly easy to jump into Fast X even for those who might have missed a previous movie or two. Though it's a little bit more over-the-top even in a franchise known for this very thing, Fast X is another fun and exciting ride tailor-made for the summer movie season.

Fast X releases in theaters May 19. It is 141 minutes long and rated PG-13 for intense sequences of violence and action, language and some suggestive material.

Vin Diesel and the family return for the tenth installment of the Fast & Furious franchise in Fast X. Charlize Theron returns as Cipher joining forces with Dante Reyes, a former foe of the Fast Family seeking revenge for the death of his father Hernan Reyes, after the events of Fast Five. Fast X is part one of a two-part conclusion to the franchise.

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Everything We Know

Everything we know about fast x, we break down all the details, from new allies and returning characters to old vendettas — both on and off screen — and more..

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There are family movies, and then there are “ Family ” movies — the ones about Dominic Toretto and his cohort of nigh-unkillable street-racing action stars. Fast X , the 10th installment in the Fast & Furious series (not counting the Hobbes & Shaw spin-off), hits theaters on May 19. Before you get behind the wheel, so to speak, let’s punch the NOS and tell you everything we know about Fast X .

The End of the Road

(Photo by Peter Mountain/©Universal Pictures)

While it’s almost certain that there will be Fast movies beyond Fast X and its confirmed sequel, the two are being promoted as the ending to the primary Fast saga. We already have the aforementioned Hobbs & Shaw , and there’s talk of other spin-offs, but Fast X will be the first part of Dom and his family’s grand finale.

A Threat from the Past

Fast Five , which came out in 2011, is generally credited with reinvigorating the franchise, and it’s arguably the best installment overall. Perhaps it makes sense, then, that Fast X harkens back to the series’ acclaimed midpoint, as the villain in the upcoming film is the son of Fast Five’ s baddie. Jason Momoa  plays Dante, the child of Hernan Reyes, the Brazilian drug boss who Dom and Brian obliterated with a giant safe, and Fast X is the story of his quest for revenge.

Here’s the official synopsis, per Universal, though — fair warning — it does contain what could be considered minor spoilers:

“The end of the road begins. Fast X , the tenth film in the Fast & Furious Saga, launches the final chapters of one of cinema’s most storied and popular global franchises, now in its third decade and still going strong with the same core cast and characters as when it began. Over many missions and against impossible odds, Dom Toretto ( Vin Diesel ) and his family have outsmarted, out-nerved, and outdriven every foe in their path. Now, they confront the most lethal opponent they’ve ever faced: A terrifying threat emerging from the shadows of the past who’s fueled by blood revenge, and who is determined to shatter this family and destroy everything — and everyone — that Dom loves, forever. In 2011’s Fast Five , Dom and his crew took out nefarious Brazilian drug kingpin Hernan Reyes and decapitated his empire on a bridge in Rio De Janeiro. What they didn’t know was that Reyes’ son, Dante ( Aquaman’ s Jason Momoa), witnessed it all and has spent the last 12 years masterminding a plan to make Dom pay the ultimate price. Dante’s plot will scatter Dom’s family from Los Angeles to the catacombs of Rome, from Brazil to London, and from Portugal to Antarctica. New allies will be forged and old enemies will resurface. But everything changes when Dom discovers that his own 8-year-old son ( Leo Abelo Perry , Black-ish ) is the ultimate target of Dante’s vengeance.”

When You’re Here, You’re Family

(Photo by ©Universal Pictures)

Dom’s family is really, really big, and so is the Fast X cast. Vin Diesel returns as Dominic Toretto, of course, as does Michelle Rodriguez , who plays his wife Letty Ortiz. Jordana Brewster is back as Dom’s sister, Mia Toretto. (Mia is married to Brian O’Connor, the character played by the late Paul Walker , who is canonically still alive in the Fast universe but has not appeared out of respect for Walker’s death.) Rounding out the core “family” are Tyrese Gibson’ s Roman Pierce, Chris “Ludacris” Bridges as Tej Parker, Sung Kang as Han Seoul-Oh, and Nathalie Emmanuel as Ramsey.

There are other returning enemies and family members, too, and some of the characters have been both. Charlize Theron is back as Cipher, the cyberterrorist who was the main villain in The Fate of the Furious and a behind-the-scenes foe in Fast 9 . John Cena , who was the main villain in the previous film, is back as Jakob Toretto, Dom and Mia’s once-estranged brother who is now back on their side. Jason Statham will appear again as Deckard Shaw, another one-time villain who now has some semblance of an alliance with the Dom. Shaw’s mom, Magdalene “Queenie” Shaw, will again be played by Helen Mirren . Anna Sawai (Elle) and Lucas Black (Sean Boswell) both return from Fast 9 as well. Scott Eastwood , who played Little Nobody in The Fate of the Furious , is back for Fast X .

Fast X adds lots of new characters, too. In addition to Momoa’s Dante, Captain Marvel star Brie Larson joins the franchise as Tess, a rogue agent from the Agency that Dom and Co. frequently work with. Rita Moreno will play Dom and Mia’s grandmother, Abuelita Toretto. Alan Ritchson joins the Fast franchise as Aimes, the new head of the Agency who took over after Mr. Nobody ( Kurt Russell ) was in a plane crash in the previous film. Lastly, Don Omar , Tego Calderón , Michael Rooker , and Cardi B also all return to round out the massive cast and reprise their roles from previous films.

Who Isn’t in This Movie?

(Photo by Jaimie Trueblood/©Universal Pictures)

One person who won’t be in Fast X , barring any (truly) surprising cameo? Dwayne Johnson , who first appeared as Luke Hobbs in Fast Five . A federal agent-turned-ally to Dom and Co., Hobbs fought alongside the Family in the sixth, seventh, and eighth Fast movies and appeared in the spin-off Hobbs & Shaw . There are numerous reports that Johnson and Diesel did not get along , and that it’s these clashes that led to the former leaving the main franchise as of Fast 9 . There’s no confirmation that he’ll be back for Fast X despite his connection to Fast Five , where his character debuted.

A Change Behind the Camera

(Photo by Rodin Eckenroth/Getty Images)

Fast X was originally supposed to be directed by Justin Lin , the director behind the third, fourth, fifth, sixth, and ninth Fast & Furious films. However, he dropped out of the project, reportedly due to disagreements with Diesel . Louis Leterrier , the director of The Transporter movies and Now You See Me , is behind the camera for Fast X in his stead, while Lin remains on board as one of the writers and producers. Leterrier has also been confirmed to direct the final installment as well.

When Does It Open?

Fast X will hit theaters on May 16, two weeks after Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 , one week before The Little Mermaid , and two weeks before Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse . In other words, it’ll have a lot of competition at the box office.

It’s unclear when Fast X will be streaming, and it will presumably be available as PVOD before it’s free anywhere. Despite being a Universal franchise, the Fast movies are all over the place rather than exclusively on Universal-owned Peacock, so it’s not necessarily a safe bet to assume Fast X will hit Peacock, though it likely will sometime after its theatrical run. That said, this is the kind of over-the-top, adrenaline-fueled, set piece-driven action spectacle that’s probably best enjoyed on the biggest screen possible.

Fast X opens in theaters everywhere on May 19, 2023.

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Fast X review: Jason Momoa steals the show in an entertaining but incomplete outing

It's in cinemas from Friday.

Fast & Furious is nearing its finish line and if you thought the Fast Saga was going to end quietly, then you've clearly never watched the series.

We had thought Fast X was going to be the first of a two-part finale, but Vin Diesel recently let slip that it could well the first movie of a climactic trilogy . It would be a fittingly, uh, understated way to end a series that was originally about street racing, but has become an entirely different beast.

Subtlety has never been in the Fast Saga's wheelhouse, so it will be no surprise to learn that their approach to a multi-part finale is to go massive, setting up far too many plot threads that one movie can't tie up. In fact, Fast X barely manages to complete any and decides to just leave most of them open.

The result is an overstuffed blockbuster that doesn't satisfy as a complete whole, but works as another ride that's often ludicrously entertaining and elevated by the best villain in the series.

Fast X continues the series' penchant for retcons by revealing that Fast Five 's villain Hernan Reyes had a son called Dante ( Jason Momoa ). He was there during the safe heist and the final battle on the bridge but we never saw him, and he's been concocting his revenge against Dom (Vin Diesel) for a decade.

Don't worry if you either haven't seen Fast Five or haven't seen it in a while because Fast X recaps it whenever it can. All you really need to know is that Dante is pissed and he doesn't want to kill Dom as you "never accept death when suffering is owed".

It marks a refreshing change-up for the series which had increasingly fallen into comfortable plot mechanics: bad person wants some world-threatening high tech, Dom and his familia have to stop them.

Here, director Louis Leterrier plays with that expectation during a first-act heist in Rome which delivers everything you'd expect from a Fast movie. There's incredible car and motorbike stunts, a massive bomb rolling through the streets and a scarcely believable way for Dom to save the day that defies the laws of physics.

But rather than the set-up for the same old Fast movie, the heist is all a knowing misdirect as Dante is playing an entirely different game. It leads to Dom's familia being scattered around the globe, leading to a more grounded – well, in terms of this series – outing that avoids outlandish spectacle like space travel.

The issue is that the sprawling cast means that there are multiple subplots going on. As Dom tries to track down Dante, we've got a few of the gang in London, while Letty ( Michelle Rodriguez ) and nemesis Cipher (Charlize Theron) are at a CIA black site and Jakob ( John Cena ) is being a protective uncle in Los Angeles.

You'd assume that all of the subplots, including the shenanigans of new Agency head Aimes (Alan Ritchson) and Mr Nobody's daughter Tess ( Brie Larson ), would combine for a big finale. However, Fast X never really does this and each subplot seemingly exists to just set up the next movie.

Fast X might not go to space or have multiple huge set pieces, but it's still a massive movie because of this. The pacing isn't on the mark though, so we leave subplots for extended periods and if you didn't know there was a second part coming, you would leave frustrated with how the movie ends.

However, there is one shining light that just about keeps Fast X on track: Jason Momoa's Dante Reyes. He's the strongest villain of the series to date and Momoa is having the time of his life, delivering an excellent performance as he does so.

Dante is a flamboyant and theatrical baddie who absolutely loves what he does and as much as he hates Dom, he's also a bit of a fanboy and relishes battling wits with him. Like the switch-up with the plot, Dante is a world away from the usually serious Fast & Furious villains who are evil just because.

Momoa is so good that when Fast X has to switch lanes and catch up with the other subplots, his presence is sorely missed despite the typically reliable turns from the extended cast.

There's a playful edge to Dante's villain that spreads through other aspects of Fast X too. It's a series that's increasingly in on the joke, such as Roman (Tyrese Gibson) talking about invincibility in Fast 9 . A standout scene here sees Aimes moan about family BBQs and deliver deadpan lines about violating the laws of "God and gravity".

Fast & Furious fans certainly won't feel shortchanged by Fast X because as much as it changes the formula, it still delivers a lot of the same. There are deep-cut references, unexpected cameos and spectacle that no other series can deliver – after all, where else can you see helicopters used as wrecking balls?

The final act will certainly create discussion too that will tide Fast fans over until the 11th movie arrives in 2025 (assuming the writers' strike doesn't delay it). You'll know it probably won't do what it's teasing, but it'll be fun to speculate endlessly over.

But as much as the ending has an impact, it's hard to escape the feeling that Fast X is only half a story and forgot to tell a cohesive story of its own.

Fast X is released in cinemas on May 19.

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Movies Editor, Digital Spy  Ian has more than 10 years of movies journalism experience as a writer and editor.  Starting out as an intern at trade bible Screen International, he was promoted to report and analyse UK box-office results, as well as carving his own niche with horror movies , attending genre festivals around the world.   After moving to Digital Spy , initially as a TV writer, he was nominated for New Digital Talent of the Year at the PPA Digital Awards. He became Movies Editor in 2019, in which role he has interviewed 100s of stars, including Chris Hemsworth, Florence Pugh, Keanu Reeves, Idris Elba and Olivia Colman, become a human encyclopedia for Marvel and appeared as an expert guest on BBC News and on-stage at MCM Comic-Con. Where he can, he continues to push his horror agenda – whether his editor likes it or not.  

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