Fast X: The Fellowship of the Toretto

Earlier this year, Vin Diesel compared the Fast & Furious mythology to the Lord of the Rings and all I could do was scoff at that idea. After seeing Fast X… I completely get it! No, I am only kidding around, it still sounds ridiculous, however, I cannot believe how much I ended up really enjoying this movie, especially after how disappointed I was with its previous entry F9: The Fast Saga (2021).

Dante Reyes (Jason Momoa), son of drug lord Hernan Reyes (Joaquim de Almeida) from Fast Five (2011), has targeted Dominic Toretto (Vin Diesel) and his family: Letty Ortiz (Michelle Rodriguez), Roman Pearce (Tyrese Gibson), Tej Parker (Chris “Ludacris” Bridges), Ramsey (Nathalie Emmanuel), Mia Toretto (Jordana Brewster), Han Lue (Sung Kang), and Dominic’s son and newcomer to the cast Brian “Little B” Marcos (Leo Abelo Perry). During a heist gone wrong in Rome, Letty is arrested and Dom gets separated from his crew (Roman, Tej, Ramsey, and Han). They must now work separately to take down the threat.

Okay, so here we are at the beginning of the finale of this series that began way back in 2001. The Fast & Furious series has been through a lot in that time; changes in tone and main characters, an ever expanding cast, retcons, and unfortunately a death of one of the main stars Paul Walker as Brian O’Conner. And speaking of that, I do want to bring up something that is starting to feel very weird in the series, the void of Brian O’Conner. Not only him but his and Mia’s children as well. In one of the opening scenes, all of the Toretto crew are getting together for dinner as Dom’s grandmother Abuelita Toretto (Rita Moreno) comes to visit. At the dinner table there is an open seat for Brian, but where is he? I love that the producers chose to keep Brian alive after Paul Walker’s death, but in the narrative of this series it is starting to feel weird without him. There is a scene a little later on where Mia is watching Little B and they’re playing video games together and all I am thinking is, where are Mia’s kids? Why aren’t they there as well playing video games with their cousin? I understand this is kind of a weird thing to bring up, as well as could come off as disrespectful, and for that I do apologize, but where technology is at today [ex. Luke Skywalker in The Book of Boba Fett and Egon Spengler in Ghostbusters: Afterlife] and seeing how they are able to make very realistic recreations of these characters, why couldn’t have Brian been in this movie? Or at least at the barbecue?

Something that I really like about this movie is how they split up the cast. Dom has set up a rendezvous point for everyone to meet at, and that’s the big motivator for the crew. I like that everyone is broken up in this one and they’re unable to rely on each other.

There are some new characters introduced here. Brie Larson comes in as Tess, the daughter of Mr. Nobody (played in previous installments by Kurt Russell). She is in possession of the computer program God’s Eye, and ends up using that to locate Dom. She provides the information of who Dante is to Dom and also helps break Letty out of prison. I really liked this character; she’s confident and quick witted and gets stuff done! But that’s really all she does, we know her dad is Mr. Nobody, but other than that, not a whole lot of development. New head of Mr. Nobody’s agency is Aimes (Alan Ritchson), who is sick of the Toretto crew and wants them all taken into custody. His character felt way more like a Luke Hobbs (previously played by Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson) stand in than anything. I do like what they end up doing with is character, but overall he is extremely bland.

Let’s talk about Little B. When Dom and Letty head off to Rome, Little B is left in Los Angeles with his aunt Mia. After the failed mission in Rome, Aimes targets all of Dom’s family and sends a team after Mia and Little B. When the team goes to apprehend them, they are taken out by Jakob Toretto (John Cena). Mia then takes off to make sure her family is okay, and Jakob is tasked with bringing Little B to Dom. Oh man, I love these scenes! Jakob and Little B are doing the road trip thing, and the chemistry between these two is so good! I could watch a whole movie on only the two of them! In F9: The Fast Saga (2021) John Cena was so serious the whole time, but I still really enjoyed his character and what he brought to the series, but in this we got to see him let loose and embrace more of the fun element.

The bulk of the crew; Roman, Tej, Ramsey, and Han are now on their own. After Dante drains their bank accounts, they have to figure out a way to get back to Dom, which ends them up locating Deckard Shaw (Jason Statham). The chemistry between all five of these characters is the best, and partly why I think the series works as well as it does. They do feel very sidelined throughout this though, and really only felt relevant to bring in Deckard back into the story.

After Letty is taken into custody in a secret facility, she is visited by Tess, who then wounds Letty, as all part of a prison break ploy. When Letty awakens, she is in the hospital wing along with Cipher (Charlize Theron). I really enjoyed these two together. Two badass ladies working together to get out of this box. I liked that they don’t fully trust each other either, so that adds some fun to all of this. This next little bit is slightly spoilery, so be warned! We don’t know where exactly this team up or where Cipher’s character direction is going yet, but something that I am a little annoyed about is that it seems like Cipher is joining the Toretto crew. Which is something that happens with all villains it seems. They try to kill them, but then they realize they’re the same and then they have a barbecue. I think Cipher is a really great character and I like the team up, but I do hope that she does not fully make that good guy turn.

Jason Momoa joins the cast as Dante Reyes and is the main villain in this one. This character is so weird, but in such a good way. I hate what he is doing to the world, but whenever he is on screen you can’t look away from him. Sometimes he comes off as very cartoony, and I think some may be a little turned off by that, but overall it’s exactly what this needs. Dom always is super serious and has his head in the game, where Dante is this weird chaotic and joking around guy who is always one step ahead. Their dynamic works so well.

Let’s say this in a very low and dramatic way… Dominic Toretto. Can he ever get a night off man? Come on! Dom has been separated from his crew and he is all alone. After learning of Dante, he travels to Rio de Janeiro. There he comes face to face with Dante and they engage in a little bit of street racing; along with a friend of Dom’s and some new racer girl. Dante straps a bomb to the other two drivers cars, and Dante tells Dom that he has to make a choice on which one to save, his friend or the other racer. SPOILER! Stop here if you don’t want to know. Dom tries to save both, but ends up saving the girl. Dom then brings her home and we learn that she Isabel Neves (Daniela Melchior), sister of Elena Neves (previously played by Elsa Pataky), former girlfriend of Dom’s and Little B’s mother. What I like about this dynamic is you see that Dom care’s immensely for this girl, and definitely holds major guilt as to why Isabel’s sister is no longer alive. End of SPOILER! What comes out in all of this how much Dom has grown from punk street racer to father of his family. Dom has always made some hot headed decisions which is not always good in that moment. This is the first time where I feel like he is in control of his emotions and every decision he makes is to do better or save the ones he loves.

Heavy SPOILER talk now.

In the big conclusion, we have Jakob and Little B arriving at the rendezvous point, but Little B is taken by Dante. Dom arrives and he and Jakob work together to get his son back. Roman, Tej, Ramsey and Han arrive as well. However this movie ends very open ended. There are different points throughout this battle, but we are left to believe that all of these characters are dead. Now, do I believe any of them are actually dead? Not at all. Too many times have they killed someone off and then brought them back to life in this series. Weirdly enough, almost any other series this would annoy me, but it doesn’t for this one. Yes, I feel the emotional impact is gone, but that’s not why I see these movies. I see them because I wanna have fun, see some action, and hang out with family. Speaking of which, they “kill” off all those characters and end the movie on Letty and Cipher escaping prison and saved by a “dead” character.

Still in SPOILER discussion: Okay, I hate spoilers, and that’s why I always try to indicate spoiler discussion in my reviews, because I don’t want to ruin anything for you if you haven’t seen the movie. But a week before this movie was released a big spoiler was revealed and I wish I didn’t read it. I wish I was in the theater watching this scene as it happened. Again, big SPOILER. But there is a mid credit scene where Dante left a message for the man who actually pulled the trigger and killed his dad, Luke Hobbs (Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson). Hobbs is back baby and I am so thrilled about this! Now of course I am wondering if the fued between Dwayne Johnson and Vin Diesel was for read or all for show? But I am glad that whatever is going on, we get to see them in the same movie together again! Even if they shoot on completely separate days… hehehe.

END OF SPOILER TALK.

I really ended up loving this movie. I wanted a fun Fast & Furious movie and I got that. Some of the action wasn’t top notch, but that’s okay. Even though the trailers showed way too much, there were still a few surprises. It felt mostly like a contained story, but also very open ended, which is kind of a nice change of pace for this series. I cannot wait for what is to come, whether it is one or two more movies, I’m there! Even though I do have some criticisms of this I am going to rate this pretty high, 9 outta 10!

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Colin Clark

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