When I first heard about the rumors that the tenth installment in the Fast and Furious franchise would not be the last one and will be split into a few parts, I was genuinely skeptical at the very idea. The series has aged for better or worse since its debut with The Fast and the Furious over two decades ago in 2001, and one would think the engine that drove this long running franchise is ready to give out and ready to be put to rest.

Interestingly enough, after watching Fast X, it seems that the franchise still has some gas in the tank. It feels more like the start of something new rather than a goodbye as the movie does end on a cliff hanger with the additional characters do look like they have more to do in the overall story. In any case, it was a very interesting movie and I genuinely had a pretty good time watching it. With that being said, did Fast X manage to take my excitement levels high up into space? Read on to find out more.

Story

What surprised me the most for this installment in the fast and furious franchise is that Fast X breaks from its usual nonsensical storytelling and genuinely tries to tell a compelling one this time around which has them doing a lot more with its characters in the process.

The story takes us back to the events that happened in Fast and Furious 5 (Fast Five) which was when Dominic Terreto (Vin Diesel) robbed the vault of Hernan Reyes who was the main antagonist in Fast Five. I felt like the re-creation of the scenes from Fast 5 that serves as the opening is pretty good with more details put in in regards to the backstory of Hernan Reyes as well as introducing his son Dante Reyes (Jason Momoa) who holds a grudge against Dom for the death of his father in Fast Five.

Soon after we are brought back to present date with Roman (Tyrese Gibson), Tej Parker (Ludacris), Hans (Sung Kang) and Ramsey (Nathalie Emmanuel) discussing a mission which requires them to hijack a van in Rome which is supposedly carrying high tech equipment. Soon after we find out that the team were being set up as revealed by an injured Cipher (Charlize Theron).

It was then known that Dante rigged the target van with explosives and tipped off local law enforcement that Roman’s gang are transporting a bomb with the intent of blowing up Vatican City. After an explosive action packed scene that was quite engaging and kept me at the edge of my seat, the family successfully stops the bomb from detonating but at the expense of Vatican City and parts of Rome as much of the property is damaged due to all the action taking place.

This is the point where the movie goes into full gear with tons of intrigue and plot twists with its new characters. While the movie is still full of action packed scenes, it did not fill the movie run-time as much as it did in the previous installments of the series. There are a lot of characters in this movie and I believe the decision to give them the time to develop further was a good one, even if some of the newer characters do feel a bit underdeveloped such as Tess.

Overall I think Fast X had an intriguing story and did some really bold changes on how the story is approached and it definitely made me enjoy it much more than I did Fast and Furious 9.

Controlled Action

The Fast and Furious franchise has always had insane action set pieces from swinging a car via a rope to cross a gaping chasm in Fast and Furious 9 (F9) to jumping in between skyscrapers at Dubai in Fast and Furious 7 (Furious 7), the action in Fast X was pretty tame when compared to previous entries in the series. While we did have some of those crazy moments in a couple of scenes, for the most part the action was kept pretty grounded which is good for me.

One of those crazy moments which was also my favorite in the movie, is when Dom gets his car towed by two helicopters and the way he breaks the hold is by slamming on the Nitro which sends him careening over the highway he was driving on, and resulted in the two helicopters to collide with each other.

Verdict

Looking at it as part 1 for the supposed finale of the Fast and Furious saga, Fast X definitely manages to entertain me in many ways. While Space still remains unexplored for Dom and his crew, the grounded action and attempts to tell a much more cohesive and interesting story is definitely worth the price of admission for me.

The finale also reveals a very interesting detail in the after credit scenes which fans of the series would probably be surprised to see as much as I was, so keep your eyes open for that.

The new cast members, especially Jason Momoa as Dante Reyes is definitely one of the best parts of the film. His character is very much unhinged and gives an extremely unpredictable sort of vibe to him. His comedic timing is also great with his jokes landing just right, bringing some much needed humor in the franchise which I personally felt was lacking in previous movies.

However not all is perfect with the movie, due to its huge cast, the movie attempts to cover one too many character arcs within the film which does make the story feel disjointed at times. The story will jump from characters to characters in an attempt make them feel more relevant to the overall narrative which definitely had me thinking for a moment to connect the plot threads together.

Other than that, Fast X is definitely one of the best entries to the franchise despite its minor issues for me. The stunts are good and creative while the action still remains as memorable as ever despite taking a more grounded approach to it. I genuinely cannot wait to see what the future of the franchise holds, hopefully they will boldly go where no one has gone before, as the franchise takes its last laps towards the finish line.