Fas(ten) your seat belts, it’s going to be a bumpier than ever ride. The first part of Fast X, the Fast and Furious finale film, is like The Avengers on steroids: every character gets a moment, every movie gets a callback and every scene has to comment on something that happened in a previous film. Trying to keep up with all these moving pieces is like trying to memorize a car manual, only with twice as many parts. After nine films, four directors and hundreds of actors, the series which started with Vin Diesel racing on the streets of Los Angeles has turned into a giant, globe-trotting adventure. And somehow all this nonsense is still a fun escape.
The Fast and Furious films have had their ups and downs, so it’s nice to see the finale tying everything together. Though no expense has been spared on production, the new movie excels by staying true to the action, muscle and melodrama that made this series a hit. Moreover, it succeeds because the franchise has grounded its story in a lesson on the importance of family, something you don’t often see in your typical blockbuster fare. These movies have gone their own heart-warming way even if fans have turned Diesel’s monologues about family into a drinking game in which viewers must chug every time he mentions the subject of bonding (don’t try this at home, kids). Now that we’ve come to the final trilogy, the relationships and connections have grown into something that cannot be denied.
Not only do the leads turn out to be great, but the screenwriters have written a though-line that actually makes sense. Amidst all the cars and carnage, there’s a tale of loners who were cast away by their parents, so they found a new place to call home. This group of gearheads we’ve come to know and love over the years includes Dom Torreto (Diesel), his wife Letty (Michelle Rodriquez), his brother Jakob (John Cena), his sidekicks Roman (Tyreese Gibson), Tej (Ludacris) and Han (Sung Kang). There’s also newcomers…
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