29 Jun F9 Movie Review

dir. Justin Lin starring Vin Diesel, Michelle Rodriguez, Tyrese Gibson, John Cena, et. al

BLUF: By the tenth entry in this series, you should know what you’re getting into, and F9 takes everything to yet another level, love it or hate it…

In a mere 20 years, the Fast & Furious franchise has produced ten movies. To the studious viewer, they are roughly divided into eras:

• The Foundation: The Fast and the Furious, 2 Fast 2 Furious, The Fast and the Furious: Tokyo Drift
  While finding its footing, the first three entries are a mess, but establish a broad range of diverse characters and locations, mostly centered around car racing and brushes with law enforcement
  
• The Bridge: Fast & Furious
  F4 brought all the main characters back together and began moving away from street racing, while shifting characters towards real anti-heroism…even though the movie was pretty terrible
  
• The Holy Trilogy: Fast Five, Fast & Furious 6, Furious Seven
  Arguably the best films of the entire franchise, the Fast Saga found its feet with bigger budgets, massive action, and Dwayne ‘The Rock’ ‘The Tooth Fairy’ Johnson. F5 is the best of the franchise, while F7 provided an emotional sendoff for the late Paul Walker’s character.
  
• The Final Trilogy of Four: The Fate of the Furious, F9: The Fast Saga, F10/F11 (unreleased)
  The two hallmarks of the F8 and F9 are that the series has officially transitioned into science fiction, away from street racing, and leans hard into the theme of family. Diesel’s final film in the trilogy will be split into two films and then, supposedly, the main franchise comes to a close
  
• The Ranted Mule of a Red-Headed Step-Child Spin-Off: Hobbs & Shaw
  With Vin Diesel and The Rock beefing, Universal solved the problem by giving Johnson his own spin-off, complete with a problematic villain-turned-anti-hero in Jason Statham and a hard turn into superhero science fiction

So…how does F9 fit in? Well, the astute viewer will quickly recognize the two most critical components of the franchise are slammed together in an editorially and narratively disjointed fashion. To be honest, the transitions between these components was jarring to the point of laughing out loud. I am, of course, referring to outlandish action scenes and scenes of high family drama.

First, the action. It’s frequent, fun, and completely ridiculous. Everything is taken to 11, and perhaps beyond. Yes, this is the one where they go to space. But to its benefit, the entire cast and crew are clearly in on the joke and give it 100%. In fact, there are two scenes that are so meta, they will either lull your suspension of disbelief back into the comfort zone, or you’ll roll your eyes hard enough to induce the sweet embrace of blindness. In the first, Tyrese’s Roman pontificates on whether they are superheroes, citing a solid history of ridiculous scenarios they have escaped in previous movies, including the car vs. submarine fight in The Fate of the Furious (which should have been called THE F8 OF THE FURIOUS, for crying out loud!) In the second, Ludacris’ Tej reminds Roman that they just need to trust the numbers and science, and everything will turn out fine (note: this is said inside a Pontiac Fiero in outer space); performed with just enough of a wink of the eye that it inspires a solid laugh. The characters are all in on the joke, and the movie is better for it.

Second, a growing percentage of scenes in the movie are devoted to Vin & Co. talking about family. It permeates the film to the point that you begin to wonder if Diesel has constructed a precarious thematic framework in his head where the only acceptable counterbalance to the physics-defying action is growling about family, while exploring new depths of his family’s history, and demonstrating that the genuinely impressively diverse cast is a legit family. I don’t necessarily subscribe to the theory that melodrama counterbalances insane action, but hey…it is what it is, and Diesel’s obvious affinity for highlighting the themes of family and friendship as a reflection of the obvious IRL relationships of the cast does bring enough heart to the film to legitimize the ridiculous action.

Overall, these two components overwhelm anything else the movie may be trying to do, and at this point, either viewers are happily along for the ride, or victims of their own naivete for falling for this now-highly-refined formula for the tenth time. While F8 and F9 fail to exceed the F5–F7 trilogy, they do demonstrate a willingness to give audiences what they want with as much genuine effort as humanly possible.

I do have one theory that might explain why F8 and F9 fail to measure up to previous entries: the tragic loss of Paul Walker removed an important character dynamic from the franchise. Diesel’s Dom the all-go-no-quit man of action, defending his lifelong familial ideals to the death; Walker’s Brian was more the emotional heart of the relationship, constantly questioning the right-vs-wrong of situations and providing audiences with a clear narrative moral compass that contrasted with and also reigned in Dom’s worst instincts. The franchise sent Brian off in F7 with a heartfelt goodbye and has not attempted to bring him back (yet); but in his absence, Dom is now trying to fill both roles, instead of letting another character take Brian’s place. Forcing Dom to play both sides of the coin blunts his character as forged in the previous movies. Dom is, in my opinion, less compelling and more…just constantly opining about family while navigating the narrative problems brought about by his failure to care for actual family members in F8 (his child and baby momma) and F9 (his estranged brother).

But honestly, all of that is a level of analysis that defies the heart and intent of this franchise. Aside from Mission: Impossible, the Fast and Furious franchise is arguably the best pure action franchise going, and the fact that the tenth entry is far from the worst (that would be F2 or F4) is miraculous in its own right. As theaters are re-opening, this movie is the perfect movie at the perfect time to be reminded how fun and truly escapist summer popcorn movies can be…and I loved every imperfect minute of its runtime…

Pros:

• The ensemble cast is hitting on all cylinders (zing!), with the return of a beloved character thought dead
• The action is spectacular, ridiculous, idiotic, and technically near flawless
• I mean…family IS important, so the themes resonate because they are played true by all the characters
• There are a TON of callbacks and easter eggs to previous films

Cons:

• Paul Walker and his character’s absence is felt, as he was the unsung hero that kept these movies grounded in some semblance of emotional reality
• No Dwayne Johnson in this one
• If the concept of real-world physics is important to you, this movie will destroy your mind

Rating: 3.5/5
Far from running on fumes, the cast elevates the entire affair with a strongly implied 4^th-wall-breaking wink and nod to the insanity this movie unleashes

Review by Jim Washburn