I'm not going to convince anyone who isn't already on board with this that you should give your time to this next chapter. If you've already checked out, you have no reason to come back. For the rest of us, this is yet another "solid" chapter in this overlong franchise that is really stretching thin it's reason for existing. All of that said, I was still very entertained.
You know the drill. Dom and family are still at it, with Dom seemingly having put his world saving days behind him to raise his kid and be with wife Letty. Others are not laying so low as they've taken on yet another high stakes heist mission. Only, this time it's all part of mastermind. Dante, the son of Fast Five villain Hernan and is out for revenge. When the first big action sequence turns Dom and crew into world's most wanted, everyone finds themselves separated and on different quests to get out from under Dante.
The story is, of course, fairly nonsensical. Momoa is arguably the franchises best villain yet. He's flamboyant, fun, hardly ever serious, and steals every scene he's in. He's also on the level of a comic book villain, as he is shown to be as technologically capable as anyone we've seen from the franchise, has seemingly unlimited resources to hire as many mercenaries as he wants, and smart enough to stay five steps ahead of everyone. He's exactly the kind of unexplainable bad guy this franchise has delivered to gleeful excitement, but with the added bonus of being almost Joker-level unhinged.
Everyone else suffers a bit from being split up. These movies have always been at their best when the crew are together, but here, they're barely together at all. In fact, save for the beginning of the movie, I can't remember a time the team meets back up. It gives the film the issue of having too many characters and too much wasted time. We get the main cast members who are still with us, past villains who are now incomprehensibly joining Dom's family, and a handful of new characters who are a welcome addition but are probably too much of an addition. It's a case of trying to mimic Avengers Endgame's "this our last ride, so let's bring back everyone we can", while having a lot of it feel kind of useless or undercooked. The best example of this is Jason Statham, who returns briefly in what is little more than a cameo, before disappearing again.
The action, however, is as top notch and ridiculous as ever. Sadly, what is probably the best action scene is delivered first, the giant ball rolling through Rome spotted in the trailer. It's an exciting chase through the city that gives us everything we want. The film never really matches that level of balls to the wall, everything and the sink action, save for maybe the climactic chase. The ending will also prove pretty divisive, it's safe to say. Unfortunately, far too much time is spent on drama that has never been this franchises strong point. The movie could have stood to lose 20-30 minutes.
Fans will likely enjoy this, as it's better than F8 and F9, but doesn't quite reach the heights of 5-7.
You know the drill. Dom and family are still at it, with Dom seemingly having put his world saving days behind him to raise his kid and be with wife Letty. Others are not laying so low as they've taken on yet another high stakes heist mission. Only, this time it's all part of mastermind. Dante, the son of Fast Five villain Hernan and is out for revenge. When the first big action sequence turns Dom and crew into world's most wanted, everyone finds themselves separated and on different quests to get out from under Dante.
The story is, of course, fairly nonsensical. Momoa is arguably the franchises best villain yet. He's flamboyant, fun, hardly ever serious, and steals every scene he's in. He's also on the level of a comic book villain, as he is shown to be as technologically capable as anyone we've seen from the franchise, has seemingly unlimited resources to hire as many mercenaries as he wants, and smart enough to stay five steps ahead of everyone. He's exactly the kind of unexplainable bad guy this franchise has delivered to gleeful excitement, but with the added bonus of being almost Joker-level unhinged.
Everyone else suffers a bit from being split up. These movies have always been at their best when the crew are together, but here, they're barely together at all. In fact, save for the beginning of the movie, I can't remember a time the team meets back up. It gives the film the issue of having too many characters and too much wasted time. We get the main cast members who are still with us, past villains who are now incomprehensibly joining Dom's family, and a handful of new characters who are a welcome addition but are probably too much of an addition. It's a case of trying to mimic Avengers Endgame's "this our last ride, so let's bring back everyone we can", while having a lot of it feel kind of useless or undercooked. The best example of this is Jason Statham, who returns briefly in what is little more than a cameo, before disappearing again.
The action, however, is as top notch and ridiculous as ever. Sadly, what is probably the best action scene is delivered first, the giant ball rolling through Rome spotted in the trailer. It's an exciting chase through the city that gives us everything we want. The film never really matches that level of balls to the wall, everything and the sink action, save for maybe the climactic chase. The ending will also prove pretty divisive, it's safe to say. Unfortunately, far too much time is spent on drama that has never been this franchises strong point. The movie could have stood to lose 20-30 minutes.
Fans will likely enjoy this, as it's better than F8 and F9, but doesn't quite reach the heights of 5-7.