As the latest entry in the world renowned franchise, Fast X (2023) is a classic example of an instalment in a film franchise that has possibly run its course, but has the same time, allows viewers to switch off and relax. Louis Leterrier (The Incredible Hulk, Clash of the Titans, Now You See Me) fills in for long time director Justin Lin (Fast and Furious, Fast 5, F9), carrying the weight of nine preceding films, not forgetting the spin off of course.
This is no easy feat considering the ensemble cast including franchise veterans Vin Diesel (Guardians of the Galaxy, Fast 5, XXX), Michelle Rodriguez (Avatar, S.W.A.T, Machete), and Sung Kang (Code 8, Ninja Assassin, The Fast and the Furious: Tokyo Drift). On top of this the entry managed to squeeze in some new faces including Jason Mamoa (Aquaman, Sweet Girl, Dune), Alan Ritchson (Titans, Reacher, The Hunger Games: Catching Fire), and Brie Larson (Captain Marvel, Room, Kong: Skull Island).
First of all the story, an aspect of the franchise that has seemed less and less important over the years. While a positive note for this film is it offers a basic recap of some previous films so that new audiences can understand enough having not watched the previous nine films, ultimately it felt like it was just trying to cram in as many familiar faces as possible and structuring it’s plot points around that. This caused an issue for the story as the constant jumping from one story strand to another makes the story feel chaotic and unpolished.
This is especially true when some plot points aren’t picked up on for ages in favour of Dom’s story thread, resulting in an unbalanced film and gives the impression that some side characters are included for the sake of it and just forgotten about. Either that or the filmmakers just tried to include to many storylines and struggled to tie them together. Linked to this is the attempted emphasis on family and nostalgia, with callbacks to street racing, however too many characters were pushed into the spotlight which stunted their chances of properly developing.
Another possible issue with this instalment is that it feels like a poor attempt at a first section of a two part affair. Now, obviously the advertising campaign for the film clearly stated it was a part-one, that being said there is nothing within the film itself that expressly states this fact. This will obviously confuse some of the audience, especially more casual cinema goers who may not be as familiar with the franchise.
This issue may have a negative impact on the film’s reputation due to it appearing as an unfinished plot. This assumption could especially be the case due to the story finishing on two major cliff hangers, which aren’t particularly well handled. Having the second cliffhanger takes the attention, and therefore the weight, off the big one which works against the film.
On to action. This is an important aspect of the film, and one of the components that the franchise are renowned for. It appears that, with every new addition to the film series, the action within becomes even more unbelievable. That is until this entry. Now, it is apparent that every entry of the franchise appears to try and out do the action and stakes of the previous entry however after the introduction of of space in F9 (2021), it was a mystery as to how that could ever be topped. Clearly this was a realisation that occured to the filmmakers of this film too, as it seems a more personal approach was taken to try and subvert the expectations of the audience.
As previously stated, this entry was set to be the first in a two part finale acting as a send off to the main line of entries. That being said, there are some reports circling of it being lengthened into a trilogy. This could spell disaster as it could result in a last minute change to the next entry in order to accommodate a last minute sequel. In a film franchise that has gone down the gears in terms of story quality and has drifted further into the obscene with each instalment, this entry fits well as the sort of film that a person can go to switch off and forget about the outside world, while not having to concentrating that much in favour of just enjoying the ride.
