The Fast & Furious franchise is allegedly one movie away from its main film series’ completion – and it needs to end so it can still go out with some sort of a bang.
Because it’s being ‘padded out’ to levels of absurdity – as it runs out of preposterous scenarios to fill its two hour-plus run time.
That’s not to say that it needs to end because it’s NOT fun – because for the most part this pretty much does what fans would expect – but they’re definitely on the home straight racing towards the chequered flag.
They just don’t need to overcook it with too many stupidly excessive chicanes to get there.
Parts eight, nine and ten, are all middling events compared to the late Paul Walker-starring heady franchise-highs of the middle trio of Fast Five, Fast & Furious 6 and Furious 7. The last couple in particular have started to really run out of steam.
That’s despite a memorably interesting – in a ‘campy’ wacko kind of way – villain in the form of Jason ‘Aquaman’ Momoa’s vengeful Dante Reyes, the son of druglord Hernan killed in the fifth film.
And boy does he mean business as he drags the likes of Charlize Theron’s Cipher, Helen Mirren’s Queenie (and ultimately Jason Statham’s Deckard Shaw) into his anarchic games, to join Vin Diesel’s kick-ass former street racer Dom Toretto and his crew of Letty (Michelle Rodriguez), Han (Sung Kang), Roman (Tyrese Gibson), Tej (Ludacris), Ramsey (Nathalie Emmanuel) and Mia (Jordana Brewster), who get pulled into his web of destruction.
It all kicks off with Dante setting them up for a massive (sometimes quite inconceivable) Rome ‘rolling bomb’ action sequence, and it doesn’t let up from there, even bringing the daughter of Kurt Russell’s Mr Nobody, Tess (Brie ‘Captain Marvel’ Larson), Jack Reacher TV star Alan Ritchson as agency leader Aimes, and the race driving sister (The Suicide Squad’s Daniela Melchior) of deceased Elena, into the mix, along with the returning John Cena’s Jakob who is tasked with protecting Dom’s son (and his nephew) ‘Little B’. In fact, the interaction between them is arguably one of the highlights of the movie.
In short, there’s a massive ensemble cast on board trying to keep pace with the woefully wooden scripting and high-octane action – that goes from the sublime to the ridiculous as Dante tries to destroy Dom and La Familia.
And wait until the very end, as it doesn’t stop there when it comes to unlikely returns – in this supposed first part to Fast Eleven’s franchise closer. Before more scheduled spin-offs of course.
There’s no doubting director Louis Leterrier’s (The Incredible Hulk) all-action passion for the project, as he throws everything at the wall here – particularly with multiple cliff-hangers making the next part a must-see (for closure at least) – just sadly not everything sticks. The Roman/Tej comedic relationship for one, just isn’t funny anymore. At all.
But it still pushes the pedal to the absolute metal in a breathlessly frenetic way – as ‘X’ just about marks the spot.
Rating: 3/5
Gavin Miller
Showcase Cinema De Lux Peterborough, Out Now
Cast: Vin Diesel, Jason Momoa, Brie Larson, John Cena, Alan Ritchson, Sung Kang, Tyrese Gibson, Michelle Rodriguez, Chris ‘Ludacris’ Bridges, Nathalie Emmanuel, Daniela Melchior, Charlize Theron, Jason Statham, Leo Abelo Perry, Scott Eastwood, Luis Da Silva, Pete Davidson, Rita Moreno, Helen Mirren & Joaquim De Almeida
Running Time: 2 Hrs 21 Mins
Director: Louis Leterrier
Go to www.showcasecinemas.co.uk for all the latest film information & showtimes at Peterborough’s Showcase Cinema De Lux