F9: The Fast Saga – Incredibly Stupid But Fun Enough To Get By

Here we go again. When it looked like the track was running out for the Fast and the Furious series, here comes the ninth installment in the franchise with F9 (or F9: The Fast Saga). As far as this entry is concerned, if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it and fix it they did not do. For a series that has essentially devolved into a series of mindless, awe-inducing set pieces tied together by some forgettable story, it is still fun to watch in spite of the increasing stupidity of it all assuming one doesn’t think about it too much. Though it relies on that awe as a means to distract from its many other flaws, it has gotten this series this far and this does not look to change any time soon with two new entries on the way. That being said, that good will is fading fast as one can’t help but get the impression that the series is not even trying anymore resulting in a final product that’s nowhere near as fun as it used to be or could be. Suffice it to say that fans of the series will be at home here.

As mentioned, when it comes to F9, the story doesn’t matter while anyone who has witnessed any of the film’s promotional material should already have a good impression of what to expect here besides the obvious fast cars and driving. When it seemed like Dom Toretto (Diesel) had finally settled on the quiet life, living off the grid with Letty (Rodriguez) and his son Brian, their time was cut short as he and Letty were once again pulled back into action. However, this time was different as it would put him face to face with the sins of his past and an adversary like no other, an assassin and high-performance driver who just happened to be Dom’s estranged brother Jakob (Cena) who had nefarious plans of his own where the circumstances don’t matter. Therefore to our gang, as much as it was about stopping him and his plan, it was about Dom making up for those sins of his past. Offering some backstory to help fill in those gaps, the Toretto family subplot didn’t quite fit with the tone of the rest of the film, feeling like a set up to something more which left the events of this film unsatisfying.

Meanwhile, the story took our gang and their arsenal of vehicles around the world as they participated in more mindless, awe-inducing set pieces be it through the jungles of some fictional country or through the streets of Edinburgh as part of a cat-and-mouse game with Jakob and his minions along with a few surprises. It’s best to not focus on the why or how of it all. Devoid of all logic and sense, these sequences were nonetheless still exciting to watch and there was definitely a lot of them here as this installment continued the trend of trying to top previous installments. With a running time touching 2.5 hours, F9 doesn’t offer much besides those sequences and a paper thin story which make the film feel like an empty, bloated, and tiresome experience overall. Though the film did have its moments, for the most part the story goes nowhere as its cast is merely going through the motions, some more than others. Perhaps it’s fatigue after nine films but that same excitement just wasn’t there this time around and it showed through many of the performances.

Diesel has never been considered the greatest of actors but none of the previous films in the series have required him to carry any one film thanks to its diverse supporting cast. Though in the case of F9, Dom plays a much larger role in the story and unfortunately, he is not up to the task here which certainly brought down the film around him. Diesel’s wooden performance as Dom, despite the many attempts to prop him up by the rest of the cast, was hard to watch at times as it failed to sell the family drama at the root of the story. Cena, the new addition to the cast as Jakob, was marginally better by bringing some charisma to what pretty much was a brood-off between he and Diesel. While Charlize Theron stole a few scenes in a throwaway appearance as Cipher, the only other standouts were Ludacris and Tyrese Gibson for their hilarious exchanges as Tej and Roman.

In the end, F9 is simply more of the same and for most audiences, that will be enough. It may sound odd to say this now but the franchise can only do the same thing for so long.

still courtesy of Universal Pictures

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Keith Noakes

The EIC of the coincidentally-named keithlovesmovies.com. A Canadian who prefers to get out of the cold and into the warmth of a movie theatre.