Review: F9: The Fast Saga

The past of Dom (Vin Diesel) catches up with him, when Mr. Nobody (Kurt Russell) informs him that a secret device that can control any weapons system has been stolen, and Mr. Nobody’s prisoner, criminal mastermind Cipher (Charlize Theron) has been kidnapped. The culprit? Dom’s long-thought-to-be-dead brother Jakob (John Cena, who couldn’t look less like Vin Diesel if he tried). The brothers were estranged many years ago over the death of their race driver father. Jordana Brewster, Michelle Rodriguez, Nathalie Emmanuel, Chris ‘Ludacris’ Bridges, Lucas Black, Tyrese Gibson, Sung Kang, and Dame Helen Mirren all reprise franchise roles. Michael Rooker looks like the father of “Joe Dirt”, playing a man from the Toretto family’s past.

 

Vin Diesel seems to have won control in the “Fast and the Furious” franchise war over Dwayne Johnson, and that’s a shame to people like me who only started to tolerate this series once The Rock showed up. This 2021 film from director Justin Lin (“The Fast and The Furious: Tokyo Drift”, “Star Trek Beyond”) and his co-writer Daniel Casey (a writer-director of so far little note) is arguably the worst film in the franchise since the pre-Rock days. The first 30 minutes is pretty fun and not overly different from the more enjoyable entries in the series. However, after that it slows to a crawl in the middle for quite a while. It’s always nice to see Lucas Black but his character feels entirely different from the one he played in “Tokyo Drift”, totally goofy. The last 30 minutes perk up again but go too far into silliness even for someone like me who enjoyed the more spectacle-based entries in this franchise. The whole film is a bloated Vin Diesel vehicle masquerading as an ensemble piece, which is both inevitable and somewhat understandable. It’s just not as much fun, despite the opener, a good performance by Charlize Theron, and a thunderous music score by Brian Tyler (“Frailty”, “The Expendables”).

 

Part of the problem is that Vin Diesel is as wooden as ever in the lead. Co-star Michelle Rodriguez has enough fire and attitude that you wish the series had used her better. Poor Nathalie Emmanuel meanwhile has never been worse. The film really amps up the tech expert schtick and the “Game of Thrones” actress seems to be trying not to fumble her tech-heavy dialogue. I’ve never seen such a poor performance from her. As for lead villain John Cena, those who have been hanging out all these years for a ‘heel turn’ might be a bit disappointed here. His performance isn’t awful, but the character isn’t interesting and he’s surrounded by useless idiots. Poor, wasted Kurt Russell is a damn good actor now relegated to playing the guy who explains away any ridiculous plot development/course re-alignment.

 

Flat sequel peaks in the first act, otherwise it’s ridiculous without actually being fun. Vin Diesel is a bore and for the most part, so is the film. Those who enjoyed the first three films in the franchise might enjoy this, I would’ve preferred Diesel left the franchise to The Rock and made another “XXX” sequel instead.

 

Rating: C

 

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