“Fast X” in one word? Bitin
Warning: Some unsurprising spoilers ahead
The Fast and the Furious franchise started in 2001. Let that sink a little bit: The Fast and the Furious premiered in 2001—22 years ago—and now we have Fast X. We have been following Dominic Toretto and the rest of his chosen family for over two decades, as they each seem to do the absolute impossible (like coming back to life). Are we sick of it? Obviously not.
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In the latest chapter of the franchise, Dom Toretto (Vin Diesel) and his family are faced with their “most lethal opponent” yet, someone that’s hell-bent on revenge because Dom and his family killed his father years before. Jason Mamoa gets film credit as the Villain, and he controls everyone with money and the eerie threat of their families being hurt—literally; he overtakes Cipher (Charlize Theron)’s army by kidnapping their kids and girlfriends and fiancés.
What follows is, as you might have guessed, a series of the good and the bad guys trying to outsmart, out drive and out kill each other. Do we get deaths? Yes. Do we get fancy cars going really fast? Yes. Do we get returning characters who we thought had already died? Yes. Are we introduced to people related to people that died? Yes. Do we get Dominic Toretto saying “family” in that deep, dark way he does? Only about 20 times in the two-hour-twenty runtime.
But here’s the reason why the Fast and the Furious franchise has outlived its contemporaries: we all love a good fight. It doesn’t matter how impossible the fight scenes are, or how our logic tells us that cars cannot do what we see on screen; we eat it up like we’re starved for some action, and Fast X delivers on this and more.
Jason Mamoa’s Villain is funny and ruthless but completely one-sided. Vin Diesel as Dominic Toretto is as you would expect: the hero, the brains and brawn, the leader. There are so many supporting characters in the film that step up to the challenge, but I wish we highlighted the women just a little bit more. As it stands, Fast X seems to only throw in Cipher and Letty as b-rolls.
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What’s amusing though, is that the Villain and Toretto have the same thing to fight for: family. Like its predecessors, Fast X is all about this; we just see how family can turn things around for the better, but we also bear witness to how family can be a horrible catalyst. Balance, you know?
But enough about the film, let’s talk about that ending—and the mid-credit scene. Without spelling it out so much, let’s just say: bitin. There’s definitely going to be an 11th installment of this franchise. And it’s not even because we got a clip of the next enemy. No, Fast X ends literally like a series with a weekly drop does; on a real cliffhanger.
“Fast X” is showing in theaters now.
Art Joaquin Ticzon
