Fast X - Another Spectacular Installment in the Fast and Furious Series

When this movie was released mid of last week, my wife and I were still on holiday and unfortunately the film was not playing there yet. So we had to wait till this weekend to go and see it in Jakarta. We chose our favorite cinema with the Dolby Atmos sound effect. OK, I'll get on with it now. 

Brief Story Line

After their last adventure, Dom (Vin Diesel - Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 etc) and Letty (Michelle Rodriguez - Dungeons and Dragons: Honor Among Thieves, etc) were enjoying their lives as newlyweds taking care of B (Leo Abelo Perry). Meanwhile Roman (Tyrese Gibson - Morbius etc), Tej (Ludacris - End of the Road etc), Han (Sung Kang - Raya and the Last Dragon etc) and Ramsey (Nathalie Emmanuel - Army of Thieves etc) went on a mission in Rome as instructed by Little Nobody (Scott Eastwood - Wrath of Man etc).

Things went sideways for the team when an old adversary later on revealed to be Dante Reyes (Jason Momoa - Sweet Girl etc) wreak havoc as he tried to get revenge on Dom and his family. Dante even took a shot at Cipher (Charlize Theron - The Addams Family 2 etc) who was actually Dom's enemy.  The agency also appointed agent Aimes (Alan Ritchson - Reacher TV series etc) to handle the fight between Dom and Dante as it became an international matter, though another agency's high ranked official Tess (Brie Larson - Captain Marvel etc) preferred a different approach.

So what would happen to Dom and family as they were being hunted by Dante? You could find them all in this movie.

End of Brief Story Line

Wow! That was simply amazing. This was one movie that fits the word Blockbuster for me as it had a lot of absolutely crazy action sequence that were so grand that made me in awe from start to finish. Yes, for almost the entire movie, my wife and I were strapped to our seats admiring the stunts that were just spectacular. She could not stop screaming and even clapped her hands after few of those scenes. I realized that the experience of seeing  movie such as this in the big screen with great sound effects was what I missed when watching F9 (this film's predecessor) as I watched it on my TV since we were still in the middle of the pandemic when that was released.

Anyway, this time with the cinema not at full capacity and the audience mostly fully concentrated on the movie, it was a lot more enjoyable. I loved all the action in here from the car chase sequence in Rome to the ultimate climax that involved those helicopters. I know some of them might defy logic or physics but still watching those scenes just gave me and my wife the joy that we could only feel in a movie. I must applaud the special effects team for doing such a wonderful job in making them convincing enough.

I read earlier that this latest installment was supposed to be divided into two parts as they plan to end this franchise, but it looked like the studio decided to make it a trilogy instead which to some people might be too much. However, both of us thought that if they could still make it as spectacular as this, why not? It's still very fun. I think that since it is ending, they tried to bring as many previous characters as possible. Aside from those names I mentioned above, there were also people like John Cena (Vacation Friends etc), Jason Statham (Operation Fortune: Ruse de Guerre etc), Helen Mirren (Shazam! Fury of the Gods etc), Jordana Brewster (Lethal Weapon TV series etc) and few others who reprised their previous roles. They also added few more new cast such as Daniela Melchior (The Suicide Squad etc) as a street racer in Rio and Rita Moreno (West Side Story etc) as Dom's grandmother.

Of all the characters in here, I think I liked Dante the most. Jason Momoa was brilliant as the new villain with his seemingly psychotic and erratic behavior and really annoying with his style. He was really perfect as the worst villain that Dom had to face and trully fitting as the ultimate enemy to end this franchise. Every time he seemed to have finished, there was always something up his sleeve. I really could not wait for the next movie to be released (hopefully in 2025) so I could see what he would do next. 

The music was also very nice with plenty of songs that were really suitable in this kind of movie. The director Louis Letterier (Transporter, The Incredible Hulk etc) did a good job in maintaining one of the trademarks of the street racing scenes, although he was criticized for not making the film coherent enough. Btw, Louis actually took over from Justin Lin (who directed Fast & Furious 3 to 6) due to various problems on set, though he remained as producer. 

Overall this was a truly exciting action movie full of intense moments with a duration of 141 minutes (including closing credits) which did not feel too long for me and my wife as we were entertained throughout. Oh, there was a mid end credit scene which I believe would make the next installment even grander. Regardless of what critics were saying, I still liked this movie a lot due to its crazy stunts. And surprisingly there was even a quite emotional moment during the scene towards the end, although with the habit of the movie makers to do what they did in the past few years, I would not be surprised if that also would change later. So if you love full of spectacular action movies without really worried about plot or scenario, then this would be to your liking.

Mike's movie moments rating: 4.5 out of 5 stars