Fast X Is Missing An Emotional Center, But The Action Bonanza Makes Up For It

This post contains major spoilers for "Fast X."

The fact that 2001's "The Fast and the Furious" kickstarted its story with a group of street racers hijacking trucks with illegal DVDs feels like something that took place in an alternate universe. Nearly two prequels and nine sequels later, the "Fast & Furious" franchise has grown and mutated beyond recognition, emerging as a tentpole blockbuster franchise with increasingly audacious stunts completely removed from the realm of reality.

This aspect of "Fast & Furious," however, has often worked in its favor — the genuinely impressive vault chase sequence in "Fast 5" calls for an appreciation for the franchise's commitment to pulling off the impossible, while entries like "F9" ensure that ludicrous-yet-entertaining action set pieces are balanced with meaningful emotional stakes. While "Fast X" doubles down on its dedication to going all out on its premise with a growing cast of globetrotting characters, Louis Leterrier's latest installment fails to tether its bombastic action to an emotional core, as the film suffers from too many half-backed B-plots and does not always know what to do with its characters.

Having said so, "Fast X" is definitely not without its merits. Jason Momoa's Dante injects much-needed levity into a franchise that has started to take itself too seriously, while the film's major action set pieces stand out in the same way the Abu Dhabi car jump sequence managed to both baffle and impress. Yes, the limits of suspending disbelief are stretched beyond belief, but this is undoubtedly a part of the franchise's enduring charm, and its ability to keep audiences hooked and return to the theatres to watch Dominic Toretto (Vin Diesel) repeatedly press the NOS button almost every year.

"Fast X" opens with a flashback, or rather, an added perspective to an event that we are already familiar with: the vault heist in Rio de Janeiro, where Dom and his family stole Hernán Reyes' lifelong fortune. Apparently, his son Dante was at the scene, and he watched his father die and fell into a river after his car flipped over and crashed. Ten years later, he's back with a vengeance to punish Dom and everyone he loves, abiding by his father's philosophy of never accepting death when suffering is owed. This is a well-enough set-up for the film's first major action set-piece, which takes place in Rome and involves a massive bomb rolling around the city, while Dom and co. try their damndest to defuse it before Dante sets it off. While serious casualties are avoided, the disaster is not fully averted.

While some mechanics of this action-piece are pretty far-fetched (although, they went to SPACE in "F9," so a rogue bomb feels pretty tame/believable in comparison) the breathless, high-octane nature of this chase is thrilling to witness, as Dante's sudden emergence even makes Dom feel out of his element. He's still unbelievably calm behind the wheel, obsessively figuring out a way to win this race against time, but it is interesting to see him challenged by someone as impulsively lawless as Dante. Dom has had many enemies over the years, and many of them have later turned into allies, but Dante seems like a wild card, who cannot be lured into the notions of loyalty or family, as he scoffs at these ideals after having lost everything.

Also, this time, Dom's crew is unable to band together to face this new threat without being outsmarted at every point.

Street racing has always been a way of resolving the most serious of rivalries in the franchise, but the only racing sequence in "Fast X" subverts expectations by putting Dom in a lose-lose scenario. Dom has almost always emerged as the winner, even defeating his dear friend Brian (the late Paul Walker) at some point — here, Dante enters the race under the guise of offering Dom a fair chance at winning, but quickly flips the script by forcing him to choose between two racers, whose vehicles are rigged with bombs. Dom saves Isabel (Daniela Melchior), but his pal Diogo is killed. Dante wins solely by leveraging the one thing that Dom considers to be his greatest asset: family.

A variation of this theme is replicated towards the end when Dom manages to save his son Little B (Leo Abelo Perry) but loses his brother Jakob (John Cena) after he sacrifices himself. These dramatic scenes occur as ludicrous stunts are pulled off — earlier, Little B and Jakob jump off a plane on a kayak and land safely (?) and Dom, after being lifted off the ground by grapple hooks tied to two choppers, manages to crash them into one another and escape without any major injuries.

As the franchise has never been known to ground its chaotic action scenes, these events are enjoyed best when not taken too seriously. After all, it is inevitable that Dom will emerge unscathed from the most dangerous scenarios, like a messiah figure with unlimited XP. When viewed from this lens, the extravagant, outlandish action works. The thunderous roar of engines revving and bombs going off is enough to drown out the startling lack of emotional stakes, although the film would've fared better if it did invest in that aspect.

To be fair, there are moments in which "Fast X" attempts to tug at the heartstrings by repeating one of the franchise's oft-repeated core values of family, and bringing back familiar faces to evoke nostalgia and set up the stage for the near future. However, these attempts feel hollow and disconnected from everything happening in the film, as there is a transparent lack of a strong emotional center. Diesel tries to fill this void, but the Dom-Brian duo remains inimitable, and the decision to keep Walker's character alive yet removed from pivotal action plays out poorly when considering the gravity of the events.

The rest of the crew, including Letty (Michelle Rodriguez) play their respective roles fairly well, but these disjointed sections, no matter how thrilling (the Letty vs. Cipher fight is surely a highlight) do not come together to form a cohesive whole. "Fast X" is highly-enjoyable when it lingers on what it does best — amp up the chaos in chase scenes and so on — but is severely lacking in the emotion department. Not even Rita Moreno's Abuelita Torretto is able to truly bring everyone together, and Jakob's sudden change of heart feels rather forced and inorganic. While this does not mar the experience of "Fast X" whatsoever, it does dull its edge a bit. After all, what is "Fast & Furious" without the irrevocable bonds of family?

"Fast X" hit theaters on May 19, 2023.