It’s hard to keep being better and faster than the preceding movie, but somehow, the Fast and the Furious franchise is doing it. Fast X had a lot of work to do. After all, in F9, the team went to space. But what works about the tenth installment (unless you’re counting Hobbs and Shaw) in the franchise is that it’s just as wild as we’ve come to know these movies to be while still bringing the characters we love to life in a way that really works for the franchise as a whole.
You know going into any of these movies that there will be absolutely outlandish car chases, stunts that the team has to do, and more. But that’s what we expect from them, so that’s not nearly as important as the characters that we’ve come back for time and time again. We started this journey because of the cars and the music, and we’re staying because we love these characters so very much.
That helps to keep fans on their toes! As someone who loves Han (Sung Kang) most of all, this movie was a healthy dose of stories from each character while still being a story about Dom as he faces off against one of the best villains of the franchise.
The world of Dominic Toretto (Vin Diesel) continues to get bigger and better with each new entry in the Fast and the Furious franchise, and now, with Fast X (your seatbelts), fans were introduced to Dante Reyes (Jason Momoa). The son of Hernan Reyes, who the team fought against back in Fast Five, has come back for revenge and proven to be their biggest villain yet!
The best way I can describe Jason Momoa’s performance as Dante Reyes is that he just truly came to set and had the time of his life. A twisted character who doesn’t care who he has to hurt in order to get revenge, Dante seems to be one step ahead of Dom and the team with each turn. But don’t worry, our family puts up a good fight against him.
Reyes just wants justice for his father. He doesn’t care how he gets to it but he just wants to see Dom suffer for what he did with Luke Hobbs (Dwayne Johnson). And that thirst for revenge has fueled his anger and almost giddiness over what pain he causes others. It is also the character that lets Momoa be the most like himself and the hilarious man we know him to be, even if Dante is evil to his core. It’s a nice balance between the public persona and lovable goof we’ve come to know with Momoa with a character who just wants destruction, and it is a performance people are going to think about for a long time.
And the fact that Momoa himself made Dante’s nail polish match his car? Perfect.
Tess Nobody doing her father proud
Mr. Nobody (Kurt Russell) has disappeared. No one knows where he is, and the family and their connection to the Agency is rough. Aimes (Alan Ritchson) is now in charge and doesn’t trust Dom or his team, so their own connection to the Agency comes in the form of Tess (Brie Larson). Dominic notes that Mr. Nobody talked about his daughter, and we get to see Tess really shine as her father’s protégé and someone who cares about what Toretto and his family can do.
There’s not a lot of Tess in the movie, but what we do see of her is absolutely amazing and gives hope for a future where Russell returns to the franchise as Mr. Nobody and we can see more of her dynamic with him (and probably include them in the family, as well, just like the Shaw family has been).
Larson does really just fit right into this world. She’s powerful, knows what needs to be done, and isn’t afraid of getting her hands dirty. And it makes for a great look into how The Fast and the Furious franchise can continue to bring in new characters that are fresh and memorable.
I love Han and Ramsey’s dynamic
As I said, my favorite character is Han. The minute he came back in F9 and our dedication to the #HanLives movement became realized, I was excited to see where he was going. In Fast X, Han spends his time with Ramsey (Nathalie Emmanuel), Roman (Tyrese), and Tej (Ludacris). They go on a mission to Rome that Dom eventually learns is a trap from Dante, but Roman is heading the mission.
Even though Dom and Letty (Michelle Rodriguez) come to help them, they all still get separated, and for the most part, we’re left with Dom on his own, Letty on her own, and Han with the team from the mission. But it means that we get more time with them. Because they aren’t sharing the screen with Dom and his fight with Dante, we get to have fun moments between Han and Ramsey as Roman and Tej are fighting each other. We get to see Han just constantly eating something, and it’s nice to be back with him this closely.
The family is divided
Yes, the family is separated. They’re not all on the same mission, and they’re trying to figure out how to stop Dante when the twists just don’t stop coming, and we don’t really know what is going to happen to them by the end of the movie because it does end on a cliffhanger. But still, we have one brief moment with everyone together and they’re all pretty separated from there on.
It does, at points, make me long for the missions where the team is together and trying to come together for a common goal, which I do think is by design. I think we’re supposed to miss our team together so that when we do eventually get the next movie, we can finally cheer because they’re together again. But until then, we’ll just have to rewatch Fast X over and over again.
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Fast X hits theaters on May 19 and is one hell of a ride.
(featured image: Universal Pictures)
