F9: The Fast Saga
In a way, one has to admire the fact that, in his return to the franchise after a two film hiatus, director Justin Lin has made a “Fast” movie that just doesn’t even bother to try and come up with a narrative excuse to send Dom and co. back out into the field- they just get the story going. Also, if the gang can just set up transport on their own, which seems to be the implication at the beginning of this movie, does that make them an independent covert operational team like IMF? Maybe in their last two films, we can get a crossover with Ethan Hunt and co. where they face dinosaurs. If that sounds crazy, perhaps you haven’t been paying attention to this series since it was about street racing.
There is a narrative holding “F9” together, though, and it involves the sudden, hilarious, revelation that Dom (Vin Diesel) has a younger brother, and he’s played by John Cena. That sounds like a lot to process, but don’t worry- the movie will do all the heavy lifting for you, as well as bringing up some nostalgic feelings of “Days of Thunder” by having Michael Rooker back at a NASCAR track, this time as part of Dom’s father’s pit crew. (Can I just say, having Rooker as yet another de facto father figure in a Vin Diesel franchise is ::chef’s kiss::. Can we get that for the “Riddick” and “xXx” franchises, as well?) Why does Dom suddenly have a brother neither he nor Mia (Jordana Brewster) have ever mentioned before? Because someone needs to be the antagonist that will become something of an ally, and if you think I care about giving out spoilers about this insane franchise, well, there is one piece of absurdity I will not reveal much about except, there’s a lot to process in its execution.
Lin is definitely one of the upper tier action directors working today. (I wish he had gotten more love for his terrific “Star Trek Beyond,” though.) The race scene that opens the movie is tense and well shot in a way that would make Tony Scott proud. The action sequence in South America that begins the modern day story proper is clear eyed and exciting even as it gets ridiculous by the end, and the same goes for the climactic action scene. In between is a bit more of a mixed bag, but when Helen Mirren shows up as a jewel thief, and takes Dom on a jaunt through London streets with police following them, you cannot help but smile.
The script by Lin and Daniel Casey is not as strong this time out, and I think part of it has to do with how much heavy lifting, dramatically, the flashbacks do. Just about every scene of “tense drama,” such as it is in this series, is a flashback; I’m not saying Chris Morgan- who had been the screenwriter for the series since “Tokyo Drift”- is a great writer, but I think he’s better at understanding how to delineate the lunacy with pathos that makes the franchise’s ideas about family feel earned. Family is, naturally, a big part of this movie, as well, and I think Morgan’s voice could have helped make that material land, especially an early scene where Dom and Letty (Michelle Rodriguez, whom may be the acting MVP of this franchise) are raising little Brian in a rural setting, because of course that’s where Dom would try to retire to, as well as the reveal that Han (Sung Kang) is still alive. What? How? Really? You’re challenging the logic of these movies at this point?
I still enjoyed the silliness of this film, but it has the same problem “The Fate of the Furious” did- no Paul Walker for Dom to bounce off of. I don’t know what it was, because neither Walker nor Diesel are strong actors, but these two just had a natural chemistry together that worked, and when Brian was “retired” after “Furious 7,” and Walker’s death, the franchise truly is missing something vital to why it was able to sustain for as long as it had, and reinvent itself mid-stream. All of the actors, including Tyrese, Ludacris and Nathalie Emmanuel, bring something to the equation, but more than Dom, it feels like Brian is what made this cast a family we cared about. Without him, one can still find entertainment in the wild action, but the last scene of this movie doesn’t work without him. I’m not sure how two more films are going to sustain Walker’s loss; this one barely gets by.
