2023 - FAST X , "This is the song that never ends."

Number 10 in the gearhead action espionage series.  Fast X isn't good and it isn't bad, if just unfolds with the same old stuff as usual.  Our hero Dominic Toretto ( Vin Diesel pushing 56 years old) is the leader of our team of good guys for hire.  By now the cast in the series has completely swollen with so many characters from the various films that it's difficult to remember who was introduced in what film not that it really matters anymore. Characters who die come back to life, new family characters are introduced in this case Rita Moreno as great grandmother Toretto for no apparent reason.

Charlize Theron is "Cyper" the super bad gal that the Toretto gang has been doing battle  with in several films. For the flimsiest of plot points she becomes an ally in their fight against a real bad guy Dante Reyes played by Jason Momoa.  Jason Momoa is even worse than Charlize Theron and Momoa plays him like some kind of weird cross dressing or bisexual or gay super villain, who can tell.  Momoa is seeking revenge for the death of his father which occurred in Fast Five, (2011 release), which was 12 years ago, talk about holding a grudge.

 

Anyway we are off almost immediately with the now typical over the top car stunts and action pieces as the gang rushes around the globe tying to save Dominic's son who first showed up in The Fate of the Furious, (2017 release).  You might as well throw into the cast mix Brie Larson, Helen Mirren, Jason Statham, Scott Eastwood, Jordana Brewster, Gal Gadot, John Cena  Dwayne Johnson, Pete Davidson the late Paul Walker's daughter and in the typically thankless role as Dominic Toretto's wife Michelle Rodriguez.  All of these cameos and short parts only add length to a film that is already incredibly overlong.

 

The film ends in the great tradition of 1930's cliffhanger serials. However the producers of Fast X certainly didn't learn any lessons from those old serials because each chapter in those old films ran about 30 minutes.  The film has a whopper of a 141 minute running time.  It will be interesting to see if Universal Studios films Fast XI or whatever they are going to call it, this film was not the financial blockbuster the studio was hoping for.

The film was written by Dan Mazeau and Justin Lin.  Lin was the original director of this film but he walked off the set a week into production.