After the very disappointing previous instalment, it seemed that the Fast & Furious franchise may have run out of gas. Thankfully, Fast X is a return to form, finding the perfect balance again for another hugely entertaining quarter mile, as we head into the series’ final stretch.

Premise: While Roman (Tyrese Gibson) leads the team on a mission in Rome, Dominic Toretto (Vin Diesel) and Letty (Michelle Rodriguez) receive a warning from an unexpected source, telling them that Dante (Jason Momoa), the son of the Brazilian kingpin that they overthrew a decade ago, is coming after them for revenge.

Review:

It’s not an exaggeration to say that Fast & Furious 9 broke my heart a little bit, back in 2021. I know that the Fast & Furious franchise isn’t exactly high art, but it’s been a guilty pleasure of mine ever since I saw Fast Five (2011). Up until then, I could pretty much take or leave the series: the original The Fast and The Furious (2001) was okay (even if it was effectively just a remake of Point Break), but after that, 2 Fast 2 Furious (2003) and The Fast and The Furious: Tokyo Drift (2006) were pretty bad, and although 2009’s Fast & Furious brought the original cast back to the franchise, they still hadn’t quite mastered the winning formula yet.

That all changed with 2011’s Fast Five, which shifted the focus away from the street racing and onto elaborate heists and over-the-top action sequences instead. Fast Five saw the team steal from a corrupt Brazilian kingpin while evading the law, then Fast & Furious 6 (2013) saw them earn their freedom by taking down an international terrorist. In Furious 7 (2015), the team first met “Mr Nobody” and began doing off-the-books work for the clandestine “Agency”, and by Fast & Furious 8 (aka The Fate of the Furious) (2017) they were the only thing standing between cyberterrorist Cipher (Charlize Theron) and her plan to hold the world hostage with nuclear weapons.

“…coming into Fast X, the question was can the series find its way back on track…”

But then Fast & Furious 9 (aka F9: The Fast Saga) happened in 2021, and it seemed like the wheels had fallen off the series. I (generously) gave F9 a 3-star rating, but most of that was due to my affection for the characters rather than the quality of the film itself, which genuinely felt like a “jump the shark” moment for the series. So coming into Fast X, the question for me was, can the series find its way back?

It’s hard to find one specific thing in particular that made F9 such a big disappointment (although sending them into space in a converted car is a pretty good place to start!). It could have been the lacklustre and charisma-free villains, it could have been the absence of both Luke Hobbs (Dwayne Johnson) and Deckard Shaw (Jason Statham) from the film, or it could have been that the plot and the action sequences all stretched credibility just a bit too far, even for this franchise. But if I had to pick one thing, it’d probably be the departure of writer Chris Morgan from the series. Chris Morgan wrote every instalment from Tokyo Drift through to Fast & Furious 8 (as well as the really enjoyable spin-off Hobbs & Shaw), and he was perhaps the person who found the perfect tone for these movies.

“…‘Fast X’ manages to find that perfect balance of tones again…”

The Fast & Furious films have to be grounded, but not too grounded (no one wants to see a film about stealing DVD players now, like in the first movie) – they have to be over-the-top, but not too over-the-top (no cars in space, please!) – they have to be knowing and tongue-in-cheek, but not too knowing and tongue-in-cheek (like in F9 when Roman starts to believe he’s invulnerable because of all the ridiculous scrapes he’s survived) … you get the idea. F9 proved that it was harder than it looks to strike the right balance between all those potentially conflicting tones.

Which brings us full circle back to Fast X, and the good news is that no matter who takes credit for it, this film does manage to find that perfect balance again. The action sequences are suitably impressive (especially a relatively early sequence in Rome), but they never lose their sense of grounding completely in the way that F9 did with its car-in-space or super-magnet sequences (although those with any love for the laws of physics might want to avoid this franchise completely!). The tone in Fast X is winking at the audience, but not in a way that undermines the film's stakes, and although there is (another) hefty dose of ret-conning in Fast X, it’s nothing like the credibility-destroying (and momentum-sapping) re-writing of the Toretto family history in F9.

“…Jason Momoa is perhaps the franchise’s best villain yet…”

While the last film lacked a truly impactful villain, Fast X has perhaps the franchise’s best villain yet. Jason Momoa looks like he’s having the time of his life playing the new villain Dante, and he’s so much fun you miss him when he’s not on screen. Dante has a wicked sense of humour that allows him to undercut all of the scenes he’s in, almost as if the character knows he’s in a Fast & Furious movie and is playing to the audience. After the series took a misstep in F9 setting up Jakob (John Cena) as its main villain, Dante is a deranged breath of fresh air. Meanwhile, Jakob himself is also back in Fast X, but the character is much more fun now that he’s (effectively) been rewritten from scratch and given a new personality that actually allows John Cena to display his natural charisma and comic timing.

Of course, Jakob isn’t the only returning character in Fast X – the whole gang is back, including “Little Nobody” (Scott Eastwood), who was absent from F9, and Cipher, played by Oscar winner Charlize Theron. Although it’s probably fair to say that Mia (Jordana Brewster) once again is not given a great deal to do, Fast X also separates the team more than any of the previous instalments, with Roman (Tyrese Gibson), Tej (Ludacris), Ramsey (Nathalie Emmanuel) and Han (Sung Kang) following their own plot thread, while Dominic (Vin Diesel) and Letty (Michelle Rodriguez) focus on the threat posed by Dante.

“…gets the franchise’s finale off to a great start…”

Alongside Dante, Fast X also introduces a handful of other new characters. Alan Ritchson (who was fantastic in the Reacher TV show) plays Aimes, the new head of the Agency, while Daniela Melchior (best known for her role as Ratcatcher 2 in The Suicide Squad) plays a new street racing character. Oscar winner Brie Larson plays a mysterious new character called Tess (who I won’t say anything more about) – and given that Helen Mirren cameos again as Queenie, and Rita Moreno briefly appears as Dom’s grandmother, it means there are four Oscar winners in the cast of Fast X!

In reality, Fast X was never going to win over viewers who haven’t enjoyed the previous instalments – but what’s important is that it’s got the series back on track after the disappointing last film. While F9 is in my bottom three Fast & Furious films, Fast X has a shot of making it into my top 3. Originally, Fast X was announced as the first part of a 2-part finale for the series (so don’t expect everything to be neatly wrapped up by the end of this film), but recently Vin Diesel’s suggested that the final story-arc might actually become a 3-part story. Whatever happens, Fast X has got the franchise’s finale off to a great start.

Oh, and make sure you stay for a crucial mid-credits extra scene...