Fast X

A reliable dose of the same old same old, occasionally lacking in any exceptional originality. Even though everyone in front of and behind the camera can bend over backwards to surprise, provoke, or turn the laws of physics upside down for the viewers over and over again, I can't help but sometimes sit with the feeling that it's not a complete Yes. I welcome Brie Larson and the wild Jason Momoa in the role of the Brazilian clown Pennywise, I can also accept any "fun for the whole family". After all the leaping over skyscrapers, endless highways, or torpedos getting hurled away, I was just expecting something more specific than complicated chases through metropoles and more escalating triumphs pulled out of agency sleeves. (07/19/2023)

After the disappointing 9, it's a return to the better parts of the franchise, thanks to the new actors on the scene. It's once again decent silly fun that entertains with over-the-top action, great actors, a fine soundtrack, apt humour, decent fights and surprising twists. Jason Momoa, who has been plotting revenge on Torret for years, comes in and he is the biggest asset of the 10th episode. Momoa is an incredible overacting madman who entertains, surprises and shocks with his eccentric performance. He is the best villain in the franchise and makes the film worth watching. I was also pleased with the likable Brie Larson and especially Alan Ritchson (Reacher!), another big thunderer on the scene, a bit of a replacement for The Rock. I was surprised that there aren't as many outright epic stunt set-pieces, but on the other hand there are plenty of physical fights, which is my favourite, and I enjoyed plenty of those (Statham rules!!). There is some dodgy CGI, but that's forgivable. The whole thing is fast paced and entertaining, the soundtrack is decent and Roman doesn't disappoint with the humour. There's a twist at the end and it's quite lethal. So the finale will be decently tense and I'm curious if there will be a new cast. For me, a fine popcorn blockbuster, perfect for a date night. 7/10. (05/22/2023)

Fast and Furious wants to be like other big and successful franchises, for example, Marvel or Mission Impossible. It aims to put together its own universe with its own rules, audience favourite characters and, most importantly, make billions of dollars. The quality, however, has extreme fluctuations from one episode to the next, and in the case of the tenth it’s for the worse. And yet it looks so promising in the first minutes, with a brief recap and alternation of the legendary fifth episode. But this sequel is bad in pretty much every aspect. There isn't much humour, the action is trivial, the visual effects are extremely poorly done and if all this can be forgiven because of your favourites, the protagonists (with the exception of Jason Momoa) don't even have any juice. Perhaps the biggest filmmaking failure for me is the blatant attempt to rip off the best moments of other films and use them in a worse way, without having the same added value, or at least the desired effect. There are a lot of trademarks and fragments of other episodes in the franchise, and also from Face Off, Mission Impossible, Mad Max, etc. This franchise has turned into a billion-dollar colossus, but the last two episodes bring it back to the quality level of the third and fourth entries (if not worse), which hardly anyone remembers, let alone appreciates nowadays after all those excesses. (06/13/2023)

Just as stupid as last time, but a lot more entertaining. This time, Dom and his family face an enemy that's been preparing for a clash with them for ten years, and he wants to enjoy it. And most of the cast enjoys it too, not afraid to push the tenth Fast and Furious into comedy, but also pushing the most superficial characters to at least some development. Everyone here is trying and everyone here is having fun. Except Vin Diesel, who apparently still thinks he's making something like Hamlet with cars. Stupid, but fun. (05/19/2023)

I can't believe this is really happening, but is the FF franchise finally going back to the old way where cars, action and brutal pacing were the main assets? Because in Fast X, there aren't nearly as many blatantly bullshit CGI sequences that make you grab your head, nor the moronic flying into space, but it keeps the action quite believable and pretty much keeps its head down (except for the final car chase, where I laughed quite a lot at times, and where they had to do one "jump" from car to car... ), which is much better than overconfident naive gimmicks. A big asset is the iconic villain played by Jason Momoa, who played the egocentric, deranged narcissist with pleasure and whose motivations seem natural. There’s nice action, cars, chases, shootouts, classic "family" (thanks for the new meme material) and overall I don't have a bad feeling about the new part as I did about the previous ones, on the contrary I am surprised and excited at the same time. The humour is on point, John Cena and Jason Statham make me smile (perhaps only Dwayne Johnson is missing to perfection), and even though the open ending is a good tease and a bit out of place in this series, I have to say I had a great time. It just seems to me that Vin Diesel is a bit fed up with the role and sort of jaded, without emotion and without mood...? So hopefully the next bit will be dominated by Hobbs and Shaw and I'll be satisfied to the max. (06/10/2023)