Old enemies emerge from the shadows forcing the team back into high-octane battle. This time, however, the family will be tested like never before, because the one threatening the world used to be part of that family.
Justin Lin returns to the franchise that put him on the map, to helm yet another physics-defying action fest. This time the team face a challenge that hits all too close to home. All families have history, and Dom's is coming back to haunt him, giving us a glimpse at one of the major turning points in his life. One which explains why he holds his family so dear. But between all the new and returning characters, and the intertwining/rejigged plotlines that they bring with them, it's all starting to get a bit jumbled. The timeline is a mess. It doesn't help that the majority of the new developments - most of which continue the pattern of trying to fix or alter what has gone before - go almost entirely unexplained. Simply put, they've tried to do too much, leaving Fast 9 feeling like little more than an exercise in fan service.
Many of the returning characters are given pointless roles, although you'll be pleased to hear that Roman is as loud and annoying as ever. Charlize Theron's 'Cipher' - the big bad of Fast 8 - is reduced to a minor role, one so inconsequential she might as well not be there. A real shame given that she probably delivers one of the best performances. The same can be said of the returning cast members from Tokyo Drift (Lucas Black, Shad Moss, Jason Tobin), who have apparently moved on to bigger engines since their time on the drift circuit. At least Jordana Brewster gets to make a return, even if it is to act as a bridge/wall between Dom (Vin Diesel) and a certain other character played by John Cena, but it's better than her usual role of simply watching from the sidelines.
The problem - or at least one of them - is that these movies are getting to be a tad repetitive, stale even. Since things got changed up around Fast 5, the writers are obviously under pressure to constantly up the ante, to out do what has gone before. To that end, they have finally achieved a certain insanity - or should I say 'height' - that fans (and haters) of the franchise have been predicting for years, and while doing that a certain cast member actually mentions the word "physics", undoubtedly this is the writers' way of taking the piss. With every movie, they are forced to come up with increasingly ridiculous ways to bring these guys out of retirement, shredding the history of the Fast Saga in the process. This always includes some terrible McGuffin that threatens the world in some way, and the only way to get it back is by driving really fast. But it wasn't that long ago that we saw Dom pressuring Brian to give up the life for his "family", holding him to a standard that he and Letty (Michelle Rodriguez) are now trying to weasel out of with weak excuses like "it's not who we are".
If there's one thing you can count on with this movie it's extreme driving sequences that seem to push cars way beyond their limits. Like watching a car to do an Indiana Jones impression, or driving a very low-riding, mid-engined Dodge Charger on the cobbled streets of Edinburgh. I hope Vin Diesel had a comfy seat for that one! That said, the vehicular action is very exciting throughout, a lot of which is done for real. However, the movie is never able to surprise you because every set-piece has been revealed in the trailers, including many of the outcomes. A chase through Tbilisi involving a massive armoured vehicle nicknamed "The Armadillo" is particularly impressive. This leviathan is formidable, reminiscent of the prison transport in Deadpool 2, only this one they actually built. But if you've seen the trailer, you've pretty much seen the whole thing. Bringing us to another of Fast 9's problems; with all of this insanity you'd figure that the movie would feel more fun, but like always, this absurd franchise continues to take itself way too seriously, this one even more so than previous instalments. Which is possibly due to the loss of Dwayne Johnson to the Hobbs & Shaw spin-off, a movie that actually is a lot of fun.
Despite some extreme car-based action, the adventures of this street-racing, world-saving crew are starting to get more than a little stale.
2/10
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