F9: The Fast Saga/Fast and Furious 9 Review
F9 is the latest movie in the Fast and Furious Franchise, a franchise that I’m always in awe of how its transitioned from a series about street racing to well whatever it is now basically the avengers in cars. F9 picks up a few years after F8 where we see Dom come out of retirement to deal with his long lost brother who has reappeared and shenanigans ensue.
F9 is mostly a good movie and in keeping with the recent movies things are amped up, the set pieces are big, the action is big, it’s a crazy movie where Dom and his crew defy the laws physics and are basically super human to the point where this is a minor B plot in this movie. F9 centers on Dom coming out of retirement and assembling his crew to confront his long lost brother Jakob, Cipher returns as an antagonist and XYZ plays Jakob's main benefactor but for most of the movie this is Dom vs Jakob. The movie is interspersed with Flashbacks which I think are very good and well done. The young versions of Dom and Jakob are pretty convincing and its cool to see a bit of the racing elements make their way back into the franchise. F9 in keeping with its predecessors features some amazing and creative set pieces, they use some high powered magnets and while the physics probably don’t line up it makes from some really cool sequences that live up to the pedigree of the F&F franchise. We see most of the Family return including Jordana Brewster who is back since this very much a family affair for the Toretto's and we see Tokyo Drift characters return who I think are great fits for the franchise and a lot of fun, I think these guys joining the family ads a breath of fresh air where we normally have seen 1 or 2 changes to the main roster in recent films the addition of the Tokyo drift crew is really great and I hope they stick around for F10. And of course Han is back, it’s the trailer so I don’t think this is a spoiler but yeah it's kinda weird, kinda crazy they have an explanation and Han even brings another new character into the family but hey he’s a good character, a fan favorite and personally its good seeing an Asian Face back in the family.
So component wise there is a lot to like about F9 but things end up not being super cohesive, we bounce around places, set pieces story beats etc. but it feels a bit clunky. The individual parts are fine but the sum ends up not being as good. We see the melodrama of Dom and Letty, while some of the family have a somewhat meta B plot, while hunting for Jakob we get reintroduced to Han and it all happens so quick, it was weird enough they brought him back but the circumstances of how they find him are glossed over. The death defying action suffers from a bit of whiplash and characters start questioning how they are able to survives these scenarios and in the later part of the movie things happen that you can see coming a mile away, something that people have joked about for years happens and the contrast of high stakes set piece, plot stuff, B plot stuff all just ends up a bit of a pile up. Certainly a very entertained pile up but mess none the less. The F&F reality starts to break a bit and while it's still fun and cool it I certainly felt a bit of whiplash with the film.
Overall good movie, the flash back scenes are well done, the Tokyo drift cast coming into the family is great, Han being back is great. The F9 is a solid movie but yeah there was just something about it and there was a bit of this in F8 as well where the absurdity of things takes you out of the experience a bit.