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Written by: Dan Mazeau & Justin Lin (screenplay by), Dan Mazeau & Justin Lin and Zach Dean (story by), Gary Scott Thompson (based on characters created by)
Directed by: Louis Leterrier, Justin Lin (began filming, was replaced, uncredited)
Starring: Vin Diesel, Michelle Rodriguez, Jason Statham, Jordana Brewster, Tyrese Gibson, Chris 'Ludacris' Bridges, Nathalie Emmanuel, Charlize Theron, John Cena, Sung Kang, Helen Mirren, Brie Larson, Scott Eastwood, Jason Momoa
Rated: PG-13
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Plot
Dom Toretto and his family are targeted by the vengeful son of drug kingpin Hernan Reyes.
Verdict
It's amazing that a movie this long has so little plot or character development. There are so many returning and new characters, and none of them get enough time. Momoa is easily the most fun character, but again, we see too little of him. The action sequences are so long and bombastic I lost interest at some point in all of them. This movie is a synthesis of the prior movies without doing anything new or exciting other than forcing every character we've seen in this franchise into one movie. On top of all that, this is only part one so we don't even get a satisfying conclusion. It ends mid scene.
Skip it.
Review
Vin Diesel stated this is part one of a two part finale to the franchise. The first will always be my
favorite as it's a movie that really loved cars. The sequels quickly
became bloated action movies that happen to include cars. Each new entry
tries to outdo the previous.
A week after filming began, director Justin Lin left the film, walking away from roughly fifteen million in pay due to "creative differences." Reports alleged that Lin clashed with Diesel, who was rumored to have arrived out of shape, was often late, and did not remember his lines. Lin was also upset with rewrites to his screenplay.
This starts with a scene ten years ago to write Dante (Jason Momoa) into the universe. This is a call back to Fast Five where the crew dragged a safe through the streets Rio de Janeiro. We see a lot of footage from the movie, though I'm not sure we need to.
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| Jason Momoa plays Dante |
In the present Dom (Vin Diesel) is drifting with his eight year old son Little B. The kid is impressive for his age. I wonder how he even reaches the pedals. From there Dom has lunch with his ever expanding crew. If you're like me and forgot how the movies brought Han back for F9, this revised history with Han faking his death in Tokyo Drift. Cipher (Charlize Theron) brings an ominous message to Dom. We last saw her in the eighth movie, Fate of the Furious. This movie has multiple plot lines just twenty five minutes in.
Dante wants to bring down Dom's crew for the events ten years ago that killed his father. Dante is a cartoon villain. If you isolated just his scenes, this movie would seem like some kind of comedy. He's over the top, and I don't mind that as he's a near perfect foil for Dom and quite funny. There's certainly a better way to write and explore the character, but it's a good start. Unfortunately the movie makes Dante flamboyant and leaves it at that. In one scene Dante is painting dead men's toenails and having a conversation with them to prove how crazy he is. Subtlety isn't the movie's strong suit.
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| Chris 'Ludacris' Bridges, Tyrese Gibson,Vin Diesel, Michelle Rodriguez, Sung Kang, Nathalie Emmanuel play Tej, Roman, Dom, Letty, Han, Ramsey |
This franchise just has too much money. It replaces what should be plot and character development with explosions. In an attempt to kill Dom's crew Dante has an involved plan with a remote controlled truck and giant rolling bomb. I don't know how this bomb keeps rolling. Despite cars hitting it and simple inertia it just doesn't stop, wreaking havoc in Rome. The action is ridiculous, but it's a boring ridiculousness where I'm just waiting for the action scene to end. This movie is mindless nonsense. Dante is a villain as over the top as Dom is masculine with car stunts that are equally ridiculous, and none of the stunts are as creative as F9's Fiero in space or Furious 7's building jumping.
As many characters as this franchise already has, why does this introduce new ones? Why are there so many different locations? It's unnecessary. This movie is a series of car stunts interspersed by Jason Momoa chewing the scenery. Then it ends without a conclusion. Everything about this movie is absurd. In one of the final scenes, a character jumps between two cars drifting down the road. After everything, this leaves us on the edge of our seats. We don't know the fate of the crew or Dom. Really, I wouldn't be upset if I never found out. How can this movie be so long and have so little plot?
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