Review of FAST X: Rage for Revenge

May 19, 2023

Dante Reyes (Jason Momoa) was the son of a drug lord who believed that his drug lord father died at the hands of Dominic Toretto (Vin Diesel) in an encounter back in 2011. Years later in the present time, Dom and his wife Letty (Michelle Rodriguez) hear of Dante Reyes again when a seriously-injured Cipher (Charlize Theron) appeared at their doorstep to warn Dom about Dante's grave threat against Dom's whole family.  

From there, Dom and his team of Roman Pearce (Tyrese Gibson), Tej Parker (Ludacris), Ramsey (Nathalie Emmanuelle) and Han Lue (Sung Kang) become fugitives because of a disastrous mission in Rome, which also led to Letty getting arrested and confined in a high-security facility. While Roman and the others reached London, Dom finally met the flamboyant Dante in a road race in Rio de Janeiro.

This film was supposed to be the first episode in a trilogy which will finally bring this long-lasting film franchise to an end. Dom and his whole extended family were there, this including their dear Abuelita (Rita Moreno) who gave them some words of inspiration. As usual, the same sentimental lines about the value of family were echoed over and over. His enemies knew that his family is Dom's weakness so they knew who to target. In this case, it was Dom's precocious young son Brian (Leo Abelo Perry).  

Aside from Charlize Theron, we see a number of big name actors reprising their roles from past films, including John Cena (as Jakob Toretto), Jason Statham (as Deckard Shaw), Helen Mirren (as Queenie Shaw), and Scott Eastwood (as Little Nobody). Two more exciting surprise superstar cameos came at the tail end of the film, one resurrected character right at the ending and the other comeback at the extra mid-credits scene. The late Paul Walker even "appears" in the prologue as Brian O'Connor in a flashback (and his daughter Meadow Walker Thornton-Allan cameoed as a helpful stewardess). 

Jason Momoa was a such natural playing Dante, a maniacal sociopath on the revenge warpath. His unhinged scenes brought a crazy energy that kept the unsettling tension level up when he's onscreen. Brie Larson lent her star power as the well-connected Tess, the daughter of Mr. Nobody. Alan Ritchson played the duplicitous Aimes, the new leader of Mr. Nobody's of operatives known as the Agency. Portuguese actress Daniela Melchior played Isabel, a street racer from Rio was revealed to share an emotional connection with Dom.

The outlandish car stunts this franchise was known for all these years were back with a vengeance. While nothing beat the literally out-of-this-world car in outer space scenario shown in "F9," but the car stunts here continue to defy the laws of physics. Some CG were not too clean though, especially in that scene where Dom drove down the face of a dam with a big fire chasing after them. However, we have to credit the filmmakers for keeping on thinking up of wilder, more impossible stunts with which to thrill its loyal audience. 6/10.