F9: The Fast Saga (2021) | Film Review

Not even 10 minutes into F9: The Fast Saga, I realized that this kind of ridiculous, over-the-top, slightly insane mess of a movie is exactly what I’ve been waiting for. Is it ridiculous? Yes. Is it tacky? Also yes. Is it realistic? Definitely not. But as someone who adores this franchise, it’s exactly what I expected and – more importantly – exactly what I wanted.

I’ve learned a lot from the Fast & Furious films over the years: A cat may have 9 lives, but Vin Diesel’s Dominic Toretto has about 87. It’s possible to climb gracefully through a car window (see: Michelle Rodriguez’s Letty). Winning is winning – doesn’t matter if it’s by an inch or by a mile. When it comes to what you can do in a car, physics is really just a suggestion. And, above all else, family is everything. (Which is why this girl took her father to see the movie as a belated Father’s Day gift – you never turn your back on family.)

Yes, at some point Dom and his crew went from street racing as criminals to saving the world as pseudo-super spies… (I think it was around Fast Five, when they decided to rob a corrupt Brazilian businessman who was in cahoots with the cops – does that even really count as a crime compared to later films?) But throughout the entire franchise, it’s always come back to that one main truth: Family is everything.

This latest installment finds Dom and his loved ones facing the dilemma of whether that means all family or just the family you’ve chosen. F9 finds the core “family” group – Dom (Vin Diesel), Letty (Michelle Rodriguez), Mia (Jordana Brewster), Roman (Tyrese Gibson), Tej (Ludacris), Ramsey (Nathalie Emmanuel), and more – back together once again to battle imminent worldwide danger in the form of Dom’s estranged younger brother, Jakob (John Cena). When faced with deciding whether his core principle applies even to the brother he hasn’t seen in a few decades due to some elaborately laid out backstory, what’s a reformed street racing criminal to do?

Blow some stuff up. Obviously.

There are improbable stunts. There are high-speed chases. There are rockets, grenades and planes that get shot down out of the sky. There are surprise character resurgences. There’s even a landmine field, okay? But most importantly, they finally did it! They went to space!

If you’re looking to be won over to the Fast franchise, this film isn’t the one that’s going to do it. The plot is stale, Vin Diesel has never been a star actor, John Cena doesn’t have enough time on screen for us to even find out what he could do with this role (too much time is spent on flashbacks versus establishing his modern day character), and even Helen Mirren’s cameo is kind of lame.

However, Rodriguez, Brewster, and Emmanuel all kick some major butt – literally. F9 gave the women in its line-up a chance to shine a little bit more. Plus, it’s got all of the things that Fast fans have come to love about these over-the-top movies that this series has turned into. Overall, this installment is exactly the type of summer action blockbuster the world needed after a global pandemic kept us out of movie theaters for over a year.

Long story short? If you love the Fast & Furious movies, then you’ll appreciate F9 for what it does well; fast cars, funny lines, insane set pieces, and lots of explosions. But if you’re not already a fan then this may be one adventure you want to skip – or at least wait for it to make an appearance on your favorite streaming service.

And me? I’ll just be over here, living life a quarter mile at a time. Or whatever.

F9 releases June 25, 2021 to theaters in North America
Starring Vin Diesel, Michelle Rodriguez, Jordana Brewseter, John Cena, and Helen Mirren
Screenplay by Daniel Casey and Justin Lin
Directed by Justin Lin

Follow our further discussion on F9: The Fast Saga via this episode of The Hollywood Outsider podcast: