“F9: The Fast Saga” Review

Vin Diesel (Left) and John Cena brawl as the Toretto brothers in “F9: The Fast Saga,” the tenth overall film in the “Fast and Furious” franchise.

There are basically two camps of people who watch “Fast and Furious” films: those that love them for the over-the-top action extravaganzas they are and those that simply can’t get into them. I am among the former who loves seeing action juggernauts like Vin Diesel, Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson and Michelle Rodrigeuz kick all kinds of ass. The latest film in this series, “F9: The Fast Saga,” is entertaining enough, but simply doesn’t have a unique identity that makes it stand out from other “Fast and Furious” films. 

After the events of “Fate of the Furious,” the main villain of that film, Cipher (Charlize Theron), has been freed by Dominic Torreto’s (Vin Diesel) estranged brother Jakob (John Cena). Working together, Cipher and Jakob plot to steal a device called Ares, which can hack any computer system in the world. With no one else able to stop them, Dom and his crew of thieves, racers and hackers must band together to defeat the bad guys, save the world and look really cool while doing it.

I know exactly what I’m in for when I see a film of this franchise: a basic plot about bad guys wanting to dominate the world, a series of improbable (but awesome) stunts and Vin Diesel getting the crew back together “one last time” even though it’s most definitely not. Many films in this series are self-aware of their ridiculous nature and have a lot of fun with some films in the series, like “Fast & Furious 6” and “Furious 7,” being masters of jaw-dropping action.

This is why this film is a bit underwhelming, because there’s simply nothing that impressive about the action sequences which most people are paying to watch. They’re well crafted, entertaining and the vision of director Justin Lin is outstanding, but every action scene only meets, not exceeds, the standards of this series. There is some creativity, particularly with gigantic magnets, with the fights and chases, but it’s not enough to really impress fans of the series. 

With that said, the characters are still very fun to watch. The “Fast and Furious” series has created a massive group of characters like Dom Torreto, Brian O’Conner (Paul Walker), Letty Ortiz (Rodriguez), Deckard Shaw (Jason Statham) and Luke Hobbs (Johnson) who are just as big of names in action as John McClaine, Indiana Jones, John Rambo, James Bond and Jason Bourne. As such, they’re charming, fun and everything you could want from action heroes. The main conflict between Dom and Jakob is relatively interesting and John Cena fits perfectly into this franchise (I’m crossing my fingers that Ric Flair joins one of these films).

While fun to watch, the action scenes of “F9: The Fast Saga” are nothing we haven’t seen before from these films.

But throughout the film, I was constantly unimpressed with the plot. I understand that these films aren’t story based but there still has to be some motivation for the characters to save the world. While everyone is hunting down Ares, the main McGuffin of the film, there’s never a sense of dread as to what this thing is capable of. The characters barely take any time to show how devastating the device could be if the wrong people had it.

There also is a period of time (about 15 minutes) in the second act of the film that really drags, mainly because Han (Sung Kang), who had been killed off in “Fast and Furious: Tokyo Drift,” is revealed to have faked his death (a surprise to no one who has seen the trailers or the film’s poster). The way they explain his apparent resurrection, with flashbacks, is so slow and dull that it feels as if someone just slammed the brakes on the film.

“F9” also treats the characters like invincible superhumans which makes the action less tense. If Vin Diesel can get his head slammed through a doorway and not even bleed or say “ow,” it’s difficult to feel any sort of tension. It’s the same problem that films like “A Good Day to Die Hard” have: treating average people like Superman isn’t going to create a level of connection that ought to be present in these films. 

Also, for those who have been making jokes that the franchise is going to space, this is the film for you to gloat. While it was inevitable, the introduction of some characters to outer space was actually fun and not nearly the over-the-top mess that I would have assumed. Everything about this film feels like a “Fast and Furious” film, just not a strong one. 

“F9” is entertaining and is sure to please most fans of the series, it just adds nothing that groundbreaking to an action series that has gradually become a main staple of 21st century summer blockbusters. It’s, quite simply, just another “Fast and Furious” film.