This might be the most important movie hill I die on this year: Jason Momoa’s performance in Fast X deserves an Oscar nomination.
As a devotee of this admittedly dumb-fun franchise, one of my complaints has often been its villains. They’re rarely mustache-twirling and typically quite bland. Even when folks like Charlize Theron and Jason Statham have ushered in an enjoyably campy austerity, they’ve rarely been allowed to wink at the camera. From my vantage point, it would have enormously helped F9 (the most recent previous installment) if it were allowed to be funnier. Even a proven comedic talent like John Cena couldn’t crack a hint of a smile when he was introduced. Here, both Cena and franchise newcomer Momoa are let loose comedically, and Momoa delivers the Fast & Furious villain of my dreams.
Dante Reyes (Momoa) is the son of Hernan Reyes (Joaquim de Almeida), a Brazilian drug lord who was killed and whose money was stolen in Fast Five during the terrific Rio safe heist sequence. Hearing from other fans of the franchise, the idea of someone coming after Dom Toretto (Vin Diesel) and the rest of his “family” for revenge for this heist in a later film has become a bit of a meme over the years. Now it’s finally a reality, or at least as real as these movies can possibly get. Within Dante’s quest for revenge, director Louis Leterrier showcases Momoa with long stretches of some of the most flamboyant and gonzo villainy you’ve ever seen. I’m not sure how much of this stuff was written and how much Momoa improvised, but either way, he knocked it out of the park and made the movie worth seeing for his performance alone.
Of course, there are other reasons to recommend the film from a purely visceral perspective. However, if you’ve never seen or are not interested in any of the Fast & Furious films, this one certainly won’t turn you around. Even though it is markedly funnier than the previous few entries (other than the Hobbs & Shaw spinoff), it still has the ridiculous car action and general gearhead sensibilities that have been its trademarks since 2001. At the very least, it won’t give you many guide rails.
Fast X is paced in such a way that between every action sequence, we’re given tributes to past members of the crew or remembrances of past events, and I doubt anyone who’s not kept up with the franchise could get even a whiff of the intended emotion. I don’t even get emotional when watching these films, and I like most of them! Okay, I guess excitement and laughter can be classified as emotional reactions, but you know what I mean. I’m not weeping for Dom, no matter how many people he loses or crazy stunts he lives through. At the end of the day, these films have always been closer to B-movies than any sort of prestige blockbuster, and that’s perfectly alright. I would argue no other film series has been this consistently fun for this long with this sort of tone.
Something that must always be praised about these films is that they are multicultural and generally inoffensive (unless you’re offended by nonsensical car stunts). There’s no gratuitous sex jokes or frat-boyish humor like you’d find in a Michael Bay film, the cast and crew dealt with Paul Walker’s tragic death very well, and the general emotions these films are going for are often very earnest. It’s a credit to Vin Diesel and Universal’s vision for this series over the years that as it’s gotten more and more preposterous, in some ways it’s been much more down-to-earth than many of its summer movie peers. In Fast X, those pure intentions shine through because of the film’s comedy and attempts at emotional impact, not in spite of them.
Perhaps I’m biased because this is the one blockbuster series I’ve been able to mostly turn my brain off for, but if you’re a member of this “family” like I am, I think you’ll be delighted by Fast X. Plus, there are actually a huge number of genuine surprises for us crazy Fast fanatics.| George Napper
