This series has long verged on becoming a live-action cartoon, and the newest installment definitely crosses that line.
Physics, vehicular stamina and the frailty of the human body aren’t even an afterthought in director Louis Leterrier’s tenth (!) entry in this hard-charging franchise, but I’ll say this: He’s definitely the man for the job, having long ago helmed 2002’s enormously entertaining The Transporter and its 2005 sequel.
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| Confronted by a massive, spherical bomb rolling its way through the streets of Rome — target: The Vatican — Dom and his comrades desperately try to re-route the threat. |
As an added bonus, Jason Momoa is a memorably and thoroughly reprehensible villain: a deranged, giggling sociopath prone to outré outfits and a mincing manner that make him even scarier. If he were granted a Snidely Whiplash mustache, I’m sure he’d twirl it with glee.
The story opens with a cleverly tweaked flashback to a key event in 2011’s Fast Five, as Dom (Vin Diesel) and his crew steal a massive bank vault laden with $100 million belonging to drug kingpin Herman Reyes (Joaquim de Almeida). Our heroes subsequently drag the vault through the streets of Rio de Janeiro, laying waste to everything in its path, until the audacious climax on the Teodoro Moscosco Bridge.
In this “adjusted” version of events, Reyes perishes on the bridge: a demise witnessed by his violently unbalanced adult son, Dante (Momoa), who barely survives.
(This sequence also allows us to spend a few minutes with the late Paul Walker’s Brian O’Connor, which is a nice — and respectful — touch.)
As things kick into gear in the present day, Dante — who has spent the intervening 12 years plotting revenge — orchestrates the first in an increasingly lethal series of attacks on everybody Dom holds dear. The goal is not to killDom — at least, not immediately — but to make him suffer the deaths of his friends and family, most particularly main squeeze Letty (Michelle Rodriguez) and their 8-year-old son, Little Brian (Leo Abelo Perry).
Meanwhile, Tej (Ludacris), Ramsey (Nathalie Emmanuel), Han (Sung Kang) and Roman (Tyrese Gibson) jet off to Rome, to handle a heist assigned by the clandestine U.S. government “Agency” that runs off-the-books operations, and until recently has been headed by the equally mysterious “Mr. Nobody” (Kurt Russell).
Back home in Los Angeles, Dom and Letty get an unexpected visitor: a badly wounded Cipher (Charlize Theron), the über-nasty who bedeviled our heroes in the series’ previous two installments, most notoriously when she killed Diplomatic Security Service Agent Elena (Elsa Pataky) while Dom watched.
Letty would just as soon put a bullet between Cipher’s eyes, but the latter has just barely survived her own unpleasant encounter with Dante. In a nod to the old mantra — “The enemy of my enemy is my friend” — an uneasy truce is struck.
Alas, the Rome op turns out to be a trap masterminded by Dante. With a last-minute assist from Dom and Letty, the crew must try to stop a bathysphere-sized spherical bomb before it destroys the Vatican: a landscape-leveling chase that one-ups the aforementioned vault heist, in terms of street-level carnage and structural damage.
Credit where due: It’s a helluva sequence, despite being wholly preposterous.
Also meanwhile, The Agency’s Mr. Nobody has vanished mysteriously, replaced by Aimes (Alan Ritchson), a new supervisor who neither likes nor trusts Dom and his crew, believing them rogue dogs who’ve been let off the leash for far too long. When our heroes are branded as terrorists who just laid waste to Rome — courtesy of social media manipulation by Dante — Aimes has an excuse to track them down.
Much to the dismay of colleague Tess (a new character, played by Brie Larson), who has a “secret connection” to The Agency’s past.
At this point, our heroes are beset on all sides: attacked by Dante; targeted by crooks and mercenaries promised a fat reward by Dante; wanted by international law enforcement; left without assets (Dante’s work again); and with nowhere to run.
Good golly, Miss Molly!
Leterrier and his writers have pulled out all the stops for this “gang’s all here” adventure, finding room for Little Nobody (Scott Eastwood); Queenie Shaw (Helen Mirren), mother of Deckard Shaw (Jason Statham, also present); Jakob (John Cena), Dom’s younger brother and former rival, now beloved uncle to Little Brian; and Dom’s sister Mia (Jordana Brewster), former main squeeze of the late Brian.
(In a bit of sloppy continuity, though, Mia and Brian’s son Jack is nowhere to be seen.)
Aside from Tess and Aimes, new characters include Isabel (Daniela Melchior), a Brazilian street racer with the poor taste to have aligned herself with Dante; and Abuelita, Dom, Mia and Jakob’s grandmother. The latter is played by the indomitable Rita Moreno, who makes the most of her brief scenes.
Ultimately — and very importantly — this strong, family-style bond grounds even the most absurd events. However outrageous their exploits, we’ve grown to care about these characters; when the steely eyed Diesel frequently intones “Family is everything” in his deep, gravel-on-asphalt voice, we believe it.
Cena and young Perry have a great time sparring with each other, when Jakob is charged with protecting Little Brian; the boy can’t believe that his rough ’n’ tough uncle can be such a square, in so many respects. Gibson and Ludacris similarly have fun with the sniping that passes for respect, between Roman and Tej.
The series’ car culture also remains front-and-center, with plenty of attention paid to each character’s wheels. They include Dom’s black Dodge Charger Daytona Banshee SRT, an all-electric concept car; Dante’s Harley Davison 2022 Pan America; Roman’s 2022 Pagani; Tej’s 2023 Hennessy Venom F5 Coupe; and Han’s 1971 Datsun 240Z. (Who says retro isn’t cool?)
But Momoa steals the show as the flamboyantly unhinged Dante, invariably decked out in another of costume designer Sanja Milkovic Hays’ garishly colorful outfits, each crazier than the last. Momoa makes the guy a self-indulgent showman, often waltzing to a tune only he can hear, seconds before unleashing another dastardly act.
And if some of Dante’s behavior skirts the edges of this film’s PG-13 rating — as when he shares cocktails with a couple of corpses — such acts definitely add additional, ah, dimension to the guy’s insanity.
All this said, these antics wear out their welcome during the film’s overlong 141 minutes. As for where we’re left following the final scene, a quick visit to the Internet will address that. Leterrier already is in pre-production for the next installment, due in 2025.
One can hope for a bit more restraint, next time out.
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