F9 (2021)
2.5/4
Over the last 20 years, the Fast & Furious franchise has grown into being the seventh highest-grossing film franchise out there, racking in just over $6 billon worldwide. Unfortunately, as the series has progressed, it has also built up the reputation of being one of the most illogical franchises of all time.
I would have to say 2021’s F9 is the worst yet because of its borderline absurdity. Sure, you can call that double-skyscraper car jump in 2015’s Furious 7 off the charts, or you can describe the whole submarine chase sequence in 2017’s The Fate of the Furious as next level, but F9 takes that level of absurdity and cranks it up to 11, which is way too high for me.
It’s important for a filmmaker to remember why logic is so important in movies. It’s important because moves are all about belief, and when your audience’s enjoyment depends on them believing in characters that can fall from a very tall building and walk away totally unharmed, or someone hopping into a car while it’s flipping, we the audience have a really hard time believing in anything that’s happening on screen and, as a result, we lose the connection to the film we are watching.
Despite of all of this absolute absurdity, and Vin Diesel’s apparent belief that acting is just growling for money, I’m not just going to sit here and trash this movie. In fact, I’ll go so far as to say that I enjoyed it. Like the other films in this franchise, F9 always manages to add just enough fun to make it watchable.
Additional praise goes to Diesel and Michelle Rodriguez who continue to make Dom Toretto and Letty Ortiz an endearing couple to watch; also, John Cena makes Jakob Toretto a worthy adversary. All of the actors look like they are having the time of their lives. And, as we have seen in the previous Fast & Furious films that he’s helmed, Justin Lin is very competent at directing elaborate action scenes.
I’ll also say that this film knows exactly what type of movie it is—for example, there’s a very humorous scene where one of the main characters is narrating to the Fast family about how they are basically superheroes given the many impossible missions they’ve been on and survived without a scratch.
If you’re a dedicated fan of this franchise or somebody who just wants fun, escapist entertainment, F9 will hit the spot perfectly. However, if you’re looking for a movie that has a logical plot you can follow, you’ll most likely walk away disappointed from this one.