Detailed review of ‘F9’: For director Justin Lin, making Fast 9 should have been a left-handed game. After all, he directed the first Fast and the Furious film. Then he also directed the 5th and 6th films of this series. It is said that there will be no more films in the series after Fast Nine, meaning this will be the last film and it had to be amazing. The film hit theaters on 19 May 2021 and was the 5th biggest hit of the year. Perhaps this is why it took so long to release on OTT.
Surprisingly, this film seems to be the weakest of all the other films in the series. People thronged the theaters to watch every expensive film released after covid, so this film was also running. Out now on Amazon Prime Video. Don’t expect to see an action thriller film with amazing stunts, you might be disappointed. It doesn’t look like a quick series.
The series was a thrill to watch until Paul Walker and Vin Diesel committed multiple crimes with their gang members while driving stunts to dangerous locations. Even the film’s dialogues were on people’s lips. Ironically, Paul Walker died in a car accident which left Fast and the Furious 7 unfinished. After some time, with the help of Paul’s brothers Caleb and Cody, using special effects and computer graphics, the remaining scenes were completed and the film was released.
Later films such as “The Fate of the Furious”, Fast and Furious present Hobbs and Shaw and Fast 9, all three films struggled with the lack of Paul Walker. Vin Diesel couldn’t carry the film alone and was accompanied by action actors like Dwayne Johnson, Jason Statham, Idris Alba and now John Cena, but he never enjoyed Paul Walker’s calmness in the face of Vin Diesel’s angry face. Nature kept the balance. The films in this series are quite good.
The story of Fast 9 also seems to have been written only because the series will introduce another anti-hero character and create another sequel to the series. Gary Scott Thompson created the main characters of the Fast and the Furious series. It is fortunate that he has been credited with each of the films written on these characters. Chris Morgan, who is attached to write the second film in the series, “Tokyo Drift,” is not writing the film, but this time Justin Lin has enlisted Daniel Casey and Alfredo Botello to write. Here is the biggest mistake.
The story moves to a brief flashback where Dominic Toretto’s (Vin Diesel) father is killed in an accident at the race track. Angry with the world, Vin fights with his brother and kicks him out of the house. Years later, the same brother, Jacob (John Cena), on a mission, is obsessed with the world’s best hacking device, “Project Aries”, from Vin and his team. Vin’s own team includes girlfriend Letty (Michelle Rodriguez), sister Mia (Johanna Brewster), Roman (Tyreese Gibson), Tej (Ludacris) and Ramsay (Nathalie Emmanuel).
Up front are Vin’s brothers Jacob (John Cena), Cypher (Charlize Theron) and Otto (Thew Rasmussen). While searching for Jacob, Vin and his team travel to different countries until they find Han (Sung Kang), missing for years and Vin’s old friend. Then there are the same car chases, explosion scenes, huge vehicles being pulled by magnets attached to cars, destroying vehicles on city streets, stunts that defy gravity, everything guaranteed by the Fast and the Furious series. What it lacks this time is the ability to engage the audience in the story.
Vin Diesel should rethink his character and acting. Although there are not many opportunities to act in action series films, you can at least think about acting in a new way after giving a new dimension to the character. He continues to portray Dominic Toretto’s character in every film. Michelle Rodriguez has a better role and performance than her. Be it action scenes or emotional scenes, she looks quite effortless. Sung Kong’s entry could have been better as he met the gang after a long time. However, they do not have any special work in front of them. John Cena doesn’t know acting and is an action star, yet why he took on this role is incomprehensible.
Charlize Theron is also a great actress, why did she act in this film with such a small role, her role in the same series Fast 8 was much bigger and important. The rest of the actors fit into their respective roles, as they always do, this time too. His characters were not important before and not now. Dwayne Johnson will probably not return to the series as he is not made with Vin Diesel. Jason Statham won’t be back if Dwayne isn’t there. However, Fast 10 has started filming and will release in 2023.
Stephen F. Winden, the cinematographer of almost all the films of the recently released Netflix series The Gray Man and the Fast and the Furious, has taken over the camera again. Perhaps this time the action sequences didn’t have much detail and hence the camera didn’t look amazing. The scene of a satellite hitting a car in space looks ridiculous. An entire crew of around 250 people, including stunt coordinators Andy Gill, Gregory Burnett and Geoffrey Burnett, were involved in the shooting of the film.
There were also some amazing stunts but they were weak compared to the previous films in the series. What would have brought fun here was the audience getting emotionally attached to the stunt, but this time he was away from the film. Fast 9 may do wonders at the box office, but fans of the series will still consider it a weak film. Hopefully something new and bigger will be seen with Fast 10 because this time Fast 10 is not directed by Justin Louis Leterier (Clash of the Titans, Transporter, Incredible Hulk etc.). While it’s fun to watch as a Fast Series film, it’s not the best film in the series.
Detailed rating
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Tags: movie review
First Published: August 08, 2022, 17:50 IST
