F9:The fast saga-film review

F9: The Fast Saga is directed by Justin Lin and this is the 9th film in the franchise.

Never have I ever expected a series about fast cars, street races and clanky actions to have a 9th addition to the series, but well here we are.

Once again, our favorite family-man Dominic Toretto (played by Vin Diesel) is back alongside his family members, and this time a new conundrum springs for the family when Dom’s forsaken brother Jakob Toretto, an A-Grade assassin and high-performance chauffer, returns from the dark and forces Dom to atone for his past mistakes.

The Fast and the Furious films amuse me. These films are hilariously mindless and mercifully self-aware, and the filmmakers never expect you to take them seriously. It’s good once in a while to watch something that is hilarious and over-the-top but also extremely fun to watch, which is why I love watching these films. Moreover, the cast is really talented and portray their characters in a rather enjoyable way (Yes Tyrese Gibson as Roman will always be my favorite). The songs used to augment the films are groovy too and mesh perfectly with the sequences to make a great theatre experience. Every time a Fast and Furious movie is on the pipeline, I try to make room for some free time in order to make it to the theatre and enjoy them with a large crowd and amaze my eyes while shoving some popcorns in my mouth.

But sadly, I didn’t enjoy F9 as much as its predecessors.

This might be pertaining to the fact that I didn’t get to watch the film in a theatre and rather in my own cove, where the flaws become more conspicuous. But that’s one of the more minor reasons for disliking this film, because really this film falters in ways its predecessors hadn’t, and often breaks the scale of absurdity by incorporating scenes that punch you in the gut.

Since I’m an optimist who wants to like this film, I’ll start with the positive aspects. The cast works amazingly in this film. Yes, the characterization is absolutely hilarious, but the actors do a great work in portraying these characters in a likeable way, especially Tyrese Gibson and Ludacris, both of who are so fun to watch. The film is comedic and the comedy works mostly, and the action set pieces are handled extremely well by Lin. A half of this film was extremely enjoyable.

Okay, time for the negatives. F9 IS ABSOLUTELY HILARIOUS. This film lost me at a point, and I literally shut off the film at one point because, as a student of science, I was appalled by the gravity-defying acts in this film. The previous films were extremely absurd, but they seem normal compared to the absurdity in this one. Should you choose to watch this film, beware not to choke out of cringe every time cars catch flying humans, humans are thrown around like plastic toys and someone falls from 20-storeys with debris above them and then has a vision that revives them.

Moreover, the writing this time around is substandard. Chris Morgan was the screenwriter for the last 7 films in the franchise, and his absence is disturbingly noticeable. For a film like F9, you really don’t expect the writers to spend hours thinking to produce something great since these films are mindless anyways. But to be honest, the writers had an essential role in these productions because they draw a fine line between a parody and an action film that is plainly farcical. That is why I missed Morgan’s screenplay because this film outright seems like a parody. It seems as if the new writers are trying to appease the internet memes and theories. Speaking of memes, they really do something otherworldly in this one, and I couldn’t help but express awe at the fact that they actually did that.

No it's not even Han's return which was teased in the trailer. It's something beyond that.

Let’s not even get started with the character development in this film. John Cena plays Jakob in the movie (funny you can actually see him), and everything about his character is terrible- the dialogues are laughable, there is no characterization, and there is not even an ounce of menace about him.

Some scenes are extremely sloppy, and some have no reason to be included other than setting up the 10th (sigh) film of the series. The action series are laughable too, and you cannot help but laugh when Vin Diesel is tossed through a wall and he stands up and only rubs his neck. Furthermore, the film becomes self-aware at a point when Tyrese and Ludacris have a chat about how they are superhumans and how they’ve done stuff that only the likes of a character with inhuman strength can do. Such films are not expected to take themselves seriously, and when they do, they are deemed to falter.

In the end, F9: The Fast Saga is a film that I didn’t enjoy as much as I wanted to. It commits blunders along its path and too often seems much like a parody, something I wish they didn’t do.

I’m going to give F9:The Fast Saga a D+.