PRE-VIEWING SCRIBBLE
I have a theory about the Fast franchise. It has taken a while to percolate, but a couple of recent things cemented it in my head. Vin Diesel is a big fantasy nerd. He has tried to create fantasy epics in the past (Chronicles of Riddick, The Last Witch Hunter) and they have not taken off. Fast & Furious meanwhile has prospered, in spite of his seeming indifference as a performer.
As part of his return in 2009, Diesel was savvy enough to ensure he was a major creative force on the movies going forward.
Watching Dom's final duel with Shaw at the end of Furious 7, something finally clicked. It happened at the point where Dom brandishes two pipes and adopts a fighting stance: Vin Diesel is trying to bring the epic fantasy he wants to play into the Fast & Furious franchise.
It even extends to the titles of these movies: Fate of the Furious; the rebranding of The Fast Saga. One of the most out-there images in Fate is Diesel in a futuristic suit and helmet lumbering towards the Russian foreign minister's limousine.
POST-VIEWING
The fantasy theory turned out to be a bit bobbins - yes the Family go to space and yes, Dom brings down a building on an army of bad guys ala Samson, but for the most part this movie felt a little more reigned in than the last couple instalments. It feels a little less imaginative than the previous movies.
It might be the result of how I watched it. After watching the previous eight films, F9 feels like a damp squib.
That title has been bugging me. That word ‘saga’ in the title is key - it feels like the franchise has become too big for its britches. Rather than a sign of broader ambition, it is a movie about being a part of a bigger narrative.
Framed by flashbacks, F9 is a movie obsessed with its own history. We get to see scenes that were only ever referenced - the death of Dom’s father; the murder which sent him to prison - but these scenes are used as the basis for introducing Jakob (Cena), a previously unreferenced younger brother.
This movie is also a response to the fanbase - fan favourite Han returns and the idea of cars in space is finally actualised.
There are also some ham-fisted attempts at self-awareness: Roman gains an awareness that the Family might be more invincible than ordinary people. This kind of humour feels like a step too far, but what makes it worse is that there is no real payoff.
The overriding sense with F9 is of a franchise that has passed its peak - the introduction of a new Toretto, the fan service and the celebrity cameos all feel like desperate grasps to stay on top.
The film features plenty of set pieces, jokes and melodrama, but it lacks the elan of previous instalments. Previous movies seemed to be assembled from the ground up, one at a time. You never felt like they heals to reckon with previous plot threads. The wear was starting to show in Fate of the Furious, but in this movie all freshness is gone
F9 feels calcified to its formula.
The one element that feels fresh is John Cena as Jakob. He brings a swagger and arrogance that is welcome. I wish the movie did not blunt him - he actually feels like a legitimate threat.
The flashbacks are interesting. It is cool that they cast two actors who vaguely fit the character, rather than de-ageing. I liked the fact that the actors do not look or act too much like the actors we know. I bought the characters. But something about it felt predictable, like filling in gaps that we did not need filled in.
Diesel seems most energised in the movie but mostly when he is having to deal with the new faces - he seems genuinely excited to be acting with Helen Mirren (yes, she is in it).
Some of the characters actually start to show some weakness - super-hacker Ramsey (Nathalie Emmanuel) cannot drive, but has to be the key driver during one of the set pieces.
Tyrese Gibson remains the only vaguely relatable character in the movie - unlike Diesel, Gibson seems genuinely afraid and affected by the ridiculous antics they do. My favourite part of the movie is at the end of the chase through the mine field, when he is struggling to get out of his vehicle before it hits a mine. His dazed stumble away from the carnage is the most real and funny moment in the movie.
I do appreciate that they have dialled back Tej and Roman’s rivalry over winning Ramsey - it feels like the only way forward after her final line in Fate of the Furious. Here is hoping they find something for Roman to do in the next movie - he is turning into the franchise’s CPU.
The big problem I had with the movie is that I could see where the story was going - I knew that Jakob would be converted to the side of the angels, and I was not proved wrong. This has been a major issue with the franchise’s antagonists and reached its peak with dual rehabilitation of the Shaw brothers in Fate.
And thus we reach the end of the road - at least for now. I cannot believe I sat through nine of these things. It has had its up and downs, but after three months of Fast-ing, it has been fun. I always find it interesting to analyse franchises, particularly how they figure out what their specific ingredients were.
Fast & Furious took a couple of gos to figure out what it was about, but once it did - family; cars-as-superpowers - it turned into something weirder and more sophisticated than it initially appeared. There are aspects of F9 that concern me - death is meaningless; villains are placeholders - but I am still in the bag for whatever goofy stuff they come up with next. I am not willing to call myself a fan, but I am very, very curious about whatever happens next.
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