FAST X

Even for those who have so far tolerated the franchise’s ever dumber plots and increasingly nonsensical set-pieces the downright stupid Fast X is a car-crash they’ll want to escape.

Sanity went out of the window a long time ago in the Fast & Furious franchise, but that's no excuse for the incompetent, inexplicably awful filmmaking on display in Fast X.

It would be easy to lay the blame foremost with the screenplay, but Fast X doesn't really seem to have one. The picture stumbles from one overblown set-piece to the next, saddles the bloated cast with some of the worst dialogue you'll ever hear and contains enough plotholes to fill the Grand Canyon.

Director Louis Leterrier, who took over from franchise stalwart Justin Lin mere weeks into production, also doesn't seem to have a clue how to save this mess. Lensed frenetically, the action scenes are disorienting, devoid of suspense and overwrought with bad, fake CGI.

At various points during Fast X, the movie does feel like it could land in so-bad-it's-good territory - mostly whenever Jason Momoa's bat-shit crazy cartoon villain is on-screen - but that feeling doesn't last long. The picture is just plain awful.

And the worst part? With a bound to be retconned cliffhanger that won't be paid off until the next installment there seems to be much worse to come.

release: 2023

director: Louis Leterrier

starring: Vin Diesel, Michelle Rodriguez, Jason Momoa, Charlize Theron