F9 (2021) Movie Review

Synopsis:

Dominic Toretto (Vin Diesel), his son, and his partner, Letty Ortiz (Michelle Rodriguez), live a quiet life. Dom confronts the sins of his past when his estranged younger brother, Jakob (John Cena), resurfaces.

Review:

Justin Lin returns to direct a Fast & Furious film once again.

In F9, he provides audiences with a film that is somehow even more bombastic than the previous entry.

Justin Lin turns F9 into a showcase of military weaponry and magnetized cars. He even has two characters venture into space. Yes, that is correct.

There is a scene where Chris “Ludacris” Bridges' Tej Parker and Tyrese Gibson’s Roman Pearce boost a rocket car into a satellite.

This franchise has become a literal cartoon, and F9 embraces this to full effect.

F9 does provide some decent physical fight sequences. This is despite the film's cartoonish nature as a whole.

Take Dom’s brief fight with his younger brother Jakob as an example.

Each punch and tackle hits with solid impact. Despite the scene being entertaining, most of these hits would incapacitate a regular human.

These characters aren’t human at this point. This isn't surprising given how many altercations they survive without much injury.

As another example, Dom holds back several armed men during a fight sequence. He also survives a building collapsing on him.

Although this sequence has an impact, Dom becomes a literal superhuman. This speaks to the film’s cartoonish nature.

F9 also introduces a brief racing sequence during flashbacks. These serve as a way to introduce Dom’s brother Jakob to the audience.

Whilst the introductory flashback is decent, there are several more throughout the story.

A problem with these flashbacks is their implementation during the story. They occur at random points during the film’s plot.

Also, the actors portraying the younger versions of Dom and Jakob aren’t convincing.

This may have been a problem with the film’s simplistic dialogue rather than the actors involved.

John Cena's Jakob Toretto serves as a decent physical adversary to Vin’s Dominic Toretto.

John Cena's performance, though, isn't convincing as an antagonist. By F9’s conclusion, Justin Lin decided to reunite Jakob with Dom and his crew.

As a whole, Cena's character is a decent physical threat, yet doesn’t offer any more qualities of note.

As with other characters, Vin Diesel as Dom isn’t going anywhere, and neither is his fixation on his family.

Fans shouldn’t expect any monumental changes here. This is other than reinforcing the notion of Dom’s superhuman strength.

Returning characters include Mia Toretto (Jordana Brewster) and Letty Ortiz (Michelle Rodriguez).

Others include Ramsey (Nathalie Emmanuel) and Han Lue (Sung Kang).

After his supposed death in Fast & Furious 6 (2013), Han (Sung Kang) makes his reappearance.

While it is good to see the actor return to the role, it reinforces the uneven nature of F9’s plot.

This film attempts to explain Han’s supposed demise to the audience. F9 conveys each one through flashbacks.

F9’s justification for his survival is decent enough. Despite this, it once again proves that the film has too many moving pieces to fit into the puzzle.

This film introduces yet another character called Elle (Anna Sawai).

Her one purpose in the film is to act as a literal plot device for Project Aries.

This is F9’s main focus, yet it doesn’t hold much interest. Despite this, Anna Sawai does attempt to make the most of her limited material.

A similar rule applies to Charlize Theron’s Cipher, who also makes her return.

Most of the time, though, she is a background character behind a glass wall, speaking empty dialogue.

It isn’t until the film’s conclusion that her purpose becomes clear. With its visuals, F9 has many of the same action and location shots as its predecessors.

F9 is a good film from a visual standpoint, even if it doesn’t offer much change. This also applies to Brian Tyler’s score.

Although some of them stand out, most of it is very familiar. For fans of Tyler’s previous work, F9 should provide some entertainment during the action.

Conclusion:

As a whole, F9 is the most uneven, bombastic, and inconsistent of the franchise thus far.

Some of its action sequences do provide entertainment. This is despite them turning Dom’s team into superhuman beings.

Also, F9 has a rocket car in space. This speaks to the film’s cartoon nature.

As a whole, the action should provide enough entertainment. This is if fans can look past its major alterations to the franchise.

This film’s visuals also add to some of the action and are also good for establishing various locations. F9 also has difficulty connecting its puzzle pieces.

For one, the number of flashbacks in this film is too much, and most of them aren’t handled well.

Also, Dom and Jakob’s rivalry is very basic. These also include the flashbacks and the dialogue between the actors portraying them.

Brian Tyler’s score provides the usual entertainment during action sequences. There is, though, little more to it other than this.

All in all, F9 does provide entertainment if fans are willing to ignore its cartoonish nature. Its visuals are also good, helping to highlight the action.

On the flip side, the film attempts to juggle far too many plot points. As a result, it has little time for the central narrative.

As a whole, F9 is a showcase of how far the series can go with its premise, yet how simplistic its execution can be.

Still, for franchise fans, this may provide serviceable entertainment.

Sam’s Action Reaction score:

Characters - 5/10

Story - 5/10

Action - 6/10

Visuals - 7/10

Soundtrack - 6/10

Overall score: 5.8 out of 10