Fast X Trailer Breakdown: The Fambly Comes Up Against A(nother) Blast From The Past
We've come to the end of the road. Though filled with characters that have always lived their lives a quarter mile at a time, even a franchise featuring never-ending runways and absurdly lengthy ziplines had to run out of pavement eventually. "Fast X" seems well aware of that fact that all good things must come to an end, as the marketing has billed this latest installment in the greatest saga of our times as, I kid you not, "The end of the road begins."
The newly-released (and, in proud franchise tradition, ridiculously long) trailer footage goes out of its way to act as a greatest hits nostalgia tour for our Corona-drinking criminal fambly. It also feels like a miniaturized version of the actual movie, more or less giving away practically all the surprises in store for us. But hey, if there's any ongoing series that's immune to spoilers, it's this one. The appeal of these consistently box office-breaking blockbusters is not so much about the inexplicably incoherent narratives, telenovela-esque plot reveals and twists, or even the vehicular mayhem we've all come to know and love. The main selling point is, as always, about family ... and also the chance to see Ludacris fly into space, on occasion.
In any case, stars Vin Diesel, Michelle Rodriguez, John Cena, and all the rest are back once more to tell another chapter in the tale of Dominic Toretto and his gang of VCR thieves and street racers who've since graduated to grand larceny, espionage, and saving the world multiple times like the bunch of superheroes they are. So without further ado, let's dive deep into the past and break down all the over-the-top melodrama waiting for us in "Fast X."
A family affair
I'm sorry, did you expect me to start with anything else besides Rita freaking Moreno joining the cast of "Fast X" as matriarch of the Toretto family? Yes, that's the living legend playing Dom's grandmother and giving one of the franchise's requisite speeches at the family barbecue. Just when you thought these movies couldn't possibly top the casting of Helen Mirren in previous sequels, they go out and snag another world-famous actor to add to the cast of stars. All the remaining "Fast" characters sit at rapt attention at the very familiar dinner table that has hosted so many similar scenes over the years because, well, when Rita Moreno speaks, you listen. But wait, you ask! Why hasn't she bothered to show up and toast her beloved grandson Dom and his friends during any of the last 20+ years of grand adventures and end-of-the-world threats? Because she's Rita freaking Moreno and she comes and goes as she pleases, thank you very much.
History repeats
The villains of the "Fast and Furious" franchise have always been an odd bunch. From sudden new threats appearing out of nowhere to close relatives of past antagonists out for revenge, the prior movies have exhausted all sorts of famous faces in an attempt to finally get one over Dom and his pals. So what does the creative team have in store this time around? Oh, no big deal. Just Jason Momoa in full rage-mode as — get this — another relative of a prior villain who's out for revenge. Look, if it ain't broke, I guess there's no reason to fix it, but there's something pretty hilarious about the franchise going back to this exact same well one more time.
After showing Dom in some creepy room with a lone, old-fashioned rotary phone (why is it always a rotary phone?) and a bunch of high-tech screens showing images of our Fast Fambly under surveillance, we see Momoa in the flesh as the snakeskin-wearing, motorcycle-riding, sunglasses-donning villain named Dante. And just you wait until you find out how he gets roped into this movie. Gather 'round, "Fast" scholars. As it turns out, he's actually the son of Hernan Reyes, the main villain of "Fast Five" (played by Joaquim de Almeida) who was the unfortunate victim of that infamous safe heist through the streets of Rio de Janeiro. With some silly retconning, it turns out he was present and accounted for during that entire set piece and has been biding his time for over a decade to strike back at the man who ruined his life.
See, Dom? You're not the only one with family, man.
'Boom'
I don't know about your definition of cinema, but mine involves Jason Momoa saying things like "Boom!" before setting up massive explosions that take out other vehicles on busy urban streets. The trailer works overtime to sell us on the stakes of the movie, which goes beyond just a grudge match between Momoa's Dante and Vin Diesel's Dom. Based on the official synopsis of the movie and scattered bits of the trailer, it seems like Dom's young son Brian will become the main target and much of the film will revolve around our main hero's fear of losing someone so close to him.
So, in other words, expect director Louis Leterrier's ominous comments from the other day to come true and brace yourself for "massive casualties" stemming from the most high-wire set pieces you can imagine. We see Dante getting into a gnarly knife fight with some armed goons, blowing up a European city (possibly Rome) as he watches with arms outstretched from a safe distance, and some kind of massive, spinning pod on the loose that's wreaking havoc on the city streets as Dom tries to outrace it in another one of his suped-up cars. Later on, the footage shows a brief glimpse of Jason Statham's Deckard Shaw laying waste to some henchmen, new addition Brie Larson kicking some serious ass in a leather jacket, Sung Kang's Han boasting about his driving skills, and John Cena's Jakob Toretto (oh, right, I hope you didn't forget that he's Dom's brother) in a car outfitted with actual missiles on the sides.
You know, just your typical "Fast and the Furious" action.
Back to basics
Hey, remember when the first "Fast and the Furious" movie was just about a gang of small-time street racers in Los Angeles? Fans who came into this series late with the more spectacle-heavy blockbuster action may have forgotten that little fact, but "Fast X" sure hasn't! The tenth installment (not counting the spin-off movie "Hobbes and Shaw," of course) looks like it's bringing things right back to its roots, staging a hilarious throwback sequence of frenzied onlookers and women in skimpy clothes watching a dangerous street race between Dom, Dante, and other hapless drivers who are almost certainly about to become collateral damage. At one point, Dante and his crew roll up to Dom and his, instigating a standoff where all their respective cronies pull out guns and wave them at each other like the testosterone-infused meatheads they are. Honestly, what more could you want?
List your references, please
You know what else lends to the nostalgic overtones of the entire trailer? The fact that so many of the action sequences feel like direct callbacks to previous instances throughout the franchise. That bizarre round object chasing Dom through the city streets evokes the boxy safe that he and the late Brian O'Conner (Paul Walker) once dragged through Brazil. Similarly, the highway overpass sequence on display in the waning moments of the "Fast X" trailer can't help but bring to mind the tank chase that involved Dom literally jumping out of his car to snatch Letty (Michelle Rodriguez) right out of the air in "Fast & Furious 6." The sequence that features Dom's car getting tag-teamed by helicopters and lifted into the air with tow cables is likewise reminiscent of that wild rope swing sequence in "F9." And, of course, driving cars off a cargo plane was the centerpiece of "Furious 7." As far as homages and references go, it's clear that the team behind "Fast X" did their homework.
Face/Off
You just know the "Fast X" trailer couldn't end without plucking yet another returning character out of thin air to add even more zaniness to the illustrious lore that is this franchise's mythology. Charlize Theron's Cipher, introduced in "The Fate of the Furious" as the main villain who basically just typed really fast on a computer a bunch of times, is back once more in a totally outlandish way. Strapped to a fancy gurney in some sort of medical facility, she wakes up next to Letty (both have a bit of shared history together, given that Cipher blackmailed Dom into turning against his family and even shared an unwilling kiss with him right in front of Letty, you see). While introducing some bizarre "Face/Off" scenario between the two involving swapping identities wouldn't even scratch the surface of the wildest plot twists this franchise has ever pulled, I'm kind of hoping that's exactly what happens here.
"Fast X" peels into theaters on May 19, 2023.