Like The Rest Of Fast X, Jason Momoa's Villain Is Obsessed With Fast Five
"Fast X" is very much the beginning of the end of the road for the fambly. This is arguably the movie in the franchise with the most behind-the-scenes problems and setbacks since "Furious 7," with director Louis Leterrier coming in and even rewriting most of the script while replacing Justin Lin mere weeks into shooting, which signals to many that it's just time to wrap up the long-running blockbuster film series.
The latest sequel has some of the most ridiculous moments in the franchise, an all-time great action set piece, and arguably its biggest villain yet in Dante. Jason Momoa essentially plays genderfluid Bugs Bunny brought to live-action, a true master of chaos who is street ahead of everyone else, the kind of villain with a big grudge against Dom and the fambly — which is always the best kind of villain.
The plot takes place a few years after "F9," with the family settling into a new chapter in their lives. All that changes, however, when Dante arrives with one purpose in mind: to make Dom suffer before ending him and the whole family.
Not only does this make for a ruthless villain, but it's even better because of how it connects to the franchise's past, just like the best "Fast and Furious" movies. You see, Dante, like "Fast X" (and also me) is just obsessed with "Fast Five."
A blast from the past
"Fast Five" is not some obscure reference to bring into "Fast X," because it is the movie that changed everything for the franchise. This is where the saga went from being about racing to being about family. In it, we saw the entire family become criminals and unite the entire gang as we now know it, including Gisele and Han, Tej and Roman, and even Leo and Santos. And it's also where the action really kicked up a notch.
At the end of the film, the gang performs their biggest feat of superhuman strength until that point, as they literally dragged a whole safe vault across the streets of Rio de Janeiro, stealing $100 million in cash. The cash belonged to Hernan Reyes, a corrupt politician and drug lord. This we knew, but "Fast X" reveals — in typical "Fast and Furious" fashion — that wasn't the whole story.
It turns out Dante was also there that day. He is Hernan's son, heir to his entire fortune, and he was also literally right on the scene as Dom and the family dragged the vault away. In fact, Dante was even driving the vehicle with the machine gun on the roof that Dom annihilated by throwing the vault at it.
Dante's whole motivation during "Fast X" is that he is obsessed with avenging the events of "Fast Five" and the death of his father, as it left him without a family and without his heritage. The events of that film also left him dead for two minutes, which explains his unhinged nature, as he was in and out of mental institutions after this life-changing moment.
A good movie to obsess over
"Fast X" spends its entire 10-or-so-minute opening scene just replaying the last act of "Fast Five," nearly in its entirety, as we see the whole bank heist while cutting away to where Dante was during it. But that's not all, because the film spends plenty of time echoing the best moments of "Fast Five" too.
For instance, there's the racing scene in Rio where Dom goes back to visit Brazilian John Turturro (Diogo, played by Luis Da Silva Jr.), and instead of just cutting away to Dom winning a new car like last time, they both off against Dante, along with Daniela Melchior's new racing character, who also has ties to the past. Indeed, Jason Momoa's fashionable villain is essentially making fan fiction for "Fast Five," recreating scenes the way he wishes they had played out.
The best echo and proof of this obsession is in the opening act of "Fast X," where Roman is tricked into leading a mission to Rome that was actually orchestrated by Dante as a trap. The whole sequence, where the team hijacks, and later tries to stop, a giant Death Star-shaped bomb, is essentially just a variation of the safe vault heist, and it rules.
It makes sense for the franchise to do this. After all, "Fast Five" is the most pivotal chapter of the franchise at large, turning this small saga that was on the verge of going straight to DVD into one of the biggest franchises in Hollywood. Bringing that movie back in such a big way to fuel the plot of this movie is just one of the ways "Fast and Furious" stands out as a special franchise that truly loves to call back on itself.
"Fast X" is playing in theaters everywhere now.