In a sentenceThe cars get through a minefield more easily than we get through another family discussion
Dominic Toretto (Vin Diesel) finds himself driving through a minefield, with a bridge on the escape route and his crew depending on their cars to get out. Letty Ortiz (Michelle Rodriguez) joins the operation, alongside Roman Pearce (Tyrese Gibson) and Tej Parker (Ludacris). The drivers have to negotiate the explosives before tackling a crossing that presents another obstacle to escape. Dominic wants to keep his people together, but family troubles bring personal tensions into the mission. The crew must contend with those strained loyalties as well as the dangerous ground beneath their wheels.
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Justin Lin gives F9 enough inventive action and affection for its crew to reward the faithful. The family drama is laboured, though, and 143 minutes gives it more room than it deserves.
F9 is an intermittently enjoyable action film that makes its family business harder work than its car chases. Director Justin Lin wants the crew’s loyalties to matter even when the stunts have gone beyond anything we might reasonably believe. That is a sound enough ambition, and the affection between these people keeps the film from feeling entirely mechanical. The trouble is the amount of explanation required to sustain it: at 143 minutes, this is a long evening for anyone who came mainly for the driving.
The minefield and bridge sequence gives a useful indication of the bargain being offered. Justin Lin keeps escalating the trouble, asking us to accept each improbable manoeuvre quickly enough that we have no time to examine it. Stephen F. Windon’s cinematography helps us follow the cars through the chaos, which matters more here than making any of it plausible. We can enjoy the invention while still wishing the vehicles felt heavier; when the effects lose their weight, danger becomes difficult to feel.
Vin Diesel carries Dominic Toretto’s family burdens with a gravity that the writing by Justin Lin and Daniel Casey does not always earn. There is warmth here, and a welcome willingness to let Dominic seem vulnerable, but too much of the drama asks familiarity to do the work of persuasion. Family history needs explaining, loyalties need restating, and the next burst of action has to wait. Michelle Rodriguez gives Letty Ortiz enough feeling to make us wish the dialogue would leave her more room.
Tyrese Gibson and Ludacris are more immediately rewarding as Roman Pearce and Tej Parker. We laughed at their exchanges; they give the crew the ease of people who enjoy each other’s company. Their comic partnership also gives the film permission to recognise how absurd its action has become. A little of that self-awareness goes a long way, though it cannot make every implausibility funny or every repetition welcome.
Editors Kelly Matsumoto, Greg D’Auria and Dylan Highsmith keep the car sequences clear enough to enjoy, but the longer stretches of explanation are allowed too much space. Individual passages have pace; the whole film still feels overfilled. Jan Roelfs’s production design does its job as a setting for vehicular destruction, though it leaves little to hold our attention once the cars have passed. Brian Tyler’s music adds urgency, but its efforts to lend the family drama weight cannot fix the writing.
Realism would be a peculiar demand to make of this kind of action film. What we want is a clear view of the stunt, some sense of danger and enough pleasure in the company to forgive the engineering. Justin Lin often supplies the first and third, but the effects make the second unreliable. When almost any impact looks survivable, the film has to keep finding bigger things to do, and sheer escalation is not always exciting.
There is enough wit and invention in the better chases to give committed followers something worth their evening. The weaker effects and laborious drama make this harder to recommend to anyone coming fresh to the crew. Choose it for the car destruction, and be prepared to wait while the family finishes talking.
The reviews lean towards qualified enjoyment, with praise concentrated on F9’s elaborate car chases, inventive stunts and willingness to be ridiculous. Several critics see a return to form, crediting Justin Lin with keeping the action coherent and the familiar crew with making the spectacle worth following. The earnest emphasis on family also wins supporters, who find enough warmth and emotional continuity to forgive the tangled plotting, while the comic exchanges provide welcome relief from the melodrama.
Reservations centre on an overstuffed story, excessive length and effects that can make the action feel weightless. The family drama divides critics: some find it affecting, while others see franchise baggage and strained attempts to manufacture stakes. The spread is wide: The Wrap praises the stunt and effects teams for making the excess physically exciting, whereas The Hollywood Reporter finds the action dull and its disregard for physics unconvincing even as absurdity.
Willmore finds the film’s outlandishness buoyed by its earnest emotional continuity, making it a joyful return to form. She especially praises how the franchise’s commitment to family gives even its absurd spectacle a strange grace.
Read the full review →O'Sullivan finds F9 hugely enjoyable and calls it the best entry in the series. She praises the flair of its action set pieces and its self-reflexive wit.
Read the full review →Strong calls the film a joyful return to form and ideal multiplex escapism. She praises its earnestness and elaborate stunts, while noting the runtime could be shorter.
Read the full review →The standfirst presents the film as a thoroughly enjoyable romp. It singles out the Fast and Furious crew as the source of its appeal.
Read the full review →Bradshaw finds the film a cheerfully refreshing, magnificently silly action spectacle, though its plot and logic are negligible. He especially praises Tyrese Gibson’s comedy and the surreal sequence in which characters blast into space.
Read the full review →Rothkopf finds the film a rejuvenation for the franchise and close to an ideal summer blockbuster, though it sometimes goes too far into silliness. He praises Michelle Rodriguez’s emotional depth and the film’s strongest action sequence, while criticizing its weightless effects.
Read the full review →Part of · 8 of 9
The Italian Job · not reviewed yetA criminal operation built around cars, teamwork and a welcome lack of solemnity.
Police Story · not reviewed yetFor action that makes bodies, vehicles and their collisions feel alarmingly solid.
Mad Max: Fury RoadRelentless vehicle mayhem with clear geography and much less stopping to explain.
The Long Kiss Goodnight · not reviewed yetRidiculous action finds firmer footing in a sharp, funny central partnership.
RRRExtravagant action and fiercely earnest friendship, pursued with rather more emotional conviction.
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