I just feel depressed after seeing this film. Gone is any excitement I had for a franchise I used to sheepishly enjoy. Replaced is a never-ending cascade of recycled stunts, resurrected characters, and unbelievably lazy cliffhangers. They really should have stopped at 7 because they truly have nothing left to say. It's just the Vin Diesel show now in which he gets to hog half the screen time attempting to "dramatically act." He finally got his wish and wrestled away full control of this series from Lin and Morgan, AKA the brains behind the series' best entries.
I just felt almost nothing during any of the "tension-filled" sequences. There are no stakes anymore and nothing matters. The cliffhanger certainly doesn't matter because you know it will get resolved in the first 5 minutes.
There are a few bright spots. Jason Momoa does his best to breathe some Joker-like life into this lumbering franchise, but even his boisterous performance can't save this film. Cena teaming up with a youngster was fun to see, even though his character has basically an entirely different personality from his villain-turn in F9. Alan Ritchson is also a nice addition as he has some actual screen presence and charisma.
You'll notice all my highlights are new additions to the franchise. That's part of my point. The original characters have nothing left to say or do. Roman and Tej's banter is just exhausting and cringey at this point. Same with Dom's speeches about family and his macho posturing. And while new typically equals better, Brie Larson's presence in this film is baffling and bizarre. She just shows up in some ridiculous outfits and jumps on cars for no apparent reason.
I know these are meant to be brainless entertainment spectacles, but they used to at least have some semblance of plot and quality. The filmmakers act like they're in on the joke, but I can tell you Vin Diesel certainly isn't. He still thinks he's pumping out high quality billion dollar grossers, and that is just simply not true. I can't believe we have two more films in this now THREE PART finale.
I just felt almost nothing during any of the "tension-filled" sequences. There are no stakes anymore and nothing matters. The cliffhanger certainly doesn't matter because you know it will get resolved in the first 5 minutes.
There are a few bright spots. Jason Momoa does his best to breathe some Joker-like life into this lumbering franchise, but even his boisterous performance can't save this film. Cena teaming up with a youngster was fun to see, even though his character has basically an entirely different personality from his villain-turn in F9. Alan Ritchson is also a nice addition as he has some actual screen presence and charisma.
You'll notice all my highlights are new additions to the franchise. That's part of my point. The original characters have nothing left to say or do. Roman and Tej's banter is just exhausting and cringey at this point. Same with Dom's speeches about family and his macho posturing. And while new typically equals better, Brie Larson's presence in this film is baffling and bizarre. She just shows up in some ridiculous outfits and jumps on cars for no apparent reason.
I know these are meant to be brainless entertainment spectacles, but they used to at least have some semblance of plot and quality. The filmmakers act like they're in on the joke, but I can tell you Vin Diesel certainly isn't. He still thinks he's pumping out high quality billion dollar grossers, and that is just simply not true. I can't believe we have two more films in this now THREE PART finale.