First Take: Fast and Furious 9- just how much faster and furiouser can it get?

SYNOPSIS: Cipher enlists the help of Jakob, Dom’s younger brother to take revenge on Dom and his team.

During the refurb of my local cinema, Fast 8 hit like a demolition ball (literally) with another absolutely bonkers piece of filmmaking. Now, 4 years on, we have yet another sequel. Shock horror, it is an average piece at best. But seriously, how much more ridiculous can the Fast series get following its shift into full espionage?

Justin Lin - the man behind the films between Tokyo Drift and Fast 6 - returns to help cap off stories he started back in 2006, and his direction is relatively decent compared to the runtime, which could’ve been brought down a nudge from 2 hours 23 minutes. With Lin’s frequent collaborator Chris Morgan unable to write the script due to the production of Hobbs and Shaw, it’s him and Daniel Casey who are tasked with creating a story worthy of the Fast and Furious banner… and that’s the problem. It tries too hard to outdo the older films, with setpieces that defy all logic, but what it does make up for is in its backstory, fleshing out the Toretto family in ways that haven’t been seen in any of the previous films. Stephen F Windon is behind the camera, and the quality of cinematography is a lot higher compared to past releases, and as ever, Brian Tyler nails it on the score.

On the performances, you have the old hands of Vin Diesel and Michelle Rodriguez leading the cast, with all the usual suspects coming home- Nathalie Emmanuel, Jordana Brewster, with Ludacris and Tyrese Gibson continuing their unique comedic double act too, and coming back from previous films is Charlize Theron, and the eagerly awaited return of Sung Kang as the protagonist of Tokyo Drift, the presumed dead Han. But the real fun comes with one man. And his name is John Cena. Seeing him play a role that’s unlike anything he’s done before is a real breath of fresh air, and if he continues this form, James Gunn’s Suicide Squad just became a real must-see event.

THE VERDICT

For die hard fans of the first 8, Fast 9 delivers everything you’d expect from the series and more, but for casual audiences, the MCU style callbacks to prior films will make it difficult to follow for those who have no interest in the series. It’s a decent enough film, but I still don’t know if I want another direct sequel after that ending.

RATING: 3/5