F9

To some degree, with maybe the exception of Tokyo Drift and Fate of the Furious, I've enjoyed these Fast and Furious movies. Yes, they are dumb and have over-the-top action, CGI-generated, scenes yet despite that found them to be mindless entertainment with the only merit being the chemistry with the cast. However, with Fate of the Furious and the absence of Paul Walker, the series lost that aspect. Walker wasn't a great actor but he and Diesel were great together, along with the others in the ensemble where I could overlook the stupid moments. This ninth entry, as most sequels do, takes it to the next level of absurdity but this time I really could not care less about anything going on. The action scenes were pretty lame and even though it was a joke taking the movie into space, I didn't think they'd actually do it... I could only shake my head at that sequence. Then there's the whole bringing Han back to life. They have now retconned his scene for a second time and somehow, despite this being an outlandish franchise, cheapens any character development for Deckard Shaw (his entire reason for "killing" Han was out of revenge for putting his brother in a coma, although IIRC initially Owen Shaw was thought to have been killing in Fast Five). They try to add some BS depth with faith and, of course, FAMILY, that doesn't land. Hell, there's even discussion from Roman (Tyrese) about being invincible played as a joke only to come true once he and Tej go into space to stop a satellite and actually f'ing survive. The film also is a greatest hits with the return of characters from previous entries including Helen Mirren, Lucas Black, Kurt Russell, Charlize Theron, Shea Whigham (had to look him up, he was in Furious 6), Sung Kang, Shad Moss (aka Bow Wow), etc. Plus Jason Statham makes an uncredited cameo. Boy, yeah the Fast franchise jumped the shark a while back but this one is on the bottom of the list. I don't know how they will right the ship with #10 (and supposedly the last) but the issue with these sequels is they have to top the previous no matter what. Dumb is fine. Lazy not so much. **2.25/5**