Fast and Furious 9 (2021)

Since the exceptional Fast Five (2011) which reinvented the franchise as very much a tongue in cheek series combined with some truly ridiculous (ridiculously entertaining as well) stunts, and vaguely attempted to sell the whole thing as meaningful because of the essence of ‘family’ between the characters. Bizarrely though, the lunacy of all of this (and the sheer volume of installments) does indeed warm you to the characters, and this before the tragic death of Paul Walker, which the series dealt with poignantly and in a very heartwarming way in Furious 7 (2015). That film remains the last truly good one though, and sadly Fast & Furious 9 is the weakest entry in the series possibly since the dreadful 2 Fast 2 Furious (2003). It’s not bad by any means, the opening half an hour is as entertaining as it is ludicrous, and John Cena (who plays Vin Diesel’s never previously mentioned brother) continues his wonderful ability to be pretty much terrific in everything he’s in, adding yet another string to the series’ ‘family’ bow.

After the first half hour however, things start to get silly even by Fast & Furious’ stupifying standards, with certain people ending the film in space. Perhaps not that surprising, but with Fast X coming in a few months it will be interesting to see if the series can get back on track. 5.9/10