The ninth Fast & Furious film, known as F9, has first reactions. The upcoming action film is directed by Justin Lin, who also co-wrote the screenplay with Daniel Casey. F9 opens June 25 in theaters and is likely to be the biggest opening film to date in 2021. Here is a compilation of quick takes from the entertainment media.
Erik Davis of Fandango calls it “the perfect summer blockbuster”
John Campea calls it “the worst FF movie to date”
Campea was super stoked for F9. He loves installments 4 through 8, so his negative review is impactful.
IndieWire says “Justin Lin Gets “Fast & Furious” Back on Track with the Saga’s Biggest and Most Ridiculous Movie Yet
“F9” is a scattered mess full of weightless CGI that whiffs on some of the most crucial moments in franchise history and doesn’t even get out of neutral until the final hour; for all of the cartoonish flair demanded by Lin’s “shoot the moon” strategy, this $200 million tentpole is bound to disappoint anyone hoping for an action movie that can match the skill of “Fast Five” or the unleaded personality of “Tokyo Drift”
However-
But if “F9” works — and it does, at least by the time the Coronas are popped open — it’s because Lin still understands how these movies have come to work best as feature-length dolly zooms that push in on Dom’s vulnerability by widening out to an inhuman scale. (one scene towards the end is guaranteed to make your jaw drop at the gloriously braindead chutzpah of it all), and yet Lin and Daniel Casey’s screenplay is only able to stretch the action to such farcical heights because it offsets that spectacle by drilling into Dom’s character on a deeper level than the franchise ever has before.
Hollywood Reporter says “Unless FasTen involves time travel, it’s hard to see how this franchise could top itself, and based on the often dull, always bloated results here, it seems foolish to try.”
As in Lin’s last feature, the disappointing Star Trek Beyond, the director/cowriter takes a quantity-over-quality approach, throwing more action, subplots and characters into the mix than any movie needs while still leaving one with the sense that something’s missing.
Variety: “With a story that looks back more than forward and a space sequence that comes close to jumping the shark, the fifth entry in the series directed by Justin Lin gets stuck in franchise overdrive.”
There’s no doubt that the movie walks right up to the shark, takes a good hard look at it, maybe even climbs aboard it, but doesn’t totally, fatally jump it. For one thing, there’s way too much going on apart from that borderline ludicrous space-camp interlude.
