10 films into the larger franchise and this Fast Family Fast Saga thingy just won't die, but fans should still have a blast with the OTT insanity of it all. Many regard Fast Five as being the pinnacle of the Fast and Furious movies - which it is - but it was also the point where the franchise pivoted completely from rebel robber racers to elite super spy chasers, with the subsequent journeys each increasingly fantastical pedal-to-the-metal rides into physics-smashing mayhem. As the characters themselves called it, this is not Mission Impossible, it's "Mission Freaking Insanity" and, with that in mind, Fast 9 is a welcome addition to the fold and just about as good a ninth movie you could possibly expect from any saga, let alone one which started off about street racers in a low budget riff on Point to say, there are a couple of things which will likely ruin any watch of Fast 9. Firstly, if you haven't seen or enjoyed the preceding 8 movies degrees of enjoyment are acceptable then there is nothing here for you, the ongoing character arcs and revelations will do a Drax on you, and the craziness has hardly abated, so don't bother complaining they didn't magically get the formula right ninth time out, just walk away. Secondly, if you've seen the trailer then don't expect to watch a single setpiece and be surprised. The trailer IS the movie. That bit at the end of the review. Don't click it. It's the movie, and it spoils every bit of insanity you might get to explore. You can pretend it didn't or that you would have rolled your eyes anyway. But whatever WTF tricks F9 has up its sleeve are totally ruined by that trailer, as with all previous Fast trailers, only here dialled up to 11.... whenever it's not intentionally entertaining, it's certainly unintentionally entertainingStill on board? Well Fast 9 is one of those movies - tangentially, not wholly unlike Bond's No Time to Die - which gets a LOT of things wrong in terms of story, characterisation and runtime, but still comes out on top in the escapist enjoyment realm, which is really where this franchise belongs. The stuff it gets right? Well, the stunts are still insane and, you'd be surprised just how many are practical - from the circuit crash to the mines to even some of the magnet stuff and this entry adds a very cleverly realised flashback character arc about a young Dom and his - previously never mentioned - younger brother, which, sure, only makes old Dom seem like a bit more of an idiot, but is still compelling retconning/fleshing-out, allowing new characters to be added, and more fun to be had. Cena, who normally has a blast not taking himself seriously The Suicide Squad, even Bumblebee, has a real problem even walking normally, and seems utterly befuddled by any witty or cutting remark anybody else delivered, to the point where he comes across like an utter moron. But that's kinda ok, cause you know where this franchise is going in terms of his - and every - character, and Cena's plankedness does make Vin Diesel's superhuman Samson-like Dom fractionally less overtly dull Fast 8.Stringing together a bunch of internationally flavoured setpieces has become par for the course with this saga, but Fast 9 makes it an art form, barely letting up as it tears through minefields, over bridges, and across the clearly surprisingly mountainous landscape of Edinburgh for the Best Zipline Scene Evah and the most insane bit of eternal vehicle surfing since, well, the eternal runway Fast 6. And who would have ever thought they'd have bested the last film's zombie cars with MAGNETS. Outstanding. It is supremely enjoyable at a very basic level, scoring points because whenever it's not intentionally entertaining, it's certainly unintentionally entertaining, a madcap combination of OTT crazy and so-bad-it's-great moments. More fun than the last outing, Fast 9 can't really be conventionally critiqued in any way, with a couple of closing past-characters-come-back scenes which, if capitalised on, may well leave this saga going out on an unexpected high with its two-parter & Furious 9 - also known as F9 The Fast Saga - is the latest entry in the franchise to include an Extended Director's Cut which runs around 7 minutes' longer, adding a few unnecessary exchanges peppered across the already protracted 150 minute runtime, but also some extended stunts, including an insane sequence involving an upturned truck and an unfinished building some of which was actually done practically, even if it looks a bit silly in finished form. It hardly improves the movie to any significantly noticeable degree, but fans will find it the preferred cut to watch at home.
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