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Laramie Movie Scope: Fast X

Part one of another Fast and Furious epic

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by Robert Roten, Film Critic
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May 26, 2023 – Rumors abound that this 10th Fast and Furious franchise film is the first of a trilogy, and it looks like another “Hobbs and Shaw” (if you count that as a F&F movie it is 11 of them) movie could be waiting in the wings, too.

The villain behind all this multi-film action is none other than Aquaman, I mean Jason Momoa, who plays super villain Dante Reyes, the son of Brazilian drug lord Hernan Reyes (played by Joaquim de Almeida in Fast Five). Hernan Reyes was killed by Luke Hobbs, so Dante wants revenge against Hobbs, but just for good measure, and to fuel the plot of this first film, he also wants revenge against Dominic Toretto (played by Vin Diesel) and his family. In fact, we don't even get to Hobbs until the end of the movie.

Dante seems to have an unlimited supply of money, influence, weapons and minions in this story. He sets a series of elaborate traps for Toretto and his team, which includes Letty (Michelle Rodriguez) Roman (Tyrese Gibson) Tej (Chris 'Ludacris' Bridges) Ramsey (Nathalie Emmanuel) Han (Sung Kang) and frames them for his own crimes. All these actors, and more, are reprising their roles from previous F&F films.

Unlike most action film villains, Dante has a sense of humor. He laughs a lot and seems to be enjoying himself, even wthen his elaborate schemes don't work as planned. He is very flamboyant and dresses like a wealthy pimp.

But Team Toretto also has some allies, including Dominic Toretto's sister Mia (Jordana Brewster) Tess (Brie Larson of “Captain Marvel”) Little Nobody (Scott Eastwood) Isabel Neves (Daniela Melchior) Cipher (Charlize Theron) and another character to be named later. Tess is the child of Toretto ally Mr. Nobody (Kurt Russell) who, along with Little Nobody, try to carry on his legacy, operating a super secret government agency. Cipher is a deadly enemy of both Toretto and Isabel Neves, but after Cipher is attacked and robbed by Dante, she switches sides.

Like many previous F&F movies, this one is a globe-trotting action and spy thriller, much like the James Bond movies. Once again, the powerful computer program, introduced in “Furious Seven,” created by Ramsay, called “The Eye of God” plays a key role in this film.

In this movie, Toretto's team is being hunted by government forces as well as being hunted by Dante and his minions, assisted by the Eye of God, which can access any video camera in the world to find anyone anywhere.

The film ends with a cliffhanger, and a mid-credits scene hints at more action, either in the next F&F movie, or in a possible “Hobbs and Shaw” sequel. The stars of the Hobbs and Shaw (2019) action movie, veterans Dwayne Johnson and Jason Statham, are both enemies of Dante, and are both being threatened by him in this movie, so I expect them to team up again in the near future.

The action scenes in this movie are sometimes crazy, but not as crazy as they were in F9, the previous movie (no cars in space or cars that can swing on a cable like Tarzan). The craziest action sequence in this movie has Toretto chase a giant rolling bomb through the streets of Rome in his car. The final part of that chase is just insane. Another crazy action scene involves a car driving down the side of a dam, and jumping off a ramp that is inexplicably built into the dam itself.

There are too many talking scenes in this movie with dumb, boring dialog, and there are some fairly pointless fight scenes between characters who are on the same side and ought to be getting along better. When the action gets going, however, it works well. This movie rates a B.

Click here for links to places to buy or rent this movie in digital formats, or to buy the soundtrack, posters, books, even used videos, games, electronics and lots of other stuff (no extra charges apply). I suggest you shop at least two of these places before buying anything. Prices seem to vary continuously. For more information on this film, click on this link to The Internet Movie Database. Type in the name of the movie in the search box and press enter. You will be able to find background information on the film, the actors, and links to much more information.

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Copyright © 2023 Robert Roten. All rights reserved.
Reproduced with the permission of the copyright holder.
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Robert Roten can be reached via e-mail at dalek three zero one nine at gmail dot com [Mailer button: image of letter and envelope]