Fast X is all set to debut with an opening weekend collection of $60 million and a $235 million international debut. Making the combined collection of $295 million. This makes Fast X the third highest opening in the history of the Fast and Furious franchise. The film sits behind Furious 7’s $397.6 million and Fate of the Furious’ $541.9 million. I think this sudden spike in numbers is because of the news of Dwayne Johnson’s cameo at the end of the film. This strategic move just before the release of the film has worked wonders. If the cameo was not added to increase the hype around the film then it would’ve been hidden rather than an official confirmation coming just a week before the film’s premiere. Regardless, the cameo might generate hype but did it also help in the critical reception of the film?
Fast X Reviews Round-Up: Next Level Craziness?
Kevin Maher (Times {UK}) – “It’s the logical culmination of a franchise that began as lithe and nifty, slowly became bloated with its own endearing ambition, and has now succumbed to its own bloat and, like Elvis, has died on the toilet.” Original Score: 2/5
Ann Hornaday (Washington Post) – “An overstuffed live-action cartoon whose harebrained schemes and casual, stakes-free violence create the perfect accompaniment to a bowl of Froot Loops on a Saturday morning.” Original Score: 2/4
Mick LaSalle (San Francisco Chronicle) – “The best “Fast & Furious” movies don’t take themselves seriously. They pretend to take themselves seriously, but in a way that we know that they know they’re pretending, and we’re all in on the joke.” Original Score: 3/4
Brian Truitt (USA Today) – “Much of the spectacle in this 10th film rehashes bonkers situations and scenes done before (and better), a running theme that also pervades much of the narrative.” Original Score: 2.5/4
William Bibbiani (TheWrap) – “‘F9’ made a convincing case for letting this whole ‘Fast and Furious’ series finally end. But just when you thought it was okay to check out, ‘Fast X’ pulls you back in.”
Ray Greene (AV Club) – “Diesel believes in Dom so hard that for two hours and 10 minutes, he makes you believe in him too.” Original Score: B-
Jude Dry (indieWire) – “[It’s] engaging in the oldest trick in the book, using flamboyance (read: queerness) to signal evil. Pitted against the raging paternalism of Dom Toretto’s singular guiding purpose to protect his family at all costs, the moral edict is crystal clear.” Original Score: C+
Alonso Duralde (The Film Verdict) – “Leterrier and company understand that they have been freed of such constraints, offering up a live-action cartoon that doesn’t have to make rational or spatial sense as long as there’s emotion and excitement, two elements Fast X has by the tankful.”
Barry Hertz (Globe and Mail) – “An F&F movie that is both a one-upped continuation of the franchise and a deeply affectionate, powerfully weird tribute to the series itself.”
Clarisse Loughrey (Independent {UK}) – “Fast & Furious isn’t merely an action series – it’s Twin Peaks if David Lynch had guzzled nitromethane before calling action.” Original Score: 4/5
Hoai-Tran Bui (Inverse) – “A ludicrous, patchwork blockbuster that strains the limits of even Fast & Furious reality. It only took us 10 movies, but Fast & Furious has become a parody of itself.”
Frank Scheck (Hollywood Reporter) – “What saves Fast X is that it’s so aware of its own absurdity that it becomes an entertaining parody of itself.”
Scott Tobias (Guardian) – “Fast X has enough joyful self-awareness that resistance becomes futile. At a certain point, it feels better to give in and smile.” Original Score: 3/5
Matt Singer (ScreenCrush) – “For the first time in the franchise’s history, there isn’t a single sequence that outdoes what has come before.” Original Score: 3/10
Rafer Guzman (Newsday) – “An overloaded and underwhelming sequel — and there might be two more chapters to go.” Original Score: 2/4
Richard Roeper (Chicago Sun-Times) – “You can’t help but laugh at the sheer audacity of the filmmakers. Give ‘em this much, they’re wholly embracing the madness.” Original Score: 2/4
Brian Lowry (CNN.com) – “There’s still ample gas left in that tank, commercially speaking. It’s creatively where “Fast X” feels as if it’s running on fumes.”
Dan Jolin (Empire Magazine) – “It’s a film that somehow finds new and fabulously silly things to do with cars, while — Momoa’s questionable villain aside — being exactly what you’d expect.” Original Score: 3/5
Todd McCarthy (Deadline Hollywood Daily) – “With its seemingly inexhaustible supply of madly amusing action, this high-octane extravaganza attempts, and not infrequently succeeds, in obliterating any resistance with its disarming, outrageous and self-aware injections of often-hilarious camp.”
Nick Schager (The Daily Beast) – “No matter which cliché you choose—the series is running out of gas/spinning its wheels/stuck in neutral—Dom and company’s latest exploits are perhaps their most exhaustingly “extreme” to date, not to mention their dimmest.”
Peter Debruge (Variety) –““X” marks the spot where the property’s most dependable director, Justin Lin, called it quits. You may be tempted to do the same.”
Greg Nussen (Slant Magazine) –“Being as this is the first of a possibly three-part finale, Fast X’s sense of fun is constantly deflated by all the table-setting.” Original Score: 1.5/4
Kaely Monahan (Arizona Republic) –“The only redeeming quality is Momoa’s Dante. Momoa brings a streak of levity in an otherwise ponderous film that oozes masculine machismo and fossil fuels.” Original Score: 3.5/5
Charlotte O’Sullivan (London Evening Standard) –“The franchise may be running on fumes. I confess, though, I don’t want it to stop.” Original Score: 3/5
Johnny Oleksinski (New York Post) – “Another moronic “Fast” film that plods along like “99 Bottles of Beer on the Wall” and features increasingly fake chases.” Original Score: 1/4
David Sims (The Atlantic) – “The sweet, coarse sincerity that once made these films sing is gone, replaced with jokes and stunts that feel patched together from earlier, better franchises.”
Katie Walsh (Tribune News Service) – “Leterrier and Momoa bring an energy and excitement to “Fast X” that juices the engine to deliver the goods that fans want. But the jumbled lore and odd treatment of characters may leave audiences with more questions than answers.” Original Score: 2.5/4
A.A. Dowd (Chron) – “The franchise was more fun, as opposed to “fun,” when it wasn’t so in on the joke.”
Brian Tallerico (RogerEbert.com) – “Even as it’s spinning through enjoyably goofy action set pieces, most of them enlivened greatly by a fun performance from Jason Momoa, there’s a desperate familiarity to all of “Fast X”.” Original Score: 2/4
Christian Holub (Entertainment Weekly) – “No question this franchise is silly…but having one character constantly ridiculing the others and making mockery of everything feels maybe a little too on-the-nose.” Original Score: C
Emily Zemler (Observer) – “You’ll laugh, you’ll cheer and you’ll feel, for a few hours, like part of a family.” Original Score: 3.5/4
Tim Robey (Daily Telegraph {UK}) – “Momoa is what these films have been missing forever: a flamboyant supervillain and all-round chaos merchant, who likes to perch on the tallest landmarks and dial in carnage.” Original Score: 4/5
Adam Graham (Detroit News) – “It’s time to hang up the car keys for good.” Original Score: D
Mark Kennedy (Associated Press) – “With a foot in the past, one in the future and one on the gas, “Fast X” is pure popcorn lunacy. Was that too many feet? Oh, excuse us, you wanted logic?” Original Score: 3/4
Jake Cole (Little White Lies) – “The most ridiculous Fast and Furious film yet.” Original Score: 3/5
Katie Rife (Polygon) – “Fast X suffers from the same condition as latter-day MCU movies, where it’s so laden with internal mythology that it feels more like homework than popcorn entertainment.”
Cary Darling (Houston Chronicle) – “”Transporter” director Louis Leterrier… puts his pedal to the metal, keeping things moving so quickly — bodies and vehicles are perpetually in motion, drivin’, fightin’, explodin’ or dyin’ — that there’s little time to worry about how far-fetched it is.” Original Score: 3.5/5
Michael Phillips (Chicago Tribune) – “Outlandish mayhem needs better visual stylists than Leterrier.” Original Score: 2/4
Moira MacDonald (Seattle Times) – “This movie is good, silly popcorn fun — with a couple of scenes at the end (stay put during the first half of the credits) indicating even better times ahead.” Original Score: 3/4
The film stars Vin Diesel, Jason Momoa, Brie Larson, Michelle Rodriguez, Sung Kang, Tyrese Gibson, Jason Statham, Charlize Theron, John Cena, Rita Moreno, Jordana Brewster, Scott Eastwood, Ludacris, Nathalie Emmanuel, Cardi B, Helen Mirren, Kurt Russell and so on.
Fast X is scheduled to hit theatres on May 19, 2023.
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