I watched FF9 with Rob yesterday, what a movie. This outing was one of the most self-analytical of the FF franchise with Roman (quite rightly) questioning their apparent immortality and ability to get wrapped up in increasingly bizarre and dangerous situations. Similarly, there’s a line in which Cypher (Charlize Theron) almost winking to the audience saying “If this were a movie…” after we saw Vin Diesel go faster off a cliff to get some rope wrapped on his car so that they can cross a canyon because the rope bridge is out. It’s bizarrely enjoyable how predictable each sequence is. For most movies, the predictability makes it boring, but for some reason FF gets away with it. I mean, literally, driving through the jungle what happens? They need to cross a fucking ROPE BRIDGE, but shockingly, the rope bridge BREAKS. Justin Lin is a master of pacing these action sequences in which tension is played with by introducing new threats or introducing new threats and then instantly taking them away with a heroic move from the gang, it’s honestly so exciting to watch. A lot of run-time is also dedicated to showing how Dominic Toretto ended up in jail and the flashbacks are surprisingly effective at getting me to empathize with a walking meme. John Cena plays Dom’s brother, Jacob and is suitably big. There’s this shot of the two staring each other down and the difference in size is shocking (considering how big Vin Diesel is already). But if all I can comment on is John Cena’s size, I would say that he was largely wasted in his role. John Cena is not an effective villain, he looks like an actual Action Man doll. This could be an issue with the script and the whole philosophy of the FF franchise. If you are continually trying to increase the stakes, then naturally the story you’re trying to tell becomes all about a world-ending technology that John Cena wants because of how much he wants everyone to think he’s better than his brother. Yeah, seriously, that’s JC’s entire motivation. It’s not like Dom is seen as the “golden boy” either, Dom was the one that went to prison, Dom was the one that is always being chased by some law enforcement agency OR criminal organisation. The flashback sequences also do very little to suggest that Dom is in someway favoured by anyone (other than their father’s racing rival referring to his as “golden boy”). However, the flashback sections do remind me of the time when this series was about Street Racing and now they have literally gone into space. I would say the “going to space” sequence would’ve been cooler if Elon Musk hadn’t already pulled that stunt off in real life. #filmreview