Warning: Spoilers for Fast X Below!
Fast X experienced some production troubles during the making of the film, and there are a number of signs of some of these issues in the movie itself. Although it is the 10th chapter of the Fast Saga, Fast X takes a step into the franchise’s past with the new villain Dante Reyes (Jason Momoa) and his ties to 2011’s Fast Five. With Dante out for revenge against Dominic Toretto (Vin Diesel) and his family, Fast X is also the first chapter in the multi-film finale of the Fast & Furious franchise, with Fast & Furious 11 set to continue the story
While Fast X was originally set to be directed by the Fast Saga‘s long-running director Justin Lin, he unexpectedly departed the movie early in principal photography, with Louis Letterier replacing him. A director change in the middle of production is bound to cause challenges for any movie, and with Fast X‘s numerous character retcons and over-the-top action, a new director coming aboard is bound to be a particularly tough scenario. Here are the four biggest signs of Fast X‘s behind-the-scenes difficulties.
4 Vin Diesel Hardly Appears With The Existing Cast
As devoted as the Fast Saga is to the concept of family, Fast X is a bit curious in this regard due to how relatively infrequently Dom is actually with his family on-screen. After a handful of scenes of the group together in Los Angeles in the movie’s opening, Dom spends much of the film separated from his family by thousands of miles. Of particular note, Dom spends a good chunk of the movie in Brazil during his confrontation with Dante while the rest of the team is in London.
Additionally, even when Dom is nominally present with his family in their mission in Rome, Dom is not on-screen with them much, primarily being behind the wheel of his car. Dom also spends much of the climactic chase as a one-man operation, with only his son Brian (Leo Abelo Perry) eventually boarding his car while he and his brother Jakob (John Cena) share the occasional nod from window to window. This could hint to some of early behind-the-scenes drama following Justin Lin’s departure carrying over for the duration of the making of Fast X.
3 The Rock’s Return In Fast X’s Post-Credits Scene
Prior to the release of Fast X, it was officially confirmed that Dwayne Johnson would return in the film as Luke Hobbs, with Johnson appearing in Fast X‘s end-credits scene. Johnson’s return in Fast X comes after The Rock’s well-documented feud with Vin Diesel, which ultimately led to his departure from the franchise, though he would remain tangentially attached through the 2019 spin-off Fast & Furious Presents: Hobbs & Shaw. While Johnson’s return could be taken as a sign that he and Diesel have resolved their differences, the nature of Hobbs’s return calls that possibility into question.
With Hobbs appearing alone (aside from his DSS team) in Fast X‘s end-credits scene, his return continues to keep him sequestered from Dom and his family. In point of fact, with Dante’s threatening message painting a very personal vendetta against Hobbs for being the man to actually kill his father, the scene itself does not even directly set up Hobbs re-uniting with Dom’s crew. Indeed, it could just as easily lead into Hobbs & Shaw 2 as it could Fast & Furious 11. In any case, though The Rock might be back as Hobbs, Fast X seems to be in no rush to put him on-screen with Diesel again.
2 Fast X’s Pacing Is A Major Problem
While the Fast Saga is known for prioritizing absurd spectacle, the series is also incredibly heartfelt in the bond Dom and his family hold with one another through their adventures. However, this is something that Fast X has considerably more difficulty capturing. That can be seen in the movie’s considerably less streamlined pacing. This is particularly noticeable in the movie essentially creating three separate plotlines in Dom’s direct battle with Dante, Letty (Michelle Rodriguez) and Cipher (Charlize Theron) being held captive in a top-secret prison, and the rest of Dom’s crew on a side mission in London.
While parallel plotlines are hardly new in action movies, Fast X struggles to manage them all at once. Though F9 still maintained a fluid narrative flow amid its completely outrageous action, Fast X more noticeably leaps from one scene to another with as much unconstrained energy as Dante himself, even in scenes as pivotal as Fast X‘s character deaths. While this perhaps inadvertently adds to the shock value of the scene of Dante conversing with two corpses, the clunky narrative flow of Fast X might be an unfortunate by-product of the movie’s director swap and whatever script re-writes might have also happened in the change.
1 Fast X’s Action Is A Step Down From F9
The Fast Saga‘s brand is all about pushing the envelope with each installment and outright ignoring the parameters of reality, with both reaching their pinnacle in F9’s ridiculous superhuman stunts and especially its space car piloted by Tej (Ludacris) and Roman (Tyrese Gibson). Aside from not involving space travel, Fast X is every bit as preposterous in its action scenes (as seen in Dom driving his car down a dam to escape an explosion), but they are also not quite as finessed as those of F9. This could be attributed to Justin Lin, as the Fast Saga‘s most long-serving director, having a more innate grasp of the kind of car stunts and chases that are seen in the Fast Saga compared to the incoming Letterier.
That said, the fight scenes of Fast X are also unusually choppy for the franchise, which is particularly surprising under Letterier’s direction. With Louis Letterier having directed the Jet Li movie Unleashed and the first two of Jason Statham’s Transporter movies, his early work shows he clearly has an exceptional talent for filming fight scenes. Fast X‘s fight scenes also frequently run into fast, frenetic editing, save for Letty and Cipher’s prison fight. This, too, could be a side effect of Letterier entering Fast X‘s production so late, with possible time constraints leading to most of the movie’s fight scenes presented in a surprisingly chaotic way.
In the end, the production difficulties encountered by Fast X have not slowed down the Fast Saga‘s every increasing momentum, with Fast X even ending on a cliffhanger that sets up Fast & Furious 11 for a large-scale opening. With that said, the on-screen breadcrumbs of the issues encountered during the making of Fast X and its director change are a little more noticeable than is usually the case for such a significant production. With Fast & Furious 11 in the works and Louis Letterier on board to direct from the outset, it will hopefully be able to avoid the issues encountered byFast X.