A ChucksConnection Film Review

 

Nathalie Emmanuel wears black high top Converse “Chuck Taylor” All Stars in the film.

Michelle Rodriguez wears monochrome white high top Converse “Chuck Taylor” All Stars in the film.

Charlize Theron wears monochrome white low top Converse “Chuck Taylor” All Stars in the film.

Fast X

 

by Marcus Angulo

Ramsey wears black high top chucks throughout the film.

 

Almost 23 years ago, a film about the underground street racing scene in Los Angeles was a surprise box office hit. No one back then would have ever thought that this would be the start of a ten-film franchise with a combined gross of over $7 billion. The Fast and the Furious franchise is supposedly coming to an end soon, as the latest film serves as the penultimate chapter in the Fast Saga. Fast X was released on May 19th, 2023, and stars the ensemble cast of Vin Diesel, Michelle Rodriguez, Tyrese Gibson, Chris “Ludacris” Bridges, John Cena, Nathalie Emmanuel, Jordana Brewster, Sung Kang, Scott Eastwood, Daniela Melchior, Alan Ritchson, Helen Mirren, Brie Larson, Rita Moreno, Jason Statham, Jason Momoa, and Charlize Theron.

Ramsey is a lot more active in the films now and has evolved past being just the hacker.

Dominic Toretto (Diesel) has it all. He is free from the life of crime he used to lead, he’s married to Letty (Rodriguez), and they are raising their son, Brian “Little B” Marcos. He and his team work occasionally for the Agency and Little Nobody (Eastwood), and to start this film they are asked to steal a computer chip during its transit in Rome. Dom and Letty elect to stay behind with their son, while the rest of the team, consisting of Roman Pearce (Gibson), Tej Parker (Bridges), Han Lue (Kang), and Ramsey (Emmanuel), travels to Rome. As the mission is going on, a wounded Cipher (Theron) arrives at Dom’s home and informs him and Letty that Dante Reyes (Momoa), the son of drug lord Hernan Reyes (the bad guy from Fast Five), has stolen her team and is out for revenge on Dom for his father’s death. They call Little Nobody and he says there is no Rome mission, and Dom and Letty realize that Dante has set the team up. They rush to Rome to warn everyone and try to stop whatever he has in store for them.

 

Letty attempts to break out in her chucks.

 

In Rome, Dante lets a giant rolling bomb loose in the streets. The team works together using “car-fu”, and eventually Dom is able to drift it into the Tiber River, minimizing the damage. However, this race through the city leaves Letty arrested and the rest of the team in hiding. Agent Aimes (Ritchson), the Agency's de facto leader since Mr. Nobody’s disappearance, thinks that Dom and his team are responsible for the bombing and brands them as criminals. Back in LA, Dom and Letty left Little B with his aunt Mia (Brewster), but they are soon ambushed by Dante’s goons. Dom and Mia’s brother Jakob (Cena) jumps in to rescue them, and once they are safe, he takes Little B to a secret hideout in Portugal, where they will wait for Dom. With his team scattered across the globe, marked as the Agency’s most wanted, and a madman one step ahead of them at every turn, it will take all the power of family available to save Dom and the gang.

 

Roman’s leadership leads the crew to some weird places.

At this point, we all know what we’re getting when there’s a new Fast and Furious movie: cars, death-defying stunts, and a total lack of respect for physics. F9 really stretched the boundaries of one’s disbelief though and contained the most ridiculous scenes in the franchise. The lackluster plot didn’t help matters, and this left many to wonder if the series had finally jumped the shark. Fast X is a step in the right direction but this series still has problems. On the positive side, the action continues to be very fun, and in this film, it has at least a small tether to reality. Jason Mamoa steals the show as the big bad in this one, playing Dante as cartoonishly evil and flamboyant in a way you don’t see in big action movies like this anymore. It’s refreshing from the rest of these movies where the villain has been stoic and menacing. John Cena’s turn from villain to one of the family is a bit weird though, as we don’t really see him make up with Dom. He just shows up and suddenly he’s smiling “Uncle Jacob” to everyone despite having tried to kill most of them in the last movie. Through all the enjoyable moments though, this film doesn’t feel like it has much purpose. The Fast franchise had what would’ve been a perfect ending three films ago, but instead these films continue on. There is no overarching story, no plot keeping these characters on this journey. They exist only because the movies make money, and there is no way the next, and supposedly final chapter in this saga will finish the story in a satisfying way.

Best Chucks Scene

Cipher and Letty are both dressed head to toe in white including their chucks.

 

While Ramsey wears black high top chucks for pretty much the entire movie, the best chucks scene in the film comes when Letty and Cipher are held captive by the Agency. After Tess (Larson) comes to Letty in her cell and tells her that she’s working to get her out, Letty wakes up on an operating table next to Cipher. We see that they are dressed head to toe in white prison garb, including monochrome white chucks. Cipher does some hacking on a panel that’s on her bed and is able to release knockout gas in the room that has all the agents in it. She releases herself and Letty, telling her this is all part of the escape plan. However, Letty still hates her due to the whole trying to kill Dom thing in the last few movies, so she attacks Cipher and they have a fight throughout the room. They do judo throws, and pro wrestling moves, and eventually throw each other through a glass window. The scene is staged really well and the white ensembles give great contrast to the flashing lights in the room and the blood that is drawn.

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