The 9th edition of the Fast and Furious franchise which was released across US and Europe on June 25 has been creating records everywhere with massive collections at the box office.
The pandemic era witnessed the record-breaking box office collections in the US which were put at $70 Million at the North American box office during the weekend according to The Hollywood Reporter.
This replaces the earlier pandemic-era record holder A Quiet Place Part II, which grossed $57.1 million in the first weekend. F9 : The Fast Saga is now on the track to become the first film to touch $100 Million mark at the US box office during the Covid-19 pandemic which is a healthy and encouraging sign for the upcoming films that are ready to hit the theatres soon.
Fast & Furious 9 starring Vin Diesel, John Cena, Nathalie Emmanuel, Sung Kang, Tyrese Gibson, Chris ‘Ludacris’ Bridges, Charlize Theron, Jordana Brewster, Michelle Rodriguez, Helen Mirren, and Kurt Russell was directed by Justin Lin who earlier helmed Fast and Furious 3-6 and also Star Trek Beyond had a run time of 145 mins. and was rated 5.5 on IMDB.
While F9 is raking in box office collections, it has been receiving mixed reviews, prominent among them is from Simran Hans in The Guardian, “Vin Diesel back at the wheel of an overheated vehicle….There’s a tongue-in-cheek attitude towards the silliness of the series’ death- (and logic- and gravity-) defying stunts. “How are you still alive?!” gawps tech whiz Tej (Ludacris) as buddy Roman (Tyrese Gibson) emerges jelly-legged from a car wreck. It’s a question I’d also like to ask after their trip to space in a modified Pontiac Fiero”.
Similarly, some of the top critics seems to be not amused by the jaw dropping action scenes and stunts as K. Austin Collins from Rolling Stone concludes with a rating of 2/5, “F9 gets bogged down. Way, way down. It becomes a lot of movies at once. Some fly, some don’t, but the sum effect is that it winds up spinning its wheels, its hyperkinetic delights awash in too many strands of background drama”.
Peter Travers of ABC News too was quite skeptical, “As usual the plot is stupid beyond saving, but the vehicular action is insanely entertaining. That’s a fair tradeoff for the adrenaline junkie in all of us who only wants Vroom cranked up to 11. Consider it done”.
Adam Graham of Detroit News has put it point-blank, “The franchise is now showing signs of engine trouble”.
So it’s quite evident from all these reviews that Fast and Furious 9 was loaded heavily with more action and nothing but more action, as a result, those who want full-throttled action will like this film immensely but for all others, it could be a speed breaker on the long highway ride.
