Tis Me Michelle

Am I a Fast & Furious fan? Eh, I don’t know about that. I know I’ve seen at least one of them… At this point have any of us not? It’s impossible to not have watched one of the bazillion of these movies. I’ve definitely not kept up with them, but I’m pretty sure I’ve seen one or 2 of the earlier movies. Did I watch this movie because Jason Mamoa seemed like he was wonderfully unhinged in this movie? Yes, yes I did. Cinemark has $5 movies on Tuesdays, so I had a nice lil movie day.

Listen, I went into this movie fully expecting it to be cheesy and ridiculous. I knew I wasn’t going into a cinematic masterpiece, and I was okay with that. I went in to just have a good time and really… laugh. I totally did. With a lot of plot holes or just being grandeur for absolutely no reason. It all stacks up to what I expect for this franchise.

I’ll start off with the pieces I wasn’t a huge fan of. This franchise obviously has many key players, with many people coming and going over the years. A lot of things seemed unnecessary. For example, Brie Larson’s character Tess plays an existing character’s daughter. First of all, I don’t recall Mr. Nobody (her dad), because I don’t watch these movies like that, but also he’s not in this movie. I don’t know if he’s ever alluded to having a daughter before or not? I felt like if she was not in the movie, it would have made no difference. The character didn’t add anything. And I love Brie Larson, so I was expecting more.

Then Letty’s (Michelle Rodriguez) storyline, a key player, she’s essentially siloed from the rest of the crew. And it just seemed, again unnecessary, especially where she ends up. The movie ends on a cliffhanger. I found out after watching the movies that there are going to be more (what a surprise), so I can only make some calculated assumptions. Similarly, Dominic (Vin Diesel) was completely separated too. The main crew was just too split apart and not the unit I would expect them to be.

There were a few of the characters who were together: Han, Ramsay, Roman & Tej. I’ve noticed this in Marvel movies as well, I much more enjoy ensemble casts playing off of each other rather than being siloed. I always enjoyed the Avengers movies much more than the individual character movies. I absolutely loved the goofiness and banter between Roman (Tyrese Gibson) & Tej (Ludacris). It feels both like this is a ridiculously long franchise and they are having fun with it now + they are comfortable with each other and bickering like close brothers would. It was incredibly cheesy, but some of my favorite parts of the movie. The best part of ensembles and franchises like this are the fact the actors are so familiar, like family, with each other that their energies feed off of each other. I wanted a lot more of that.

Back to the main event. Jason Mamoa as the cutely unhinged Dante Reyes. I’ve only seen Mamoa in Game of Thrones, and honestly, I can’t speak much about his acting. I really just recall him being a very large, quiet warrior man standing by the wonderful Emilia Clark. So I really don’t have a sense of his acting abilities. I don’t know if I can say anything more about it now. It felt like he was having a blast and so I had a blast watching him. He played into the goofiness, masked as craziness, which I absolutely loved. One of the reasons I went to watch the movie was because he got some comparisons to the Joker from Batman, and I could totally see the influence, whether intentional or not.

I can’t not talk about STYLE. I want his whole damn wardrobe. Whoever styled him, please, I am in need of a personal stylist! The flowy pants, satin tops, the PURPLE. I freaking loved it all. Is there an outfit breakdown in some magazine someone can send me? I’d highly appreciate that. I acknowledge he’s a gorgeous man, but I don’t think I was a fangirl until this movie. Again, he didn’t have much of a personality in Game of Thrones. So seeing this side of him was very welcome. I still won’t be watching Aquaman though.

My rating may be a bit higher than most. I really have no attachment to this series and thought there were a lot of plot holes and nonsense. I was also completely engaged and had a good time watching it. It’s a fun movie, just don’t take it too seriously.

Stars: ⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️