The bro soap opera has taken over. Even for Fast & Furious standards, F9 is bad.

Score: 2/5

It’s pretty bonkers to think that twenty years ago a Point Break-style movie about street racing would turn into a major blockbuster franchise now spanning ten films. It became even more wild after 2 Fast 2 Furious, and absolutely insane by the time Tokyo Drift was released in 2006. At that point, it didn’t look like there would be a time when the Fast & Furious franchise would be a juggernaut, but here we are. I say all of this, but the truth is, I have been a fan of the series ever since director Justin Lin changed the direction of the series from being about street racing to being about the drama of the characters themselves.

It’s been a winning formula to have this family drama soap opera along with wilder and wilder action set pieces that when balanced just right, have made for some dumb popcorn movie fun. At least, that was the case up until Furious 7. The previous Fate of The Furious and now F9 have started a downward trend where the soap opera drama is infecting what fun was to be had with the crazy action.

When a group of street racing criminals suddenly become unsanctioned covert-ops spy teams you know things are going a little off the rails, but when it starts using that as the excuse for, well, any unexplainable something, it begins to get a tad annoying that you actually notice. Whereas in previous movies, you could ignore just how nonsensical things would get, the last two are so in your face your brain is screaming at the screen, “COME ON!” It’s not just the spy excuses, it’s also in the writing. This dialogue in this particular entry just hurts to think about sometimes. One character proclaims that none of this is worth it if the other person dies. To which you have to ask, this is about revenge what are you talking about?

That “What are you talking about?” and “Okay that happened” are thoughts that come up way too often. With all that said, if you turn off every thinking brain cell you have, the action scenes toward the end involving magnets are pretty damn fun to watch. Maybe It’s me. Perhaps I have finally crossed the point where these movies aren’t fun anymore. But in case my tastes haven’t dramatically shifted, I have to be honest, watch something else. If you like this series watch up to seven. It had the perfect ending, and then find pretty much anything else to watch. Don’t be a “well, I watched the others, so I better watch this one” person like I am. It’s not worth it, I promise you.