10 Reasons Fast & Furious 9 Is A Cinematic Car Wreck
2. The Action Is Unexpectedly Weak
You'd expect the action sequences to be the main redeeming factor but no, the action in this movie is actually pretty underwhelming. There are two main reasons for this.
Firstly, the stunts and spectacle really aren't all that interesting. Compared to the Rio heist from Fast Five, the tank and runway set-pieces from the sixth film, the many outstanding action sequences from Furious 7 or the eighth film's incredible final act, none of what F9 offers is all that good.
The second reason, very ironically, is that despite being dull these set-pieces are also too ridiculous to take seriously and they break the laws of physics in ways that ensures that there are pretty much no stakes at all.
For example, characters will often fall from huge heights or hit things at high speed but they get up without a scratch, meaning the whole thing feels like a tension-free cartoon. And Dom and Letty's rope bridge stunt was just too stupid even for Fast and Furious.
The previous few films, as preposterous as they all are, still made you feel like the characters were in danger and therefore they were very suspenseful, but there's none of that here. And that leads on to the biggest issue with F9...