Fast & Furious 9 Review: 5 Ups & 5 Downs

More than a year after it was originally due to release, the ninth mainline entry into the so-called "Fast Saga" is finally here - Fast and Furious 9 aka F9.

By far one of the year's most anticipated blockbusters - and saddled with the baggage of being "the film to save cinemas" - F9 unites a mammoth ensemble cast with the series' most accomplished director to date, Justin Lin, who helmed films three through six.

F9 is a fascinating and often riotously entertaining film, albeit one which might signal the franchise finally driving itself headlong off a cliff.

Absurdity is par the course for the series at this point, but there's a strange feeling of arbitrary emptiness to many of the ninth film's shenanigans.

Despite taking the action quite literally out of the stratosphere this time, and flooding the screen with a top-notch ensemble cast, the film feels painfully lacking in the area most fans claim they don't care that much about - the script.

From a narrative perspective, this is the ropiest the series has felt since it was reinvented with Fast Five an entire decade ago.

While F9's energetic thrills will ensure most fans aren't turned off completely, it does suggest it's perhaps time to start shifting the gears back down for the series' allegedly final two installments...