Fast X Review: 5 Ups & 5 Downs

4. The Cast Is (Mostly) Wasted

Fast X of course rocks one hell of a distinguished cast, even adding two more Oscar winners to its roster with Brie Larson and Rita Moreno, but ultimately the script strains under the weight of accommodating its colossal menagerie of characters.

For starters, the Family are split off into their own delineated subplots for most of the movie - Tej (Ludacris), Roman (Tyrese Gibson), Han (Sung Kang), and Ramsey (Nathalie Emmanuel) are off on their own excursion; Letty (Michelle Rodriguez) and Cipher (Charlize Theron) spend two-thirds of the movie trapped in a prison; Shaw (Jason Statham) rocks up for a rushed 10-minute cameo; and Rita Moreno and Helen Mirren are only here for quick perfunctory monologues.

Aside from Jason Momoa's scene-stealing performance as villain Dante Reyes - something we'll get back to shortly - and Brie Larson clearly having fun as Mr. Nobody's (Kurt Russell) daughter Tess, it feels like most of the ensemble isn't given much of interest to do, instead simply going through the tedious motions.

Keeping the key players at arm's length from one another does rather undercut the series' emphasis on family, so hopefully the upcoming closing installments might place a greater focus on the heroes banding together in a single location.