Fast X launches to poor reviews and a very low Rotten Tomatoes score

Fast X launches to poor reviews and a very low Rotten Tomatoes score. Yikes!

The Fast and Furious movie franchise has been around for over two decades. It started off with quite humble beginnings when the emphasis centred on street racing, action and family. To be fair, the latter is still true because protagonist Dom is all about family.

However, as the series progressed, it had to pull out all the stops to stay relevant to ensure that every movie release contributed to the whopping $6 billion that the franchise has generated. What’s more, with the hint of at least two more movies, it seems that the franchise won’t be slowing down anytime soon.

This meant that with every release, the stunts and set pieces were more outrageous than the last. For starters, despite years of humouring the franchise that it will end up in space, that actually happened in Fast 9. So at this point, before the franchise is totally over, can we expect to see time travel and dinosaurs? As ludicrous as it sounds, I wouldn't rule it out.

That being said, judging by the Fast X trailers, it seems that the latest movie is a little more grounded. Well, I say “grounded”, but we’re talking Fast and Furious standards here. So with that in mind, would the more grounded approach be enough for Fast X to be another box office smash?

It’s more than likely that Fast X will be making millions at the box office, but that doesn't always mean good reviews. Case and point the Resident Evil movies directed by Paul W. S. Anderson that combined generated over $1 billion at the box office.

Unfortunately, the reviews for Fast X are going live and it doesn't make for good reading for Dom and his family. At the time of writing Fast X has scored just 57% on Rotten Tomatoes. It’s too early for the audience reviews to go live, but it will be interesting to see the comparison.

It’s perhaps worth keeping in mind that the previous movie, Fast 9 scored very similar with 59%, alongside the audience score of 82%. Perhaps the audience will rate Fast X in the same ballpark, only time will tell.

In related news, it’s been revealed that Fast and the Furious’ Vin Diesel, Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson and Jason Statham all had an ‘equal pain’ clause in their contracts. What’s more, Diesel has also compared the Fast and Furious franchise to J.R.R Tolkien’s The Lord of the Rings. Yes, really.

Fast X releases in cinemas this week on Friday, 19 May 2023.