F9 The Fast Saga

At its very best, there's something positively life-affirming about F9, the fifth Fast & Furious movie directed by Justin Lin.

Man, it's fun! Partly that's because the action set pieces, if not quite up to Mission Impossible or MC Universe standards, really are choreographed with flair.

The action is either funny or dull. It's never gripping or genuinely exciting. So to give it heft, they keep going back to the once thing Vin Diesel does...an extravagantly stupid collection of bits.

This is a franchise where the cars matter as much as the people. The script, by the director and Daniel Casey, does not waste time on conversations.

If you can stomach the macho melodrama, these movies are ridiculous big-screen ballets, with cars shooting out of skyscrapers and airplanes, that at their best are the right kind of stupid.

They ask [Cena] to brood too much. They ask him to feel too much... he can't do it the way Vin Diesel has now figured out how to over the course of his career and these nine movies.

F9 is pretty good fun, perhaps because it rarely slows down, except to make the odd joke about road safety.

This is a movie that openly engages the viewers’ sensation more than their intellect. And in that regard, the film largely succeeds.

When car mayhem and traveling to space become dull, you know you've made a wrong turn.

While not the best in the franchise, it truly might be the wildest. It’s entertaining, it’s stupid, but it’s got family. Family is the heart & soul here once again