F9: The Fast Saga - 2/5

This movie is a tired retread of worn-out over-the-top melodrama. The action scenes are mindless fun, but the story is sub-par, even compared to other entries in the series. Surprisingly, driving a car to space is not the most unrealistic thing that happens in this movie, and the script goes out of its way to justify the logistics of it to the audience. What was more distracting to the story was the comic relief character’s meta commentary through-line about how none of the main characters in this franchise ever seem to get seriously injured.

Closest comparison: It’s the Fast and the Furious where they drive a car to space.

Setting: Action
Plot: Action
Tone: Action

The Suicide Squad (2021) - 4/5

This movie is a tour de force rebuttal to its previous installment. It’s a colorful, blood-spattered comedy corral, with a plot that actually works and consistent stakes. It retreads some story beats from the first installment but improves them just to flex. It takes bizarre situations and obscure characters, then injects them with pathos and treats them with more care than the rest of these non-MCU superhero cash-grabs.

Content warning: Gore

Closest comparison: It’s like Guardians of the Galaxy by way of Deadpool.

Setting: Military
Plot: Super Hero
Tone: Dark Comedy

Bumblebee - 4/5

I had disregarded the series after the second installment, but when I saw that this was not directed by Michael Bay I decided to watch it. This is what the Transformers movies always should have been. It’s fun and heartfelt, following a smaller story but with big action scenes. Sure, there’s too much “mean is funny” and some contrived character conflict, but it doesn’t detract too much from the movie as a whole. It all comes down to Bumblebee’s relationship with Hailee Steinfeld’s character, and they did that very well.

Closest Comparison: Transformers (2007), done better.