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

Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse - 2/5

This movie is directed by a completely different team than the first film and it shows. There’s a noticeable ‘woke’ filter over everything, but even putting that aside the film has some huge flaws. It’s a 1.5 hour movie stretched out into 2.5 hours by sloppy, repetitive dialogue and a bloated script. The villain is pretty good in theory but overstays his welcome by the end, let alone anticipation for the sequel. The art styles in the first film were varied but each one was tight and well-crafted; here, most of the art styles are sloppy to the point of being unappealing and hard to read. The editing here also loses all finesse from the first film, layering audio and visual information on top of itself in a confusing, distracting mess. Some of the fights had a few good moments, though.

Closest comparison: It’s like Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse gone the way of Legend of Korra.

Setting: Super hero
Plot: Sci-fi
Tone: Comedy

Fast & Furious (2009) - 3/5

This fourth entry in the Fast and the Furious saga seems like one of the weakest links at first blush, but there’s more to it than that. The story structure is some of the best in the series, unfolding the narrative with solid plot points and earned reveals. However, this is also the first movie of the bunch to start getting crazy with the over-the-top stunts and Mission: Impossible-level tech. It maintains the fun and flaws of the rest of the series, so fans will already know what to expect and everyone else won’t have gotten this far.

Closest comparison: It’s like the plot of The Third Man by way of Vanishing Point (1971).

Setting: Suave Crime
Plot: Undercover Detective
Tone: Action Thriller