'Fast X' has been released worldwide, announced as the first part of the two- or three-film finale of the Toretto family's adventures. Our review looks at how the franchise meets old age.

Several years have passed since the events of the previous film, and our heroes are still doing well. They are all together, they are family, they drink beer and listen intently to the toasts of the Toretto family matriarch (the great Rita Moreno as Dominic's grandmother). Everything falls apart that fateful night when Cipher (Charlize Theron) appears on Dominic's (Vin Diesel) doorstep asking for help — a strange, evil psychopath named Dante, played by Jason Momoa, has taken her life's work (some nefarious organization) from her. And he, Dante, wants to kill Toretto, but not just kill him — he wants to take away what is most precious to him: his family. Is it that simple? Not really. It seems that over the three parts awaiting us, he won't be able to accomplish this difficult mission.

Roman Kovalev

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It is pointless to recount the further plot of the tenth 'Fast & Furious'. Suffice it to say, probably, that the main trope is that family is both Dominic's strength and weakness. At some point near the beginning, Toretto saves the Vatican, and closer to the finale, an uncle and nephew, laughing heartily, drop bombs on people from an armored SUV. Honestly, practically nothing remains of the 'Fast & Furious' that half of Russia was fanatical about in their youth — the one where nitromethane can only be in the tank of a ricer; the one where a car is more precious to a racer than life (though the camera, with the same observational focus of a preoccupied seventh-grader, still concentrates on rear ends). 

And this, it must be noted, looks increasingly strange. Not even because the rest of the time the screen is filled with crosses and symbols of faith, but because 'Fast & Furious', having exhausted all modern genres, has finally arrived at the main one — the evangelical, as if this were a live-action 'Cars', which for some reason director Rossellini was called to shoot. Dominic is called a saint, the antagonist Dante is constantly surrounded by flies and corpses and generally tramples on faith. At one point they try to blow up the Vatican, at another the sea overflows its banks (and in the next part it simply must part for Toretto), the dead are resurrected, the living seek redemption. The bushes are practically the only thing not burning, but everything else burns just fine.

The religiosity of the Toretto family has grown from a meme into something more. Dominic can't turn water into Corona beer yet, but that's only for now. The situation is complicated by the fact that the villain Dante prepares trials for the hero of the New, so to speak, Testament straight from the Old. Will the sea part? Will the firstborn survive? Is an exodus possible? Can an old Dodge outrun the Leviathan?

Being literally the same age as the century, 'Fast & Furious' has veered off somewhere along with it — the zest of the prosperous 2000s gave way to a sad uncertainty about tomorrow, dubious theology, and a blown-up dam. From a story about friendship and betrayal, it has come — through a heist film and an adventurous spy action movie — to a superhero saga: there are more heroes here than in 'The Avengers'; more absurdities than in 'Justice League'; and all of this, generally speaking, comes with jokes in the spirit of the film 'Kick-Ass'. This same trajectory is also seen in casting decisions: rappers Ludacris and Tyrese, who were brought on board in '2 Fast 2 Furious', are already fighting Aquaman in the tenth, and they are helped by Captain Marvel. 

This reckless, in the spirit of the best scenes of 'Fast Five', chase for money has led the franchise to a rather strange place, of course — there is truly a chasm between the first and tenth films, and only now, it seems, have the creators realized this. And now, like any franchise, closer to the finale, 'Fast & Furious' tries to say something not only about its characters, but about itself. You wouldn't expect anything else from a film where a third of the runtime is taken up by Vin Diesel's monologues about family. 

Did it succeed? It's not entirely clear, because there are still about six hours on the same topic ahead, and the tenth part is more of an introduction to the issues. However, already in this brisk, rushing film, as if with nitromethane finally poured into the tank, you feel more than ever that there's no need to rush, that in the main race, reaching the finish line essentially means dying. 'Fast X' is an elegiac film, a film about fatigue.

And although the screenwriters' sources of inspiration seem stuck in a strange place between 'The Autumn of the Patriarch', 'The Memoirs of Moominpappa' (honestly, half the stunts are from there), and 'American Pie', the heroes of 'Fast & Furious' already look back without much irony and bend unnaturally under the weight of their own glorious past. Now that everything has already happened, what could lie ahead? Only eternity. That's what Vin Diesel thinks about, even in bed with his wife, kissing his crucifix.

He is, in fact, tired, just as Ludacris and Tyrese are tired, as even Helen Mirren is tired, who seems to have nowhere left to spend the money she saved up from her cameos in bad films. In one, in its own way sad, scene, she tells Diesel with longing in her voice: 'This isn't 'Roman Holiday', and you're no Gregory Peck.' And it's hard, really hard to argue with that. Looking more and more like Shrek, of course, than Peck, Vin Diesel doesn't even try. 

And really, why bother. What 'Roman Holiday' with its awkward fight and scooter ride as the main attraction? The stakes here are certainly higher, and every scene is, generally speaking, a reason to run to the cinema. So, towards the end — an announcement of some of the numerous delights that everyone who bought a ticket can enjoy. And even those who didn't buy one can enjoy them too. 

A giant bomb rolls through Rome in the style of the fifth part. Pete Davidson plays a cheerful stoner (himself, basically). Nathalie Emmanuel drives a truck. Brie Larson pulls a cross out of her sleeve and jokes about beer and barbecue. Actor John Cena watches the cartoon 'Minions'. Charlize Theron fights Michelle Rodriguez (and you can tell there's pent-up frustration). Jason Momoa paints his bodyguards' nails. Vin Diesel cries. The Toretto family is compared to a cult with cars (which is generally accurate). The police, as is somehow customary in this franchise, die literally in droves, while the tuned cars with their tuned drivers race on — down, up, forward, backward, towards each other, towards death, victory, eternity, the eleventh part. The main thing is that it happens. And that we are still around by then.