F9, yes, the ninth installment of everyone’s favorite family-centric saga of street-racers-turned-international-agents-of-espionage, is somehow both exactly as ridiculous as expected and even sillier than anticipated. This makes the movie simultaneously ludicrous over-the-top escapism and tediously overwrought nonsense drama. It’s a strange duality. We’ve come so far from the days of hijacking shipments of DVD players.
A magnet car, a jet being taken out by a truck, beefy dudes brawling, talk of family, a long-dead character brought back to life, a flying Pontiac Fiero? All of this taken together can only mean one thing: there’s a new F9 trailer and it’s even more bonkers than you thought.
So, I finally saw Star Trek Beyond this
weekend (just a wee bit late, I know). While I’m too lazy to write a real
review—and who the hell cares this far after the fact—it’s a damn fine time.
Not the best movie of the summer by far, it’s still in the upper echelon as far
as big-budget studio blockbusters go—though that’s admittedly not the highest bar
this year.