F9: The Fast Saga
Universal Pictures | Release Date: June 25, 2021 CRITIC SCORE DISTRIBUTION
58
METASCORE
Mixed or average reviews based on 54 Critic Reviews
Positive:
22
Mixed:
30
Negative:
2
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Critic Reviews

Critic scorePublicationBy date
83
The PlaylistDrew TaylorJun 3, 2021
It’s hard to argue with too many of the decisions considering what a fitfully entertaining and satisfying entry it really is. This is a movie stuffed (perhaps overstuffed) with moments that will make you gasp, giggle and applaud, whether this is your first “Fast and Furious” movie or you’re a longtime fan. Read full review
82
The Globe and Mail (Toronto)Barry HertzJun 24, 2021
F9 is a welcome blast of fizzy action glee. You won’t come out of it a better or smarter person – quite possibly dumber! – but you will leave satisfied that your summer movie season wasn’t a completely life- and joy-less bore. Read full review
80
VoxAlissa WilkinsonJun 29, 2021
It might be the most perfect Hollywood summer blockbuster ever made. Not the best, mind you. Read full review
80
The GuardianPeter BradshawJun 25, 2021
This deafening fantasia of internal and external combustion delivers outrageous action spectacle magnificently divorced from the rules of narrative or gravity. . . . I think we can include Isaac Newton among the people who are getting their asses kicked here. Read full review
80
IGNKristy PuchkoJun 24, 2021
Justin Lin knows exactly what makes a great Fast & Furious movie. He’s directed several. For the latest, he re-teamed with cast and crew to allow this fantastic film series do what it does best. He delivers bold plot twists, grit-teethed gravitas, and out-of-this-world action to create the kind of cinematic spectacle that demands to be seen on the biggest screen with the loudest sound system possible. Read full review
75
ObserverOliver JonesJun 24, 2021
Even the film’s copious weaknesses are a reason to smile, taking us back to both the series’ B-movie roots and to less fraught periods in our lives. Read full review
75
San Francisco ChronicleMick LaSalleJun 23, 2021
A movie can’t just be crazy, lest it go off a cliff and never land. It also needs a human core, and Diesel and Rodriguez are it. Read full review
75
The Seattle TimesKatie WalshJun 23, 2021
In F9, bonkers on top of bonkers results in a truly delightful and vividly sensorial time at the movies. Read full review
75
RogerEbert.comMatt Zoller SeitzJun 22, 2021
The action set-pieces are thrilling and intentionally hilarious, though the digital effects and compositing vary in quality. Read full review
75
TheWrapAlonso DuraldeMay 18, 2021
For audiences who want their 2021 return to the multiplex to deliver big, loud, exciting action, F9 makes the cars go fast, jump high, and generally do the impossible. It’s exhilaratingly ridiculous, yes, but it’s also ridiculously exhilarating. Read full review
71
Paste MagazineJacob OllerJun 24, 2021
It’s not a great standalone entry into the Fast canon, but as the franchise speeds towards its finish line, it’s still satisfying to know that it’s in the hands of someone well-versed in the series’ strengths and still willing to imagine new ways to crash its toys into each other. Read full review
70
PolygonMatt PatchesJun 25, 2021
The bloat that makes this chapter unsuccessful has nothing to do with cartoon action — Lin gets it, and it’s often spectacular. It’s that, with Diesel’s Dom in the driver’s seat, F9 doesn’t choose a lane Read full review
70
New York Magazine (Vulture)Alison WillmoreJun 23, 2021
To watch director Justin Lin, who returned for F9 and the two subsequent films that will close the series out, wind things back to the start is to feel blessed relief that this improbably good gearhead daddy-issues opera may very well stick its landing. Read full review
70
UproxxMike RyanMay 25, 2021
As long as these movies keep their earnest, fun, ’90s action movie tone, there is no ridiculous plot point these movies could come up with I wouldn’t believe. By this point they’ve earned that. They are family. Read full review
70
Screen RantMolly FreemanMay 25, 2021
F9 returns to the heights of Lin's best Fast & Furious franchise films, combining big heart and bigger action while deepening its themes of family. Read full review
69
CNETRichard TrenholmOct 8, 2021
Fast! Furious! Family! Vroooommm! Read full review
67
Entertainment WeeklyDarren FranichJun 23, 2021
F9 sure sounds like a lot of fun. Why is it only a little fun? Read full review
63
Chicago TribuneMichael PhillipsJun 24, 2021
While I wish the story and the banter had some snap (Groot had better dialogue, speaking of Vin Diesel movies), and while I wish the electromagnet-derived mayhem in F9 led to a truly magnetic movie, sometimes good enough is enough. Read full review
63
Boston GlobeMark FeeneyJun 24, 2021
Usually loud and almost always ridiculous, F9 is action-packed enough to make your carburetors seize up. Read full review
63
Slant MagazineJake ColeJun 23, 2021
At its best, F9 delivers the most spatially coherent, dynamic car scenes in the series to date. Read full review
63
USA TodayBrian TruittJun 22, 2021
These movies are best when marrying James Bond high jinks with their longtime emphasis on the strength of family, plus a serving of macho philosophy on the side. F9 tries to goose that template exponentially with soap opera and a greatest-hits package to craft the ultimate "Fast and Furious" movie, instead succeeding at making one that's merely fine. Read full review
63
The Associated PressJake CoyleJun 22, 2021
Much of F9 is kind of a slog. There are some not very dynamic car chases, a lot of flashbacks, ho-hum villains and an oddly prominent role for magnets. But when Taj and Roman reach zero gravity, the movie finally takes flight with goofy grandeur. Read full review
60
The Observer (UK)Simran HansJun 27, 2021
Prior acquaintance with the eight previous instalments of this colossal action movie franchise isn’t necessary for enjoyment of this one – the film’s muscle cars and maximalist approach continue to serve it well. Read full review
60
TimeStephanie ZacharekJun 25, 2021
Just as the dessert topping you scoop out of a tub may contain only trace amounts of actual cream, the ninth installment in the Fast & Furious franchise, F9: The Fast Saga, isn’t so much a movie as an entertainment product. There’s nothing wrong with that, as long you know what you’re getting, and there are even some pluses. Read full review
60
The Irish TimesDonald ClarkeJun 25, 2021
It really isn’t worth trying to keep up. Immerse yourself rather in the sillier stunts and the genuinely sparky interplay between committed action stars: Michelle Rodriguez, Tyrese Gibson, Jordana Brewster, Cardi B (!). Read full review
60
ABC NewsPeter TraversJun 25, 2021
As usual the plot is stupid beyond saving, but the vehicular action is insanely entertaining. That’s a fair tradeoff for the adrenaline junkie in all of us who only wants Vroom cranked up to 11. Consider it done. Read full review
60
Film ThreatAnthony Ray BenchJun 25, 2021
Fast 9: The Fast Saga is a stupid, stupid movie. It lacks the fun and humor of some of the better entries, and it also lacks in the character development department. Read full review
60
Wall Street JournalJoe MorgensternJun 24, 2021
F9 makes a mockery of itself before anyone else can—it’s a gleefully shoddy goof on a pseudo-epic scale. Read full review
60
The New York TimesA.O. ScottJun 24, 2021
The director Justin Lin, happily brandishing all the expensive digital tools at his disposal, makes “F9” feel scrappy and baroque at the same time. The identity of the brand rests on twin foundations of silliness and sincerity, both of which are honored here. Read full review
60
The TelegraphRobbie CollinJun 24, 2021
When the film gets up to speed it remains dependable fun, but the steering’s spongy, the acceleration sluggish. The journey continues, but the saga is running out of road. Read full review
60
Los Angeles TimesJustin ChangJun 24, 2021
What Lin restores in this mostly solid entry (which he co-wrote with Daniel Casey, both stepping in for longtime series screenwriter Chris Morgan) is a sense of emotional continuity. Read full review
60
Vanity FairRichard LawsonJun 23, 2021
F9’s attempts at classical drama, all its reckoning with dynastic sin, do weigh the thing down quite a bit. Those going to the theater simply for the kicky, bad-joke, MacGuffin charms of F&F may find themselves a little bored and distracted, as I was, by all the turgidity. Read full review
60
Total FilmJordan FarleyJun 22, 2021
Justin Lin gets the series back on track with Fast and Furious 9 by delving into the past while racing into the future. See it on the biggest, loudest screen possible. Read full review
60
Arizona RepublicBill GoodykoontzJun 22, 2021
Is it a ridiculous movie? Of course, that’s the point. Yet it’s still kind of fun, and it all but insists that you enjoy watching it. Read full review
60
ScreenCrushMatt SingerJun 15, 2021
Even as it takes Fast and Furious to literal new heights (and marks a significant improvement from The Fate of the Furious), F9 never tops the franchise’s best entries. It’s simply too complicated and too long to surpass something like Fast Five. Read full review
60
EmpireJoshua RothkopfMay 25, 2021
Course-correcting to some degree with the return of its most inspired director, Justin Lin’s latest F&F instalment is a little too plastic at times, but back on track. Read full review
60
SlashfilmHoai-Tran BuiMay 25, 2021
After the empty soullessness of Fate of the Furious and the ribald nonsense of Hobbs and Shaw, F9 feels like Lin is pulling the franchise back on track. Whether that track is properly placed or not, or whether it’s actually a track that takes you off the deep end…well, your mileage may vary. Read full review
60
Screen DailyTim GriersonMay 18, 2021
Gloriously ludicrous and stridently melodramatic, F9 is fuelled by its own goofy energy, delivering comically grandiose chase sequences and shameless fan service all in the name of giving audiences an uncomplicated good time. Read full review
58
The A.V. ClubJesse HassengerMay 25, 2021
The movie’s deference to Diesel’s whims, sincerity, and ego all at once is part of its charm—though perhaps a smaller share of it here than in the past. Read full review
58
IndieWireDavid EhrlichMay 18, 2021
This is a movie that sling-shots so far past self-parody that it loops all the way back to something real. Read full review
50
Rolling StoneK. Austin CollinsJun 28, 2021
It becomes a lot of movies at once. Some fly, some don’t, but the sum effect is that it winds up spinning its wheels, its hyperkinetic delights (all I’ll say is: magnets) awash in too many strands of background drama. Read full review
50
ReelViewsJames BerardinelliJun 28, 2021
Are you weary of the high-octane, CGI-heavy action offered by the Fast and Furious series? If so, then it would be hard to find any reason to recommend the film. Read full review
50
The New YorkerAnthony LaneJun 28, 2021
The acting is of a soaring ineptitude; the deeper Diesel emotes, the more he resembles a man who dabbed too much wasabi on his tuna roll. Read full review
50
LarsenOnFilmJosh LarsenJun 27, 2021
Director Justin Lin (making his fifth Fast film) nicely balances chaos and clarity in one early chase scene through the jungle, but later lets the visual bombast take over. Read full review
50
CNNBrian LowryJun 24, 2021
After a year where people could pause and rewind to catch missed dialogue, this is one of those movies where missed lines don’t matter, and the only direction this vehicle goes is forward, even when it’s just spinning its wheels. Read full review
50
Washington PostAnn HornadayJun 22, 2021
If F9’s repetitive stunts-and-speeches structure begins to pall, this is a movie that knows its lane and stays in it, however recklessly. Read full review
50
Chicago Sun-TimesRichard RoeperJun 22, 2021
F9: The Fast Saga isn’t the worst entry in the long-running and popular Fast & Furious franchise, but it just might be the silliest and the loudest and the most ridiculous — and while that might well have been the filmmakers’ intention, it’s not a compliment. Read full review
50
Austin ChronicleMarc SavlovJun 22, 2021
It's overstuffed with all the actors wasting both the viewers’ and the movie’s running time by actually speaking dialogue when we all know that what audiences really want to see is outrageous vehicular slamslaughter. Read full review
50
Movie NationRoger MooreJun 21, 2021
I laughed at some of the lunacy, found myself checking my watch by the third act’s inevitable overkill. But if you can’t see the fun in Helen Mirren taking the wheel of a purple Nobler supercar and one-handing it — backwards — through the darkened streets of Olde London Towne, this isn’t for you. Read full review
50
VarietyOwen GleibermanMay 18, 2021
Considering that F9 is Lin’s fifth “F and F” film and his first one in eight years, it goes through the motions with more energy than intoxication. Read full review
42
The Film StageJordan RaupMay 25, 2021
Slathered in nostalgia for past moments in the franchise yet still introducing entirely new backstories, this humdrum antepenultimate adventure leaves one convinced those steering the series don’t have a firm grasp on where it’s heading. Read full review
40
The Hollywood ReporterJohn DeForeMay 18, 2021
In F9’s would-be showstoppers, the thrills are mostly AWOL or the feats are simply too idiotic to embrace, even guiltily. Read full review
25
New York PostJohnny OleksinskiJun 24, 2021
I don’t mind Diesel and Cena starring in movies like this, because it helps keep them out of other, better movies. But to see folks such as Helen Mirren (doing her weird cockney accent again), Russell and Theron’s talents wasted on such schlock is a shame. Read full review
20
Time OutStephen A RussellJun 21, 2021
It's a bloated two-and-a-half-hour mess. An endless patchwork of weightless, computer-drawn blah and fake out ‘deaths’ that underline the total lack of stakes. Read full review
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