Fast X Ruins Dante’s Plan With Gisele’s Return
Written by on May 28, 2023
The following contains spoilers for Fast X, now playing in theaters.
One of the things Fast X promised was a lot of casualties. It’s a smart move that makes Dante Reyes (Jason Momoa) a very intimidating villain in his The Fast and the Furious franchise debut. After all, he wants revenge for Dom’s crew killing his father, Hernan, in Fast Five.
In Fast X, Dante does raise a lot of hell, reminding the Fast & Furious street racers about consequences for one’s actions. It leads to a series of heartbreaking deaths in the finale, with Dante using a secret ally. However, a stunning resurrection in the final scene undoes all of Dante’s work from a creative standpoint. This effectively makes Dante a less threatening villain, capping the film in an underwhelming manner.
Fast X Resurrects Gal Gadot’s Gisele Yashar
Louis Leterrier’s Fast X has a shocking ending with Gal Gadot’s Gisele arriving in a submarine to help Letty and Cipher escape their prison in Antarctica. They’ve been placed there by the Agency head, Aimes, who’s allied with Dante. The problem with Gisele showing up is it means the deaths from the previous films can be easily nullified.
John Cena’s Jakob (or Uncle Muscle) smashes his car into Dante’s goons, causing a big explosion. Aimes also shoots down the plane containing Han, Roman, Tej and Ramsey. But with no bodies seen, and Gisele popping in up North after what seemed to be a definitive death in the sixth film, it feels like they’ll all return. Fans would remember how Gisele sacrificed herself to save Han, falling off a jeep and on the tarmac at high-speed. The movies thereafter even confirm she died.
In Fast X, Gisele looks fresh, has no scars and is smiling, ready for action. Sadly, this twist trivializes the concept of mortality, which isn’t what the film should be touting. It devalues Dante’s mission, leaving the clock ticking down until the others most likely appear unscathed from the war. Sadly, this doesn’t put Dante on the same level as Thanos and Darth Vader as a dangerous villain, as fans just won’t expect his hits to stick.
Fast X Should Have Hidden Gisele’s Return
Gisele’s return also doesn’t feel original, mimicking when Han came back, as well as Letty. A better approach would have been to just show Cipher and Letty opening the escape hatch at the prison, wondering why their pick-up hasn’t shown up. This would have added more intrigue and suspense on the same level as a dam about to blow and drown Dom and his child. Another strategy could have had Cipher touting she had a trump card, with the masked person not being shown to viewers.
Letty’s shocked face as the final shot would have worked just fine to spark speculation as to who this mystery hero was. With theories running wild for months, Gisele could have then been revealed in trailers. This way, the time in-between would provide loyalists time to soak in the havoc, guessing who else Dante’s team could kill. More so, fans would believe that the deaths, at least Jakob’s, is lasting. Unfortunately, by killing characters and literally showing someone who survived an impossible fall, Fast X reiterates that unless there’s a corpse, there’s a chance of resurrection.
To see how Gisele Yashar returns, Fast X is now playing in theaters.
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