Why Jason Momoa's Fast X Villain Kept Me From Completely Abandoning The Franchise

The Fast & Furious franchise has continued to see diminishing results over the past several entries, but it was Jason Momoa’s incredible villain turn in Fast X that kept me from completely abandoning the action franchise altogetther. Given how absurd Fast & Furious has become as a series, it’s remarkable that it started out relatively low-key, a turn-of-the-millennium film revolving around street racers who are attempting to hijack electronic equipment from trucks. By F9, the Fast crew is going into space.

Fast X isn’t a particularly great movie, but it features one of the best villains in the entire Fast & Furious franchise, Dante Reyes, played by Jason Momoa. In fact, his performance is one of the highlights of the Fast & Furious franchise as a whole, creating a villain that marches to the beat of his own drum, separating himself from the plethora of villains that came before. He is a revelation in Fast X, and deserves to be recognized among the greats in the franchise.

How Jason Momoa’s Villain Goes Against The Franchise Norm

Dante Reyes Is Much More Flamboyant Than What Came Before

The Fast & Furious franchise has largely been marked by the hypermasculinity of its villains, pushing our car-driving heroes to the brink throughout each increasingly bonkers installment. For the 11th film in the Fast & Furious franchise, Fast X tries something a little bit different, enlisting the talent of Jason Momoa to play a much different type of villain than what came before.

Compared to villains like the Shaw brothers or Herman Reyes, Momoa’s Dante Reyes is much more out there in terms of mannerisms, flamboyantly strutting through each scene with reckless glee. Momoa is a big man, routinely playing very cool characters in blockbuster action films.

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He still remains cool in Fast X as Dante Reyes, but he is also channeling just how funny he is as an actor, chewing up every scene with impeccable comedic timing and not being concerned with how silly he might be coming across at any given moment. Dante Reyes is flamboyant. He likes to paint his nails lavender and pink, and wears his hair in space buns every once in a while. It is a much-needed change of pace compared to the self-serious villains of previous entries, and it works so well because of how talented Momoa is.

Jason Momoa Is Having The Time Of His Life In Fast X

Momoa Definitely Understood The Assignment

Dante (Jason Momoa) riding a motorcycle in Fast X

When Jason Momoa is allowed to run loose with a character, he embraces it 100%, and his role as Dante Reyes is easily the most “out there” he has ever been as an actor. It is clear that Momoa is having the time of his life in Fast X, realizing just how fun these movies can be when they don’t have to take themselves so seriously. In fact, it’s possible that Momoa is the only actor in the film who knows just how silly the franchise has become, and it feels like he approaches his character with that knowledge.

Jason Momoa being so over-the-top compared to almost everyone else in the movie is what makes his performance so good, actually.

It certainly feels that way to me, as Momoa is easily my favorite villain in the franchise despite not necessarily caring for the film as a whole, and even where the franchise has ended up. Even so, Momoa being so over-the-top compared to almost everyone else in the movie is what makes his performance so good, actually. Perhaps it is because it was his only appearance in the Fast & Furious franchise, but Momoa feels like he genuinely loves being there, compared with the weariness other actors carry themselves within the later entries.

What Jason Momoa Has Said About Playing The Villain In Fast X

It was “The Funnest Role” Of His Career

jason momoa lavender car fast x

After being in other major franchises like Game of Thrones and the DCEU, it felt like it was only a matter of time before Jason Momoa would appear in a Fast & Furious movie, given how much he physically feels like he fits right into that masculine world. In an interview with Rotten Tomatoes, Momoa claimed that Dante Reyes was probably “the funnest role I’ve ever played.” This definitely comes across during every scene he has in Fast X, truly setting himself apart from other villains in the franchise and even most of the other characters he has played in his career.

It feels like Jason Momoa is channeling the same type of energy in his appearance in the upcoming Minecraft movie, which continues the fun detour that his career has taken.

One defining trait of Momoa’s villain in Fast X is how much style the character has and how it informs who he is as a person and an adversary. In an interview on our site, Jason Momoa really opened up about how he wanted to portray Dante Reyes, even down to the wardrobe choices for the character throughout the film, stating:

I really weigh heavily on wardrobe and props. It’s my lack of acting skills where I really need their help. I really built a lot of this wardrobe with obviously a costume designer, but just had a lot of ideas, what I wanted.

I feel like Flip, Trish had that all pretty much dialed, but I didn’t want it to come in with a lot of colors. I really was inspired by pastel colors. I wanted something that was warm and inviting and then when you got close to him, you were just like, “That’s the devil and the devil tricked me.” So that was kind of the whole idea.

Further along in the interview, Momoa dove into the psyche of Dante Reyes as a character, giving a rather insightful glimpse at the man underneath all the glamour and quirkiness, highlighting the driving, obsessive force he carries himself with while trying to take everything away from Dom Torreto, stating:

You sit in your imagination and you come from a crime family. My father was taken from me and then everything was taken from me. So not only that, but all our money. He was left to defend for himself in Brazil. He just spent a good part of his life just obsessing about Dom and having that revenge. So someone who’s just had everything taken from them, he just wanted to hurt him in the worst way and take away that legacy of his.

Obviously, it’s his child and break his family apart. So I don’t know. I feel like if you studied someone that much, you actually want to be them, and you love them, and you want to wear their skin and become that. You just kind of play it that way and you can emotionally, anything can come out. It can be funny, it can be sexy, it can be scary, but at the root of it, I’m going to wear your skin.

Jason Momoa’s Villain Breathed Some Life Into A Diminishing Franchise

The Fast & Furious Franchise Needed Jason Momoa

Jason Momoa in Fast X

The Fast & Furious franchise is one of the longest-running movie series with each entry being in the same continuity, starting over two decades ago with The Fast and the Furious in 2001. Since then, the franchise has grown into 10 main entries, and one spin-off, with most movies in the series seeing a significant amount of success. Still, 11 films in a single franchise is a lot and since its 2015 peak, both critically and financially, with Furious 7, each subsequent film has seen diminishing returns, signaling that the end of the franchise could finally be approaching.

A composite image features a closeup of Vin Diesel as Dom in the Fast and Furious franchise over the cast of Fast X

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Jason Momoa as the villain single-handedly brought me back on board with the franchise, infusing the movie with more life and energy than it otherwise would have had. It isn’t a great (or even good) movie by any means, but it is a lot more fun than the previous two installments, and it is all thanks to the charming nature of Dante Reyes. Unfortunately, it is unclear if Momoa will reprise his role as Dante in the 11th installment of the Fast & Furious franchise, despite not having a clear narrative ending for the character in Fast X.

I don’t think I will ever get over how amazing Momoa is as the villain in Fast X. His flamboyant demeanor and over-the-top antics made for some of the most entertaining moments, not only in the film but the entire franchise. I would be on board for the Fast & Furious franchise to continue churning out movies if Jason Momoa became a staple of the franchise, which doesn’t feel likely, given that Fast X might very well be his only appearance.