The filmmakers did, to the point that “X” marks the spot where the property’s most dependable director, Justin Lin, called it quits.

But “the enemy of my enemy” and all that. Sides are being chosen, and everyone you love will be destroyed,” warns Charlize Theron’s super-hacker Cipher, who was also a villain last time we checked. The villain this time is Jason Momoa’s diabolical Dante, a flamboyant new character whom the best-to-ignore script retcons into series peak “Fast Five,” introducing him as the son of Brazilian crime lord Hernan Reyes, driven by vengeance to make Dominic Toretto (Diesel) and his crew “suffer.”

It’s bad enough that “Fast X” is half a story: an elaborate reunion of all the A-list characters the previous nine movies introduced (yes, all of them), that starts-and-stalls its way toward a cliffhanger. Gearhead philosophy, or “Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance,” served up with popcorn.īut two more movies to finish off this franchise? That’s too much. He’ll squint his eyes, crack that sideways smile and spout something inane (“I don’t have friends, I got family”), and it will sound profound. The producer-star has a way of mouthing off around the release of each new “Fast” movie (remember hints that an all-female spinoff might be coming?), which feels counterproductive, considering that a key part of Diesel’s appeal comes from the rumbling-Harley-voiced actor’s capacity to reduce complex thoughts to terse catchphrases. Why not seven? Or 20 more, for that matter? That might allow Diesel to merge these increasingly desperate sequels with his other running-on-fumes franchise, “XXX.” For the “Fast & Furious” franchise, the studio keeps shoving it farther down the road, at least according to Vin Diesel, who suggested at the world premiere of the 10th installment - a brainless but action-packed thrill ride billed as “ Fast X” - that Universal might split the “finale” over three movies.

The faceless killers