Vin Diesel's Fast X & Jason Momoa as the Antagonist Dante
Updated: Mar 3
As was revealed at the beginning of February 2023 in the release of Fast X trailer, Jason Momoa was cast as Dante Reyes, the son of Hernan Reyes, the late main antagonist from 2011’s Fast Five. After many years of planning Dante is now ready and out for revenge against Dom Toretto and his team.
We already explore Dante's character in a previous blog but due to the intensity and many layers of this character' personality deserves a deeper talk.
Shortly after the Fast X trailer premiered, Louis Leterrier opened up about why Jason Momoa’s character was connected to Fast Five, noting that how there’s a “price for justice” and a “price to Dom’s choices,” and Dante Reyes exemplifies that. Leterrier more recently described Dante as “total chaos” to Total Film and talked about how “obsessed” the character is with Dom. In his word:
Dante is in awe of Dom. He’s analyzed him. There’s nowhere to hide, because he knows Dom better than he knows himself. Dom truly meets his match with Dante. Family goes both ways. There’s family on your side. There’s also family on the other person’s side. When the family that was your super-strength becomes your Achilles’ heel, it’s where you’re going to get wounded the most.
Family has been the driving theme (pun fully intended) of the Fast & Furious franchise since the beginning, and as we hit the tenth installment in the main film series, Dom has assembled a large lineup of people who will have his back no matter what. The downside is that with so many people he cares about, that just gives Dante Reyes more people to target.
As Louis Leterrier revealed, Dante Reyes has extensively studied Vin Diesel’s character and the people in his tight-knit circle, so he knows those weak points to hit. For the first time since the beginning of the saga in this trailer we saw Dom's sadness and concern when talking to Letty, he lets her know his worry and fear of losing someone he loves. Just with this line we are able to understand that the size of his opponent Dante Reyes, supperates Dom's spectations. And honest to God I agreed with Dom's fears, after all we saw in the trailer when Dante Reyes broke into the cyberterrorist Cipher's base of operations, defeat her and took her prisoner with such fury that Cipher couldn't do anything to avoid his attack.
And with the same angry and demonic attitude, Dante also took Letty prisoner in one of his clashes in the streets of Rome. Ending up with both ladies confined in the same laboratory, fighting among themselves like rabid cats...hmm, wait a minute! maybe at this point we found another cross over lines changing sides, if to escape Dante's kidnapping, Cipher and Letty unite their forces against him. Wow, can't wait!! ...I am officially counting the day to watch this fantastic premier. 🤗
If you would like to read a complete article about the new antagonis Dante Reyes in Fast X, please double click the logos below.
Fast X’s Director Hypes Up Jason Momoa’s New Villain And His Connection With Dom
Louis Leterrier Teases a War Brewing in 'Fast XI'
Fast X Director Explains Why Jason Momoa’s Character Is Connected To Fast Five
During the same "trailer release event" director Louis Leterrier also mentioned that he brought Fast X back to earth, confirming with his comment that only Fast 9 took the team to space. So we can expect massive action and destruction during the whole soon outcoming Fast X film, as much or more as we saw during the 4 minutes in the trailer presentation.
"You need to step it up," the filmmaker explained to Esquire Middle East. "What I wanted to do on this one, because it’s very much my style, was to ground it more in reality. I wanted to — no pun intended — land it back on Earth. They went into space in number nine, and I was like, 'Okay, they went to space, there’s no way I can top that.’ But what I can do is do stuff that we’ve never done before practically, such as rolling a one-ton bomb — an actual one ton metal ball in the streets of Rome, and hope not to destroy the Colosseum."
He continued: "Obviously we had visual effects help, but we just needed to keep everything grounded in the practical. The visual effects were mainly for safety and scope, but we needed the basis to stay in our reality. Without that, it would become too much. I wanted it to feel like Fast 1, Fast 3, and Fast 5 — movies that feel grounded. That is my style, and everyone accepted that, so everyone was really on board. Everyone was excited to re-explore physical stunts."
