Fast X is now out in theaters and after nine movies and one spinoff film, a lot of viewers may be thinking that Fast X is a film that is fairly family-friendly – but then, they haven’t yet met Dante Reyes (Jason Momoa). As the hype for Fast X clearly says, Jason Momoa’s Dante is both the major highlight of Fast & Furious 10 and possibly the best villain the franchise has produced.
Dante Reyes certainly has some of the most memorable scenes in Fast X – and not always for the right reasons, either. One scene of Fast X is so outlandishly gruesome and disturbing it feels like something out of a horror movie, rather than a Fast & Furious movie!
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(WARNING SPOILERS FOLLOW)
In one side scene that will probably be known as “The toenail scene,” we find Dante at a hideout working on the next move in his chess-like revenge scheme against Dominic Toretto and the Fast Family. The scene starts out depicting what looks to be Dante having a cocktail and a spa day, wearing a flamboyant robe and doing some pedicure work, with a couple of “friends” around. However, when the camera pulls back it’s revealed that Dante is actually conversating with a couple of corpses – two poor, unfortunate, guards he taped up and murdered (not necessarily in that order). The scene shows the dead men with their mutilated faces and eyes taped open, some frozen drinks taped to their hands, while Dante paints their toenails. Eventually, the madman gets up and makes his exit, leaving the “party” behind.
As stated, this scene is pretty far-out for a Fast Saga movie. In fact, it was a scene that director Louis Letetrrier thought would never make it into the finished film – until they started testing it with audiences:
“We wanted to see Dante behind closed doors and realize that he is really twisted. It’s not just an act,” Leterrier told THR. “So we shot that scene, but we thought it would be a DVD extra at best or in the director’s cut version later down the road. So we started testing the movie without it, and then we started testing the movie with that scene. And the audience went crazy for it. Some were angry and some loved it. And frankly, it was the studio’s [Universal Pictures] Donna Langley who watched the scene and said, ‘I love it. I love the insanity of that scene.’ And so she gave us the OK.”
Langley’s decision was on the mark, as the “toenail painting scene” is probably one of the biggest reasons that Momoa’s Dante is getting compared to the likes of Heath Ledger’s Joker in The Dark Knight. Thankfully, Momoa doesn’t follow so many other actors in trying to ape Ledger’s Joker voice, cadence, or mannerisms; he makes Dante his own flamboyant, psychopathic delight and cements his place in the line of great movie villains.
“I went in with a certain idea of how I wanted to play this character and everyone really got behind it,” Momoa told Digital Spy. “The more you play and with the help of [director Louis Leterrier], who I want to work with for the rest of my life, he did a phenomenal job, and he just encouraged me to play more. I wanted to make a character who is… to me, the devil is something that lures you in, it has this inviting feeling and you trust it and the next thing you know, you’re on the dark side. I wanted to make him very approachable with the colors, and when you got really close enough to see his eyes, you’re like, ‘F**k, I’ve been tricked, this is the devil’ and he’s gonna have fun hurting you.”
Fast X is now in theaters.
