Even giant magnets can’t quite attract enough enthusiasm for this latest installment of the Fast and Furious franchise.
Alright, before I begin, I have to say that I absolutely love movies and always try to see the good in everything. And the Fast and Furious franchise is one of my absolute favorites! Heck, I even watch the animated series Fast and Furious: Spy Racers, because I want to know ever little detail about this world. But F9: The Fast Saga kinda broke my heart a little. Let’s dig into this dysfunctional family.
The Director
First thing to note is that this entry sees the return of one of its past directors, Justin Lin, who directed: The Fast and the Furious: Tokyo Drift, Fast & Furious, Fast Five, and Fast & Furious 6. Hearing that he was returning to the franchise made me really excited! There’s this great special feature titled A Day on Set with Justin Lin and I have to say this guy is a mad man! While shooting he was only getting 3 hours of sleep at night. Not only was he making this monster of an action movie, but my man Lin still found an hour every day to workout in the gym. I work from home and I have put in 20 hour days myself, and do you know what the last thing on my mind was? The gym!
The F stands for Fam… er… Flashbacks
F9 starts off a little different than previous installments, as we open up in 1989 with Dominic Toretto (played by Vin Diesel in present day and Vinnie Bennet in the flashbacks) as a young man. Within this flashback we meet the Toretto father and get our first glance of Dom’s little brother, Jakob Toretto. For me, I feel a little torn with the flashbacks. It is cool seeing these early days – and the way it looks and feels very much like an older movie – so I immediately felt like I was back in time. The beginning actually reminded me a lot of Ford vs. Ferrari (if you have not seen that check it out!) It was interesting seeing this whole flashback dynamic in the film, because it laid out a bunch of backstory to set up the relationship between Dom and Jakob – and how Dom believed that Jakob sabotaged their father’s race car, which ended up killing papa Toretto. But every time we would flash back to these scenes throughout the movie, it felt more like a stall to fill time than information I needed. I am glad we got that opening set up, but then it continually went back to 1989, which was filled with nothing but drama. Yes, these movies are overdramatic but there is so much fun to be had, but the flashbacks sucked all the joy out of the room. While I understand the point of them, these scenes took me completely out of the movie every time.
But the F is also for Family
Which brings me to Jakob Toretto, played by John Cena. First I have to say, welcome to the family Mr. Cena. Jakob shows up in F9 completely out of nowhere – no mention in any previous movie – but when he enters the scene he enters with style! The Fast and Furious franchise is a soap opera, so Dom having a long lost brother show up out of nowhere … hell yeah, I am all in for this! Jakob not only is Dom’s brother, but as the story progresses, we learn that he use to be an agent for Mr. Nobody (Kurt Russell) – a special ops leader who was introduced in Furious 7 – who now employs Dom and his crew for missions. Jakob is an incredibly strong force so having that personal connection to Dom really raises the stakes for his character as well as the inner turmoil within Dom.
The Gang’s All Here
What works super well about this movie is the stylized action and its balls to the wall ridiculousness! Jakob proves to be a very formidable foe for Dom and the crew. But also, MAGNETS! Magnets are used so much throughout this… From picking up cars in mid air, to using them as weapons, as well as pulling a vehicle through a building … It was awesome! We also have the return of most of the crew which showcases the amazing dynamic between all of these characters. First off, we have our crew from The Fast and the Furious: Tokyo Drift back! Lucas Black, Bow Wow, and To Jun Wai return as Sean Boswell, Twinkie, and Earl, respectively. I will admit that Tokyo Drift is my least favorite in the franchise, but seeing them now as part of the crew really made me excited.
*** SPOILER WARNING ***
Justice for Han
And now for the big return; Sung Kang is back as Han Lue! A little backstory, just in case, Tokyo Drift was the third movie in the franchise that was released, but takes place after Fast & Furious 6, and plays into the beginning of Furious 7. Han Lue was first introduced in Tokyo Drift, and while in Tokyo, he stole cars from the Yakuza. When the Yakuza found out what Han had been doing, a high speed/drifting chase ensues through Tokyo, but it does not end well for Han. He is hit by a car and killed in a terrible accident. At the end of Tokyo Drift, we find out that Han actually use to ride with Dominic Toretto’s crew, so for the next three movies we get to know Han even more, since they take place before he died. Once we reach the end of Fast & Furious 6, Han is off to Tokyo and before the credits roll we see the Yakuza chase scene again, but after the crash and as Han dies someone appears showing that he was actually targeted by someone we have never seen before, and the crash was not an accident. Deckard Shaw (Jason Statham) killed Han as a message/warning to Dominic Toretto. So now back to F9 we find out that Han wasn’t actually killed and that he was working for Mr. Nobody. And Mr. Nobody made Han’s death look real, even though Han is still very much alive. Confused yet? Yeah, so am I. I’ve watched the scene a few times and I still don’t understand how that whole scenario works. But I have to remember that this is a soap opera and even though I don’t understand it, I am happy that Han is back, baby!
What Didn’t Work
Here we are at what did not work at all for this movie. The action is ridiculous, yes, but it gets to a point where the crew has been found by the bad guys which leads to a chase scene underground – and our heroes have a very decent head start – but then Dom pauses and looks at his longtime girlfriend Letty (Michelle Rodriguez), points to his heart, and says, quote: “I am always in here.” Dom then closes an armored door and begins to fight ten or more henchmen. Dude! I get you are the star of this franchise and you had to show off your strength, but you totally had this! There was no reason for you to turnaround *insert major eye roll here*. So Dom ends up “sacrificing” himself and as he is “dying” he has a flashback/dream sequence that is so weird and does something that I hate in movies: having someone physically see the truth of a memory from a different point of view. So in this overly dramatic “death scene,” Dom sees that Jakob didn’t actually kill their father, but that Jakob was only sabotaging their fathers race car because their father asked him to in the first place. I am glad Dom trusts Jakob now, but the way it was executed was really ridiculous.
More Over the Top Moments
The big thing that bothered me, though, was Roman (Tyrese Gibson) bringing awareness to himself and believing he is invincible…? I get that this is a movie, but do not bring attention to something like that – it does nothing more than completely pull me out of the fantasy and make me remind that: yes, I am watching a movie. But all this talk about thinking they are invincible brings us to this great speech by Roman where he says, “maybe we are not invincible, maybe we are just lucky.” With the music swelling, it could have actually been a very powerful moment, but the momentum is stripped away by cutting to the fight happening on the ground, where everyone is fighting on this tank that is upside down while speeding down the road … where I couldn’t help but laugh. Oh yeah, and Roman has this speech while he is in flying a car in SPACE! Yes, they actually go to space in this … *insert another eye roll.*
Easter Eggs & Hat Tips
Before I wrap this up I want to talk about some of the very odd things I noticed in here. First did you notice that Earl is dressed very similar as Marty McFly?
There is a lot of Star Wars talk and comparison in F9 as well. First, when we see Dominic and Letty in present day near the beginning of the film, they are at this cabin in the middle of nowhere and they see a car coming down the road. They hide Dom’s son, little Brian, in this bunker and all I thought was: “this exactly like the opening of Rogue One: A Star Wars Story.” And later on there is this very odd scene where Cipher (Charlize Theron) and Jakob’s new boss have this very odd back and forth about Star Wars. Don’t get me wrong, I love Star Wars, but are they trying to imply this series is on par with or has become the next Star Wars?
Conclusion
Overall this movie didn’t feel very consistent and was a bit all over the place tonally. Something I was NOT expecting, as part of watching this, was the void I felt by not having Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson in this chapter. Because of that I do worry a little bit for the future of this series. This was the first movie in the series since Hobbs’s entrance in Fast Five that he was not a part of the action. I heard that he will only be moving forward in his role as part of the Hobbs and Shaw spin offs, but I really hope we see him again in the future with Dom and the crew.
Rating
As a huge fan of this series, would I watch it again? Absolutely! But probably never on its own, only in a series rewatch. Even though this one did feel like a real dip in quality, I am still very excited for the future and I cannot wait for anything Fast and Furious related. I will rate this 4.5 outta 10.
Now let’s all get together for a family cookout with good food and some corona (the beer, not the global pandemic virus) in hand!