Warning: Contains spoilers for Fast 9
Vin Diesel and Michelle Rodriguez in Fast 9 / Picture Credit: Universal Pictures
The Fast and Furious franchise has been around since 2001, with the movie focusing officer Brian O’Conner (Paul Walker) and Dom Toretto (Vin Diesel), and the impressive cars they drove. Now, it seems that the franchise has donned a flair for the dramatic, and that doesn’t appear to be changing...
Fast 9 hit cinemas recently, releasing in June of this year (2021). The movie caused a stir among fans to say the least, as the new instalment challenged what is realistic within the franchise, and what is downright ridiculous.
The ninth film in the series saw an abundance of unbelievable stunts, including seeing Tej (Ludacris) and Roman (Tyrese Gibson) go to space (in a DeLorean), Han (Sung Kang) came back to life, and some pretty questionable events involving a magnet took place.
While the movie was enjoyable and comedic, it seems that despite these crazy stunts and plot points, Diesel still wanted to bring out a serious and action-packed movie; unfortunately, the latter was all he managed.
Fast and Furious 10 is set to release in two parts, with the tenth and eleventh features bringing the long-running franchise to an end. However, these films may not mean saying goodbye to some cast members, as there are talks of spin offs; namely for Fast and Furious 8 villain, Cipher (Charlize Theron).
The franchise is beloved by many fans, as the first few films held more of a focus on cars, action, and deep, thoughtful plotlines centred on the belief of family. This isn’t to say the Fast and Furious series lacks any kind of intrigue, but it seemed as though people went to the cinema to see Fast 9 out of disbelief of the trailer, not because it teased a decent movie.
In spite of this, the ninth film made $681.5 million at the box office, which of course cemented the choice to make more movies.
The end of Fast 9 saw Han visit Deckard Shaw (Jason Statham), looking more than angry; it could be that this interaction leads into the next two movies, and even if not, it will definitely be brought up.
The franchise has definitely changed over the years, but this doesn’t seem to be phasing fans; while some stunts and narratives within Fast 9 may cause you to do a double take, you cannot deny that it was entertaining.
Diesel seems to still hold the belief that this franchise has a serious, grounded atmosphere; if that was the case, it must be shattered by now as in Fast 9, Roman brought up the idea that the team are “superheroes”, mentioning how they never get hurt, despite all the gunfights, explosions, and displays of genuinely unbelievable physical strength...
Whatever the next two movies hold, we will be right there with the crew witnessing the end of a long-running franchise.
Fast and Furious 10 is rumoured to hit cinemas in April 7th, 2021, and while we wait for official details, we can always speculate as to what the next two movies will hold.
Written by Melissa, who you can follow on Twitter @melissajournal