The little street racing movie franchise that could is about to get its ninth installment. Tenth if you count Hobbs & Shaw. (It says Fast and the Furious Presents after all, so I say it counts!) The trailer for F9 has now arrived, just in time for the Super Bowl, and it has all the ridiculous car action and crazy stunts that fans have come to expect from this series. By the way, the series is now officially known as “The Fast Saga.” I guess now that it’s reached middle age, it’s a little less “furious.”
It looks like for this ninth installment of the long running series, Vin Diesel‘s lead character Dom Toretto will be fighting his until-now unknown sibling, who will be played by none other than John Cena. Cena’s addition to this series seems like the biggest no-brainer in Hollywood history. And it looks like his character receives assistance from The Fate of the Furious’ villainous Cipher, once again played by Charlize Theron. All the over-the-top stunts and scantily-clad women you’ve come to expect from this series are on full display in this first trailer. It looks like Fast fans will be getting their money’s worth, and then some.
Universal Pictures
And yes folks, at the very end of the trailer, we see the return of fan-favorite character Han Lue (Sung Kang), who is somehow alive again. For anyone who complains about Han having died, just remember that the Fast and the Furious franchise has become nothing if not one big soap opera with a gas tank. And nothing is more soapy than characters miraculously coming back from the dead.
Universal Pictures
This latest installment was filmed all across the globe, which is only fitting as this series has become one of the biggest franchises at the global box office in history. The movie was filmed in the United States, the United Kingdom, Scotland, Georgia, and Thailand. Justin Lin, who directed Tokyo Drift, Fast & Furious, Fast Five, and Fast & Furious 6, considered by most fans to be the peak of the franchise, returns to helm this latest installment. This fact alone should have Fast and the Furious fans jumping for joy.
Universal Pictures
Next year, the series’ tenth installment is supposedly coming to theaters, just in time for the franchise’s 20th anniversary. It’s hard to believe that the third movie in this series almost went straight-to-DVD, and now a string of movies once about street racing is one of the most popular (and diverse) big-screen blockbuster movie franchises ever. Although the upcoming tenth installment is said to be the last one, I have a hard time believing that Universal is willing to pull the plug on their biggest cash cow. Let’s keep making Fast & Furious movies until Vin Diesel and the crew are old and grey… they’ll probably still look chiseled and fantastic.
F9 stars Vin Diesel, Michelle Rodriguez, Tyrese Gibson, Nathalie Emmanuel, Chris “Ludacris” Bridges, and John Cena, with Jordana Brewster, and newcomer Cardi B. Fast 9 arrives in theaters on May 22, 2020.
Featured Image: Universal Pictures