The Fast & Furious franchise’s evolution from street-level pulp to gravity-defying superhero movies with cars is perhaps the smartest decision any studio executive has made in the history of cinema. Case in point: The first trailer for F9, the ninth installment of the popular series starring Vin Diesel, Michelle Rodriguez, and John Cena.
If you were wondering how this next film would top Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson man-handling a torpedo during a high-speed chase on ice, well, you’ll have to wait for the moment Diesel catches a whole car with his body… while engaged in a high-speed chase on top of a moving vehicle. It’s kind of like catching a baseball but definitely more painful.
The anticipated trailer also reveals that Cena’s mysterious master thief, assassin, and high-performance driver — making his Fast franchise debut — is actually Dom’s brother Jacob. And according to Charlize Theron’s Cipher, he’s been pushing himself to be “faster, smarter, and stronger” than Dom his entire life (inferiority complex, much?), which makes him a compelling foe for the 1327 crew.
Speaking of the family, F9 will also feature the long-awaited return of Sung Kang’s Han, who was “killed” at the end of 2006’s Tokyo Drift and whose death was depicted again at the end of 2013’s Fast & Furious 6, a prequel to Tokyp Drift. Han’s homecoming comes after the #JusticeForHan movement took off on Twitter. For a franchise about the power of found family — and cars — Han’s return is a welcomed surprise. As for what he’s been up to this entire time, well, that’s still a mystery.
Maybe he’s just been living his life a quarter-mile at a time in Bali.
F9 crashes into theaters May 22, 2020.
