F9: The Fast Saga Review

There is a sequence toward the beginning of F9: The Fast Saga where Tyrese Gibson’s character Roman improbably survives several near-death experiences in quick succession. Shaken up, but completely unscarred, he wonders aloud if it’s possible that he is something beyond human and therefore incapable of dying. Although his teammates simply laugh it off, this thought sets in motion what essentially becomes Roman’s arc throughout the movie: grappling with his own immortality. This is obviously a humorous meta-commentary on how over the top the franchise has become, but it’s handled with such sincerity through Roman that I can’t help but think “Yeah. He’s probably right. I don’t think these people could die if they wanted to.”

Fast and Furious is a ridiculous series. What started as a simple Point Break rip-off about street racing has blossomed into a billion-dollar franchise about international super-spies routinely stopping the apocalypse. In the first three films, characters get injured and even die as a result of their actions, but by this ninth installment, it is clear that no matter how absurd the stunt may be, Vin Diesel and company will walk away without a scratch. And the thing is I kind of love that about these movies. Of course they go to space in this one. The Fast Saga has evolved into Universal’s answer to The Avengers. The Family are now superheroes and there is nowhere to go from here but (literally) up.

This latest installment sees Vin Diesel’s Dom Toretto face off against his previously unmentioned younger brother Jakob (John Cena) who has teamed up with franchise supervillain Ciper (Charlize Theron) and a crew of random Eastern European bad guys to steal the McGuffin and end the world. This leads Dom and the gang on a globe-trotting adventure where they team up with old friends from films past, and truly push the limit on how indestructible they are. One character, in particular, fan-favorite Han (Sung Kang), even returns from the dead after a two-movie absence. Granted, as a fan of the series I was excited to see the character return, but even to me they seemed to be pushing things a little too far to resurrect him. I won’t spoil any details the trailers haven’t given away, but it seemed to me on my initial watch of the movie that Han had simply decided not to die in those earlier films, and is therefore back from the dead. 

Han’s storyline seems to go hand in hand with Roman’s epiphany in the first act: Death just isn’t a possibility for these characters. By this point in the series, we have seen Han explode in a fiery car crash from several different angles in several different movies. F9 however, explains that we actually didn’t and everything is fine. All the characters just accept this new development with a smile, with the exception of Roman. He’s still haunted by his survival and has some follow up questions to which he never really gets an answer. Roman is the first of these characters to become self-aware, and he is terrified by it. During one truly incredible sequence in the climax of the film, he explains that if their genuinely preposterous plan works, he will take that as proof that he is an unkillable metahuman. Not to get into spoiler territory, but the movie then resolves itself in a way that undeniably implies that he is at least partially correct. It’s great.

This movie takes the franchise to such extreme heights, the team’s plan truly expands beyond our atmosphere. And the thing is, if any other series of movies tried any of the nonsense they pull in F9, it’d be such a shark jump that there could be no recovery. But much like its lead cast of characters, the Fast & Furious saga emerges from these wild stunts unscathed. There’s something about the series veteran director Justin Lin’s vision for Dom’s family that I just can’t look away from, no matter how dumb things get. If you enjoyed any of the last six movies in this franchise you won’t be disappointed by F9. However, if you prefer your movies to be coherent stories with human characters who use dialogue to propel a narrative plot, this just simply isn’t for you. It’s kind of critic-proof in that respect. No matter how brainless these films get, they possess a very specific charm which appeals to their audience no matter what. You can either get on board with that or not. Personally, I’m very much on board.