The Fast and The Furious Rides Again

Jason R. Sakurai
by Jason R. Sakurai
the fast and the furious rides again

The ninth Fast and The Furious epic was announced during Super Bowl LV in typical Fast fashion, with an over-the-top trailer to herald yet another chapter in a franchise where the stars outgrew the cars central to the theme.

Living in L.A. and working in the automotive industry, my connection to the original film was through a number of friends involved in the production. RJ DeVera, who had already developed a reputation for creating some of the most stunning and innovative show cars, played the part of Danny Yamato. Craig Lieberman, whose Supra became immortalized, served as technical advisor. Scott Centra, who worked for Wings West, a manufacturer of body kits, also had his Volkswagen Jetta in the film. Nitrous Oxide Systems, which was founded by Mike Thermos, had as big a part as any vehicle, coining the phrase, NOS, for the use of nitrous injection, and as a part of car culture going forward. It was their creative energy brought to the production that made the movie more exciting, and successful.

Fast and The Furious has been around for two decades, long enough to inspire a legion of fans and aspiring racers. Worldwide, it has earned more than $5 billion. This time around, Vin Diesel’s character, Dom Toretto, is living a quiet life off the grid with Letty (Michelle Rodriguez), and his son, little Brian. His solitude ends when Dom’s long-lost brother, Jakob, played by John Cena, is about to execute a nefarious scheme that rocks the world, or at least as far as Toretto is concerned.

Jakob’s skills as an assassin, in addition to those as a driver, are the most formidable Dom has ever encountered. To defeat Jakob requires Dom to reassemble his supporting cast, played by Tyrese Gibson, Chris “Ludacris” Bridges, Jordana Brewster, Nathalie Emmanuel, and Sung Kang.

Somehow added to the mix are Oscar award-winners Helen Mirren and Charlize Theron, Grammy winner and Pepsi commercial shill Cardi B, and reggae-rap-hip hop star Ozuna. That Cardi B as Lesya is being introduced as a new franchise character indicates that FF9 is not the end of the road.

F9, The Fast Saga, opens in theaters on May 28th.

[Images: Universal Pictures]

Comments
Join the conversation
2 of 13 comments
  • JMII JMII on Feb 09, 2021

    My wife, who will literally watch anything, couldn't make it thru 10 minutes of the first movie. At this point I believe the "Fast" franchise works the same way Sharknado does - its so bad you have to see the train wreck to believe it.

  • Moparmann Moparmann on Feb 11, 2021

    I was never a fan, and I don't care for the destruction of classic cars. Whatever interest I MIGHT have had in watching (just for the sake of the old cars) was destroyed upon watching a trailer of a high speed, unbelted, head on collision between two cars, and the principals got out and walked up to each other (with NO apparent injuries)!!

  • Probert Sorry to disappoint: https://robbreport.com/motors/cars/tesla-model-y-worlds-best-selling-vehicle-1234848318/and any list. of articles with a 1 second google search. It's a tough world out there - but you can do it!!!!!!
  • ToolGuy "We're marking the anniversary of the time Robert Farago started the GM death watch and called for the company to die."• No, we aren't. Robert Farago wrote that in April 2005. It was reposted in 2009 on the eve of the actual bankruptcy filing.The byline dates are sometimes strange/off with the site revisions (and the 'this is a repost' note got lost), but the date string in the link is correct (...2005/04...). Posting about GM bankruptcy in 2005 was a slightly more difficult call than doing it in 2009.-- The Truth About Calendars
  • Kat Laneaux Agree with Michael500, we wasted all that money just to bail out GM and they are developing these cars in China and other countries. What the heck. I understand the cheap labor but that is just another foothold the government has on their citizens and they already treat them like crap. That is pretty disgusting to go forward to put other peoples health and mental stability on a crazy crazed, control freak, leader, who is in bed with Russia. Thought about getting a buick but that just shot that one out of the park. All of this for the greed. They get what they lay in bed with. Disgusting.
  • Michael500 Good thing Obama used $50 billion of taxpayer money to bail them out and give unions a big stake. GM is headed to BK again with their Hail Mary hope of EVs. Hopefully a Republican in office will let them go BK the next time, and it's coming. The US economy is not related/dependent on GM and their Chinese made Buicks.
  • MaintenanceCosts "Rural areas hardly noticed COVID at all."I very much doubt that is true in places like the Navajo Nation or the Kenai Peninsula in Alaska, some of which lost 2% or more of their population to COVID.No city had a death rate in the same order of magnitude.Low-density living is a very modern invention. Before cars, people, even in agricultural areas, needed to live densely to survive.
Next