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10 Played-Out Tropes From The Series That F9 Couldn’t Avoid
To call the Fast & Furious series formulaic would be pointing out the obvious, as the franchise has always relied on tried and tested methods within each release. F9 has continued this practice of featuring tropes that are all too familiar, although it’s entirely possible the movie deliberately didn’t avoid them.
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The story saw Dominic Toretto and his team attempt to stop the Aries device from being activated, all the while being challenged by Dom’s estranged brother Jakob. It’s difficult for blockbuster releases not to fall prey to played-out tropes, in any case, and F9 has several of these that end up forming the entire Fast & Furious experience.
The Hero Is Unbeatable
Although F9 deserves credit for changing Dom’s character from before, the one thing that remained the same was his indulgence in the unbeatable protagonist trope. In all the movies, Dom has fought just about everyone from assassins to special ops soldiers, and now the rogue agent that was Jakob.
During their conflict, Jakob never threatened his brother and looked to escape Dom when he realized he couldn’t beat him. Dom was also unbeatable in driving sequences, having been shown defeating Jakob in the flashback and then using his car to destroy Cipher’s drone attack.
The Sympathetic Villain
This trope is also notably popular in the MCU, which has brought villains like Thanos and Loki for fans to sympathize with. Jakob was given a similar character arc where his role in Jack Toretto’s demise was detailed, showing how Jakob never intended for their father to die.
Jakob essentially wanted Dom’s acceptance and the movie made it out so that Dom came across as being in the wrong for making the wrong assumption about his brother. This trope has become so commonplace that it wasn’t altogether surprising to see Jakob reform by the film’s end.
Overarching Villain Escaping To Fight Another Day
The series indulged in this in The Fate of the Furious as well, where Cipher had escaped in the climax. Along the same lines, she made her exit in F9 when her plan to kill Dom didn’t work out, revealing that she’d been using a drone and was actually safe in a different location.
Rather than have Cipher apprehended or mysteriously disappear, however, F9 chose to invoke this trope. Of course, this was to set up what’s to come in Fast 10, as Cipher is expected to return once again in that movie.
Illogical Character Returns
Blockbuster franchises are always guilty of cashing in on this trope, as fans are expected not to question the logic behind certain things. Han was both in the original series and the reboot, but his chronological death in Tokyo Drift was retconned by the illogical return trope.
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Here, Han explained that Mr. Nobody was the one who set up his death to look like Deckard Shaw had killed him, yet the scene made no sense as Han somehow teleported from the crash to the top floor of a building next to Mr. Nobody.
Sequel Hooks
It wouldn’t be a Fast & Furious movie without a number of sequel hooks, which should be fairly obvious by now after the Hobbs & Shaw spin-off. F9 made no attempt to avoid this trope, as it featured the most plot hooks seen in the series.
Things like Jakob’s time on the run, Cipher’s imminent return, Mr. Nobody’s status, Han’s inevitable confrontation with Shaw, among others, are still on the line to be continued and F9 knew very well that throwing out sequel hooks will guarantee returning fans for Fast 10.
Characters Making Ridiculous Decisions To Fit The Plot
It would be too easy for the plot to end if characters behave rationally, which necessitates the use of this trope, even if it is tiring by now. F9 saw the teenage Dom exile his brother based on the belief that he had harmed their father, something that could have easily been avoided if he’s just talked to Jakob instead.
Similarly, Jakob could have revealed the truth about Jack Toretto’s accident to Dom and avoided living in resentment for the next two decades. In addition, he had partnerships with the likes of Otto, whom Jakob himself clearly saw to be a traitorous character but still decided to trust as the plot wouldn’t have progressed otherwise.
Butt-Monkey Characters
These are the characters who are always the butt of the film’s jokes, with Roman continuing invoking this trope and has done so since Fast & Furious 6. To F9’s credit, the movie did give Roman more to do with the action than before as his and Tej’s adventure in space avoided Aries from being activated.
Joining Roman in this department were Tej and Ramsey, to an extent, as the two also served as comic relief from their lack of prowess in the fighting department. Although their roles were predictable, F9 went with it due to this being the established status quo for the characters.
Protagonists’ Extreme Planning Proficiency
This trope is a favorite for action franchises like Mission: Impossible and Fast & Furious, involving a convoluted strategy where protagonists make it appear as if they’re trapped, only to reveal their own plan against the villains.
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F9 had Dom do this with Jakob by making him believe that the latter’s goons had apprehended him, but later revealed that Leysa and her gang were Dom’s allies all along. This happened in spite of Jakob’s meticulous planning against his brother, as Dom invoked this trope to stay a step ahead.
Stereotypical Happy Ending
It’s actually a trademark of the Fast & Furious series to make use of the stereotypical happy ending trope, as fans know very well that Dom and his crew will settle down for dinner by the film’s end. F9 continued this tradition by bringing the characters together once again.
This time around, the happy aspect came from Han’s reunion with Sean and the others, with the final shot completing the well-meant sentiment. The arrival of Brian confirmed that he still lives within the movie canon, giving F9 perhaps the most heartwarming ending of any movie in the series.
A MacGuffin Steering The Plot
This is a trope the Fast & Furious series has never wanted to avoid, as every movie has brought characters back due to the presence of a MacGuffin. In F9, it was the Aries device that steered the plot, as Jakob wanted to get his hands on it to control the weapon of the world.
The utilization of the MacGuffin trope usually comes about as a way to involve several characters at once without having to give them personal stakes to join the fight. Dom’s crew all got together in F9 with the common goal of stopping Aries, with only Dom himself being independent of the MacGuffin to remain relevant to the plot.
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The 69-Year Story Behind The Fast And Furious Name
Summary
The Fast & Furious franchise started with the 2001 movie The Fast and the Furious and went through several major changes in its sequel titles. The title for the original movie was almost different, with options like Race Wars, but the producer fought for The Fast and the Furious.
As the Fast & Furious series has one of the most recognizable franchise names in cinema, some may be curious as to where its origin came from. The multi-billion-dollar franchise started with 2001’s straightforward street racing movie, The Fast and the Furious, but following that, the series went through several major changes, and that was mirrored in the Fast & Furious sequel movie titles. 2 Fast 2 Furious introduced numbered titles, then The Fast and the Furious: Tokyo Drift immediately dropped that format. The fourquel confused things further with the title Fast & Furious, and it only got more confusing from there. However, every title is still a play on the original 2001 title.
The Fast and the Furious came to fruition following a Vibe magazine article called “Racer X”. Universal had the incredible foresight of seeing how popular street racing would become in the 2000s, and the studio quickly grabbed the movie rights to the article. However, while the movie was originally titled after the article, the studio wasn’t totally satisfied with that name, and many other titles, including Race Wars, were considered. The movie even went into production under the title Redline, but producer Neal Moritz had his mind set on one title that seemed unachievable to get; The Fast and the Furious.
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The Fast And The Furious Is Named After A 1954 Movie
Another movie titled The Fast and the Furious already existed, and it was released almost half a century before the 2001 street racing film was released. 1954’s The Fast and the Furious, written by Roger Corman, has nothing to do with street racing as it exists today. The movie follows a prison escapee who kidnaps a rich woman and steals her Jaguar, then ends up in an epic road race that ends in Mexico. While the title perfectly fits the 1954 film, Moritz was desperate to use the title for his own movie that he was producing, having learned about it after seeing a Roger Corman documentary (via Entertainment Weekly).
Moritz detailed how Universal didn’t seem to be completely on board at first. The producer explained, “I called up the head of marketing at Universal the next morning and said ‘Okay, I’ve got the title: The Fast and the Furious!’ And there was just silence on the other end. I was like, ‘Oh, I guess that is the worst title he’s ever heard.’ However, after mulling it over, Universal agreed, and it worked out perfectly, as the whole world now knows that name and it’s synonymous with the Vin Diesel-led franchise. Movie titles are extremely important, and it’s less likely that the movie would have become a billion-dollar franchise if it was titled Race Wars.
Moritz revealed, “we made a deal with Roger to give him the use of some stock footage that Universal owned.” It isn’t clear if Corman ever benefited financially from that footage. In hindsight, he undoubtedly got a terrible deal. The Fast & Furious name is extremely important to the franchise and has made Universal billions. The name has even been used for spinoffs, and Fast & Furious Present: Hobbs & Shaw wouldn’t have made $760 million without the name attached to it. However, there was no knowing how huge the franchise became. After all, The Fast and the Furious was originally just a scrappy crime movie based on a magazine article.
Source: Entertainment Weekly
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Fast X Video Reveals BTS Of Real, Practical Fights In OTT Sequel
Summary
The Fast X fight between Letty and Cipher was filmed using practical effects, resulting in a well-choreographed hand-to-hand combat sequence full of emotions. Cipher’s decision to team up with Dom and “La Familia” was out of necessity, but spending time with Letty after escaping prison could lead to her becoming a member of the family. Cipher’s unexplored history with Giselle and her association with Letty could help in mellowing down the former villain and potentially setting up a redemption arc or even a Cipher spin-off.
A new Fast X behind-the-scenes video shows how Letty (Michelle Rodriguez) and Cipher’s (Charlize Theron) intense fight scene was filmed. Dom and his “La Familia” returned on the big screen in 2023 for the tenth main installment of The Fast Saga. In a major twist, however, instead of butting heads again with Cipher, the primary villain of the franchise for several recent entries, Letty had to team up with her. That didn’t stop Letty from expressing her true feelings about her when they were both captured by the Agency.
Courtesy of Collider is a behind-the-scenes clip from Louis Leterrier’s Fast X that offers a look at how Cipher and Letty’s one-on-one fight scene was filmed. Check out the video below:
The Fast X fight is arguably one of the best choreographed hand-to-hand combat in The Fast Saga, and it’s all because they filmed it with practical effects. The result, coupled with the history between the pair, is an effective action sequence full of emotions.
How Cipher & Letty’s Relationship Evolves In Fast & Furious 11
Granted that Cipher’s decision to team up with Dom and “La Familia” came from necessity after she was targeted by Jason Momoa’s Dante, spending more time with Letty after escaping prison can lead to her becoming a proper member of “La Familia.” There’s precedent to this, with a few of the recent The Fast Saga villains ending up being redeemed and joining Dom and his crew. This has been the case with Deckard Shaw (despite his attempted murder of Han Lue), and more recently, John Cena’s Jakob, who sacrificed himself in Fast X to save Little B.
Increasing the chances of this happening is Cipher’s unexplored history with Giselle. After she and Letty finally escaped the Agency’s bunk prison, they found themselves in the middle of nowhere. Thankfully, Giselle came to the rescue after Cipher notified her of their escape plan. There has never been any indication that Cipher and Giselle know each other before the massive Fast X twist. Making this more surprising is that Giselle has been believed to be dead for several years now. Her association with Giselle could help Letty mellow down on the former villain when they all return for Fast and Furious 11.
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Perhaps, this unexpected turn could be a set-up for the in-development Cipher spin-off. Specific plot details about the project are currently scant, with Universal still not announcing a tentative release date. Nevertheless, the events of Fast X could be the start of her redemption arc, with her relationship with Letty functioning as a barometer of whether viewers can finally forgive her for all of her transgressions.
Source: Collider
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10 Characters Who Should Be In It
Summary
Michelle Rodriguez’s Letty is the franchise’s biggest female character and the obvious pick to lead the all-female spinoff. Jordana Brewster’s Mia deserves a big role in the spinoff to expand on her character and showcase her growth. Brie Larson’s Tess is needed in the spinoff to explore the mystery surrounding her character and add her engaging screen presence to the team.
The Fast & Furious saga is meant to continue with an all-female-led movie, and casting the returning characters presents exciting options. An all-female spinoff could be the perfect way to continue the Fast &Furious story, as it will be able to retain the elements of the franchise that make it iconic while offering a new perspective. From the beginning, the franchise has been very male-dominated, and told male-centric stories, so offering the high-octane thrills of a Fast & Furious movie from a female perspective could be a welcome change of pace.
The series is known for having an all-star cast, so any female spinoff will have to match the previous films. Thankfully, the franchise already has several incredible female movie stars. Fast X, the latest film in the franchise, introduced and reintroduced some exciting female characters, setting the groundwork for the upcoming Fast & Furious movie. Obviously, whatever happens in the next film will determine who will be on the team and what side they will fight for. The franchise already has a healthy supply of female characters, both good and evil, who can factor into a Fast & Furious female spinoff.
10 Michelle Rodriguez’s Letty Can Lead The Fast Spinoff Ensemble
She’s the franchise’s biggest female character
Michelle Rodriguez’s Letty has been a key member of the Fast family since the first movie, and no female spinoff would feel right without her leading the team. Dominic Toretto’s wife is one of the fastest drivers in the world. Letty has made her way from street racer to international woman of mystery, becoming one of the franchise’s best characters in the process. Rodriguez is an incredibly engaging screen presence thanks to her charisma and action pedigree. An all-female action movie is right in her wheelhouse, making her the obvious pick for the lead in the movie.
9 Jordana Brewster’s Mia Deserves A Big Role
The Toretto family member has been sidelined recently
Another extension of the Toretto family tree, Jordana Brewster’s Mia is Dom’s brother and the wife of Paul Walker’s Brian. Since Walker’s tragic death, as well as the introduction of countless new characters, Mia has been sidelined in recent films, which is a shame because she is one of the best parts of the earlier films. A spinoff with just the women could be a great time to expand on Mia’s character and see how she has grown over the past couple of years, especially now that she is the mother of two. Brewster is an underrated talent, and Mia should be heavily involved in whatever spinoff the filmmakers plan.
8 Brie Larson’s Tess Is Needed After Fast X Introduction
Mr. Nobody’s daughter has a bright future
Fast X introduced several new faces to the franchise, but perhaps most notably was Brie Larson as Tess “Nobody”, a secret agent on a quest to protect Dom and his family. Larson had relatively little screen time in the movie, and her introduction felt like it was mostly included to set up a future spinoff. The Oscar winner is the perfect name to include in a spinoff. Larson is an incredibly engaging and vulnerable screen presence and a great addition to the team. As her family name would imply, there is still a lot of mystery about Tess that this spinoff could explore.
7 Ramsey’s Return Can Give Nathalie Emmanuel A Major Role
The hacker has a growing set of skills
After her first appearance in Furious 7, Nathalie Emmanuel’s Ramsey has been the Fast team’s resident hacker and tech wiz. The Game of Thrones star has mostly been used for exposition and comic relief since joining the team, but Ramsey has a distinctive style and skill set that would make her a great addition to the female spinoff. While Mia and Letty are great drivers, Ramsey has skills in the digital realm that could help the team on whatever mission they are on. It would also be interesting to see how Ramsey functions outside the trio of her, Tej, and Roman.
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6 Daniela Melchior’s Return As Isabel Gives The Spinoff More Legacy
Isabel is the sister of Elena
For a while, Elsa Pataky’s Elena was viewed as an obvious candidate to appear in a Fast & Furious female spinoff. However, after her untimely demise in The Fate of the Furious, her younger sister can fill that void. Another new female protagonist introduced in Fast X, Daniela Melchior’s Isabel also felt like she was included mostly to set up this future spinoff. Melchior is one of the more promising young actors to pop up this decade, and her work in The Suicide Squad proves she is more than ready to have a large part in a team-up action movie.
5 Gal Gadot’s Place In The Fast Spinoff As Gisele Is Likely
Fast X confirmed Gisele is still alive
Gal Gadot made her return to Fast and Furious in the final moments of Fast X’s ending, which confirmed that Gisele is alive after Fast & Furious 6. The character’s return had been speculated for a long time, and audiences should see much more of her now that her fate is confirmed. A Fast & Furious female spinoff can answer lingering questions about Gisele’s life, such as how she survived falling from a plane or what she’s been doing for the last several years. The movie can also finally give Gisele a prominent role in the franchise once again.
4 Charlize Theron’s Cipher Could Play Both Sides In The Spinoff
The franchise’s villain is not to be trusted
In both The Fate of the Furious and F9: The Fast Saga, Charlize Theron’s Cipher served as the franchise’s primary antagonist. While Fast X puts her allegiance into question, she is still one of the best villains in all of Fast and Furious and would make an excellent baddie for the all-women team to go up against. While Cipher could be a reluctant ally to the team, Theron is just much more fun hamming it up as the bad guy, and the film could serve as a fitting conclusion to her movie-spanning scheme.
3 Eva Mendes Can Return As Monica Fuentes At Long Last
She hasn’t been seen since Fast Five
The Fast & Furious female spinoff would also be a great opportunity to finally bring back Eva Mendes as Monica Fuentes. Following her debut in 2 Fast 2 Furious, she returned briefly in Fast Five’s post-credits scene. Eva Mendes has since mostly retired from acting, leaving audiences without a chance to see Monica’s story continue. A Fast X Easter egg did provide a reminder of her presence in the franchise. This could be to help set up her appearance in Fast 11, but a return alongside the franchise’s biggest female characters would be more fitting.
2 Vanessa Kirby’s Hattie Needs To Crossover With The Main Franchise
She’s from the franchise’s only current spinoff
Only appearing in Hobbs & Shaw, Vanessa Kirby’s Hattie is the third sibling in the Shaw family and one of the most dangerous women in the Fast universe. She was a scene-stealing presence in the previous Fast & Furious spinoff movie that left audiences wanting more. It would be great to see Kirby return for an even bigger role in the franchise spinoff, allowing her to interact with some of the other prominent characters along the way.
1 Helen Mirren’s Queenie Should Be The Female Ensemble’s Mentor
She’s become a frequent face
With her appearances in the past four movies, including Hobbs & Shaw, Helen Mirren has become a surprising mainstay of the Fast & Furious franchise. Her role as British gangster Queenie is such a fun role for the Dame, and her time in the universe should continue especially in the all-female spinoff. Mirren’s roles in the movies have mostly been one-scene cameos, so this film could be a great space to expand the character and give her a chance to interact with more actors than just Vin Diesel.
Fast X Release Date: 2023-05-19 Director: Louis Leterrier Cast: Vin Diesel, Michelle Rodriguez, Jason Statham, Jordana Brewster, Tyrese Gibson, Ludacris, Charlize Theron, Nathalie Emmanuel, John Cena, Sung Kang, Helen Mirren, Brie Larson, Scott Eastwood, Jason Momoa Rating: PG-13 Runtime: 141 Minutes Genres: Action, Adventure, Crime Writers: Justin Lin, Dan Mazeau, Gary Scott Thompson Budget: $340 Million Studio(s): Universal Pictures Distributor(s): Universal Pictures Sequel(s): Fast and Furious 11, Fast & Furious 12 prequel(s): Fast & Furious, 2 Fast 2 Furious, The Fast and the Furious: Tokyo Drift, The Fast And The Furious, Fast 5, Fast and Furious 6, Furious 7, Fast and Furious 8, F9: The Fast Saga1 Franchise(s): Fast and Furious
The 69-Year Story Behind The Fast And Furious Name
Fast X Video Reveals BTS Of Real, Practical Fights In OTT Sequel
10 Characters Who Should Be In It
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