Entertainment
Fast and Furious 9 review: Vin Diesel and co take on space in delayed sequel and it’s definitely worth the wait
Fast and Furious 9 is finally being released in cinemas after a series of lengthy delays due to the coronavirus pandemic, and it was definitely worth the wait.
Within the first few minutes of F9, which was originally slated for a May 2020 drop, we’d been given a glimpse at a young Dominic Toretto (Vin Diesel) and brother Jakob (John Cena), seen the gang speeding through a land-mine infested forest and pull off several car stunts so outlandish they made that plane scene from Fast and Furious 6 look plausible.
And we loved every single second of it.
The film, helmed by director Justin Lin, sees Dominic yanked out of the quiet life he was living with Letty (Michelle Rodriguez) and son Brian, and thrown right back into the action alongside his team, Ramsey (Nathalie Emmanuel), Tej (Ludacris) and Roman (Tyrese Gibson), in a bid to secure a bizarre looking device that could end up destroying life as we know it.
There are just a few of the aforementioned land mines and an entire army in their way – as well as Jakob, who happens to be in league with the bad guys, including a returning Cipher (Charlize Theron). What else could go wrong?
Dom’s family dynamics take centre stage, with sister Mia (Jordana Brewster) also returning to the fold as they delve back into childhood memories, giving us some much-needed backstory into the Toretto clan.
We’re also reintroduced to Han, who we thought died in the Tokyo Drift spin-off, and again in the sixth instalment, with his disappearance answering some questions, but leaving us with many more that we’re hoping get answered somewhere along the way.
Die-hard fans of the franchise will be thrilled with the shiny new instalment – there are throwbacks galore to explain how certain characters came into the fold and others left it, Tokyo Drift stars returning for another hit at the action, and some actual racing that we’ve secretly been crying out for.
It isn’t a perfect film by any means, but everyone involved knows that, and makes light of their ridiculous escapades on the screen – with Roman playing the role of the audience when asking why they’ve been through so much to come out unscathed, which is a fair question after nine movies and countless near-death moments.
The plot takes a backseat to the stunts, with cars flying through the air, lorries speeding through the streets of Edinburgh and tanks being utterly destroyed, and the gang don’t even leave space alone as they leave the planet in a wild finale, giving us a Fast and Furious first.
While we can’t get enough of seeing cars blow up in front of our very eyes and there is no denying it’s such a fun film to settle down for, there could have been a little more attention paid to the storyline, as you sometimes lose sight of who exactly they’re chasing while being shot at, and why.
Hopefully with the upcoming instalment, which has yet to be given an air date, bosses give us a juiced-up plot to match the epic action moments. Thankfully, a gasp-worthy end-credits scene seems to set this up for Fast and Furious 10 perfectly.
F9 has delivered blockbusters back to the big screen in style, with a huge helping of fun. We’re already revving our engines for the next instalment.
Fast and Furious 9 is released in cinemas on June 24.
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