Fast cars and family: A 'Fast & Furious' newsletter
We have to wait six more months for a new "Fast & Furious" movie. So we wrote this newsletter to tide us over.
Out of all of the film releases that COVID-19 has delayed, the one I was most bummed about was “F9: The Fast Saga.” The ninth installment of the “Fast & Furious” franchise was set for a May 22 release date before the pandemic caused Universal to punt the film to May 28, 2021.
When I think of the typical “theatrical movie experience,” I think of seeing “Furious 7” opening weekend with a rowdy crowd. These movies are adrenaline action fests of the highest order, featuring characters with 20 years’ worth of lore and backstory that fans have latched onto. After “F9” is released, the rumored plan is to split F10 into two parts and it also might feature space travel (I swear, if they don’t call it “Fas10 Your Seatbelts”…)
Not bad for a franchise that started in 2001 with a soft “Point Break” ripoff starring Paul Walker and Vin Diesel as a cop and a street racer.
I genuinely love these movies (even “2 Fast 2 Furious,” which, while the worst of the bunch, is worth it for this exchange alone). I’m not the only one — to date, the “Fast & Furious” films have grossed $5.8 billon worldwide. Together, they make up Universal’s biggest franchise — the tenth-highest grossing film franchise of all time. And it made all that money despite a truly dumb naming convention system and a loopy chronology.
This newsletter will focus on the things we love about the franchise, like family and Corona; the cast members we wish the franchise would bring into the Fast Family; and how one character is the secret sauce to understanding the whole franchise’s continuity and its success. To help with that, I’m joined by my good friends Jordan Ray and Austin Sandford.
But first, my customary dog PhotoShop, featuring Opal living her life a quarter-mile at a time:
And, in the words of Dominic Toretto: Salud, mi familia.
Ride or Die: The most important thing in life
By Austin Sandford
I saw my first “Fast & Furious” film in 2009, after a high school Blockbuster trip yielded “Fast & Furious,” the fourth film in the series. Looking back I can’t say that I knew much at all about the franchise or even Vin Diesel for that matter. Diesel was simply that guy from the movie “xXx,” which I was equally ignorant about. But my friend Christian was ecstatic we scooped up a copy, so I figured I’d give in and give it a go.
For those unfamiliar, the fourth film in the franchise has probably the most improbable “stunt” of all the films (crash telepathy, I mean…c’mon). It brought back fan-favorite characters, eliciting the same excitement in my friend as audiences felt at the sight of Cap clutching Thor’s hammer (seriously, from his reaction I felt like I had to be missing out on some serious film energy, though the world would really join the party later).
And it was terrific.
Yes, there were cars and NOS and some gunfights, sure. There were some girls, too (in quick montages to highlight the latest Pitbull track), and yes, I looked. Sue me. There was also some flat dialogue and so much circumstance you’d think it was originally pitched as a reality show.
But it was a roaring good time. Seriously, I had a surround sound system at the time and my mom came in to tell us to turn it down (later, she had to shout it during “Tokyo Drift,” the third film in the franchise). And while the cars and the girls and the guns brought all the action to the forefront to raise my adrenaline and do all those things Michael Bay was born to do, it also had heart.
Most people joined the hype train around the time “Fast Five” was released. I don’t blame them, since it transformed the series from cult race film to cheesy Vin Diesel & The Rock spats and heist thrills. Critics and commentators say that the series exploded when it got goofy and over the top, and that may be true. But, personally, I don’t think the over-the-top stunts are what has really made the series last. After all, the “Transformers” franchise has only continued to get goofier (the Mark Wahlberg/Bud Light scene, anyone?) and it doesn’t have near the hype that the newest “Fast and Furious” trailers receive.
No, under all the NOS and explosive action lies a bunch of characters that have each other’s backs. They epitomize the idea that friends can be family, and that family is earned, and not given. They allude to what is most important in life in between chases and drift scenes. They gamble money, cars, and even their own lives on each other’s morality, character, and courage.
I believe that’s what we all want, whether it’s during the day-to-day grind or the lead-up to a wild Friday night. Sure, we aren’t speeding down the highway in Hellcat Dodge Challengers or dodging tanks on the highway but, theoretically, we can imagine how our friends would stick with us if that were to happen. Just the act of going to see a movie with friends, or going out on the town together, even if it’s not as threatening, carries the same personal weight as the characters feel doing physics-defying stunt after stunt. Want proof? Why else has “Ride or Die” become so pervasive? We want to believe that we can handle whatever the world throws at us, and we believe that we know the people in our lives are going to be there for us, whether in Hellcat Challengers or in “2 Fast 2 Furious” (ugh).
I’ve been thinking about my introduction to the series a lot recently. Part of that has been my YouTube viewing, which led me to the hilarious appreciation Cosmonaut has for the series (give him a watch, it’s good stuff). But the other part is entirely a product of our current social situation. I’m separated from so many people close to me, people I consider family, and we’re all hurting.
I have friends that have had to cancel their wedding plans, and friends who feel that they weren’t able to be present when things were ideal, and now that they’re working on that issue they have to keep away physically. Hell, I lost my best friend, my dog Turner, after 9 ½ wonderful years together.
Pain has become a constant in the Corona world.
Which is why now, more than ever, I look toward the heart of the “Fast & Furious” franchise. The part that says, directly, “The most important thing in life will always be the people in this room, right here, right now.” Not the cars or the money or the perfectly sculpted Pitbull promos.
Because right now, it really does feel like we’re all Ride or Die, no matter the distance.
So sure, there are a lot of fun and over-the-top parts of the series that surely draw viewers. But there is also the hope that, no matter what Covid or any submarine or tank may stand in the way, in the end, there will be family, barbecue, and cold beer. The chance to appreciate and share life with people you know would and do have your back, no matter the obstacle or social distance.
That’s a Corona worth waiting for.
Austin from Austin is currently charming Seattleites in the Trader Joe’s line. When he’s not doing that, Austin Sandford is working on splitting his time between living his life a quarter-mile at a time and making choices and not looking back.
Why Danny Trejo should become part of the Fast Family
By Jordan Ray
Allow me to force an introduction that should’ve happened a decade ago: Danny Trejo, meet “Fast & Furious.” “Fast & Furious,” meet Danny Trejo.
Seriously, how hasn’t this happened already?
For years, the “Fast & Furious” franchise has found a way to add some of Hollywood’s biggest names, like The Rock, Gal Gadot, Jason Statham, Charlize Theron and Idris Elba, to its star-studded lineup. Yet one of our greatest living character actors, a man with nearly 400 acting credits to his name, hasn’t appeared in a single “Fast & Furious” film.
This needs to change. Fast.
A while back, I stumbled upon “Inmate #1: The Rise of Danny Trejo,” a new documentary on the 76-year-old’s remarkable journey from San Quentin cell to the silver screen. It’s a truly remarkable watch that gave me a deeper appreciation for Trejo’s rough upbringing and lengthy film career spanning nearly 40 years.
Depending on your age, you may have first laid eyes upon Trejo’s grizzled exterior in his acting debut, the ‘80s action thriller “Runaway Train.” Or perhaps you caught him a few years later, in a ‘90s classic like “Desperado,” “Heat” or “Con Air”?
My earliest memory of Trejo is from the family flick “Spy Kids,” where he starred as the titular characters’ loveable uncle Machete (yes, that Machete). It wasn’t until a few years later that I realized I had already seen him in a movie once before — in the so-bad-it’s-incredible horror masterpiece “Anaconda.”
Trejo’s filmography is so lengthy that he’s almost impossible to miss. Well, unless all you watch is “Fast & Furious” movies, that is.
He’s such a perfect fit for the franchise that I honestly had to double-check his IMDb page several times to make sure he hasn’t appeared as a random cameo somewhere in the previous nine films. But alas, he hasn’t.
The good news is that the possibilities are endless for a Trejo appearance.
In “Inmate #1,” Trejo recalls a moment decades ago where an actor asked him if he was worried about being typecast as “a mean Chicano dude with tattoos.” In typical Trejo fashion, he hilariously responded, “I am a mean Chicano dude with tattoos!” before belting out his signature giggle.
“A mean Chicano dude with tattoos” could be one of Letty’s uncles (Michelle Rodriguez appears frequently in “Inmate #1”), a member of Tego and Rico’s crew or *gasp* even as Dom’s mysterious father.
If we want to get really wild with it, we could cross the “Fast & Furious” universe with Robert Rodriguez’s hyper-gory “Machete” films and have Trejo reprise the character once again.
Fans have been clamoring for the “Fast & Furious” franchise to end up in space, and we already know that Machete is going to make a trip there one day. Maybe Dom and the gang run into the blade-wielding ex-Federale on their adventures through a space shuttle?
The opportunities are endless, but we need Trejo to show up somewhere. He just makes sense in the “Fast & Furious” universe.
While Trejo’s film career seemingly isn’t slowing down (he’s got at least 20 projects either announced or in pre-production), he’s getting to that age where we’re running out of time. As far as we know, he’s not appearing in “F9” whenever it gets released, which means a Trejo-“F&F” collab is still at least a few years off.
Don’t make me beg.
Jordan Ray is a senior web producer at the Houston Chronicle. You can read his work here or on Twitter at @JordanLRay. If ever forced to cry on command, Jordan would just quickly rewatch the final scene from “Furious 7.”
‘You make choices and you don’t look back’: How Han Seoul-Oh is the secret to the F&F Universe
By Jake Harris
Nowadays, every film franchise seems like it has to be a cinematic universe.
The Marvel Cinematic Universe was formed out of “Iron Man” and the rest of the “Avengers” films, “Man of Steel” and the rest of the Zack Snyder superhero films was the basis for the DC Extended Universe, the “Conjuring” franchise is still going strong, and the “Saw” franchise was even supposed to get another addition this year. And that’s not even mentioning “Star Wars,” or the under-the-radar sneak attack that was M. Night Shyamalan’s “Split,” which bridged “Unbreakable” and “Glass” into a franchise.
But let’s not forget the modern film franchise that started linking its seemingly separate films long before it was cool: The “Fast & Furious” franchise.
The Fast & Furious Cinematic Universe, or FFCU as I’ll call it, started back in 2006 with the release of “The Fast and the Furious: Tokyo Drift.” At the time, the franchise’s star was fading, its “check engine” light having been activated three years prior with the diminishing returns and critical panning of “2 Fast 2 Furious.” That Miami-set sequel ditched Vin Diesel for Tyrese Gibson and set the stage for a broader scope of characters, but it was still mostly a sequel to the original film, featuring Paul Walker and his FBI buddies.
“Tokyo Drift,” as you may have figured out by the title, takes place in Tokyo and features an entirely new set of characters. Sean (Lucas Black) is a trouble-making high-schooler who gets sent to live with his Navy veteran dad in Tokyo after he gets in trouble for drag-racing a douchebag (Zachery Ty Bryan) in the school parking lot.
Once in Tokyo, Sean befriends fellow American Twinkie (Bow Wow) and vies for the affections of Neela (Nathalie Kelley), who is dating resident Drift King and Yakuza member Takashi (Brian Tee).
It’s all a fun fish-out-of-water movie wrapped around a car racing movie, but the most important part for our purposes comes when Sean meets Han (Sung Kang), a mysterious drifter (and drift racer) who takes Sean under his wing. He doesn’t have much in the way of backstory, but he tells Sean at one point that he likens himself to a cowboy making a getaway, and Tokyo was his version of Mexico. “Life’s simple,” he says. “You make choices and you don’t look back.”
Han dies in a T-bone crash near the end of the film, but he is soon avenged. Sean wins his final drift race in honor of Han, and the last scene in “Tokyo Drift” features none other than Dominic Toretto coming to Japan to pay his respects. He says that Han was part of his “family.” Roll credits.
Wait, what? Let’s back up a bit.
“Tokyo Drift” was directed by Justin Lin, who, before helming four entries into the “Fast & Furious” franchise, directed “Better Luck Tomorrow.” (He will return for “F9,” his fifth “Fast” film.) That 2002 film about Asian-American high schoolers who grow bored with overachieving in school and start committing petty crimes was what got Lin the “Tokyo Drift” gig. That film also starred Kang as a character named Han Lue. In “Better Luck Tomorrow,” Han gets involved in a string of small crimes that culminates in the murder of one of his friends.
Later, Lin said that “Better Luck Tomorrow” retroactively became Han’s origin story. The next sequel in the franchise, “Fast & Furious,” features Han as an active member of Dom’s crew. It’s also revealed here that Han’s new assumed name is Han Seoul-Oh, which is exactly the type of goofiness that makes this franchise shine. But how is this possible if he died in “Tokyo Drift”? Here’s where the chronology gets weird.
In chronological order, the FFCU goes 1, 2, “Better Luck Tomorrow,” 4, 5, 6, “Tokyo Drift,” 7, 8, “Hobbes & Shaw,” 9. That means Han gets to spend three movies with Dom’s crew before his girlfriend Gisele (Gal Gadot) dies at the end of “Fast & Furious 6,” and then he heads to Tokyo — his getaway.
At the beginning of “Furious 7,” it’s revealed that Deckard Shaw (Jason Statham) actually killed Han in that fiery crash in “Tokyo Drift” as retaliation for Dom and his crew killing Deckard’s brother Owen (Luke Evans) at the end of “Fast & Furious 6.” Dom raced Sean at the end of “Tokyo Drift” to find out how to get Han’s body to bring it back to America for burial. And thus, the loop is closed on a character’s crazy journey from petty high school criminal to fan favorite and race car driver extraordinaire.
Until recently, this kind of timeline tinkering and universe-building was rarely seen outside of horror franchises like “Halloween” and “Friday the 13th,” both of which have devoted fanbases that are used to seeing sequels that pick and choose which chronologies to use for lore. Sometimes it’s messy to follow, but the unabashed craziness of the FFCU is what makes it so much fun. You don’t watch these movies for a logic exercise; you watch these movies for the pure adrenaline rush and soap opera plot twists.
Case in point: After Deckard Shaw not only joined the Fast Family in “The Fate of the Furious” and got his own spinoff film so the franchise’s producers could capitalize on his chemistry with Hobbes (The Rock), Han’s fans became agitated. Why would the Family so readily welcome Han’s killer into the fold? This is partly explained at the end of the eighth movie, but that wasn’t enough, and soon the #JusticeForHan movement was born. And, if it weren’t for Covid, audiences would have seen the result of that campaign this year. The trailer for “F9” ends, incredulously, with Han alive, up and walking around, as the words “Justice Is Coming” blare across the screen.
Soon, audiences will see justice. And it will be just the latest crazy development in a franchise that inadvertently figured out the secret to surviving in today’s intellectual property landscape: Make your own cinematic universe full of lovable characters, and the success will follow.
Jake Harris is a digital producer for WFAA in Dallas and is the writer of this very newsletter. One of his many pastimes is imitating Lucas Black’s line delivery when he asks what drift racing is. Catch more of his work at jakeharrisblog.com or follow him on Twitter @jakeharris4.
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