The last film in the Fast Saga released a trailer yesterday for their final installment – what can audiences expect for one last ride?
The end of the road, and more importantly, the end of an era is upon us. The Fast and Furious franchise has been one of Hollywood’s biggest since the very first film dropped all the way back in 2001. Despite the fact that the franchise has gotten away from it’s roots of street-racing over the last few films, the key piece that makes this franchise so relatable and appealing to audiences is the recurring theme of family. And with the trailer for Fast X finally arriving yesterday, it seems like the Fast Saga might be trying to come to a close on a high-note.
Fans have known for quite some time (near a decade) that the Fast Saga had always planned on having 10 films within the confines of the franchise, so the announcement of a tenth film was far from a surprise. Even so, Fast X is undoubtedly one of the most anticipated films of 2023 and the hype has only risen since the official trailer was released. So, with a franchise as large as the Fast Saga finally reaching the end of the road, what can fans expect from the franchise’s last ride? Here’s what we learned from the trailer.
The Plot
As stated, the earlier Fast and Furious films really focused on the aspect of street-racing while incorporating the underlying theme of family throughout the movies. Unfortunately, the last few films in the saga have strayed away from the street-racing aspect and honed in on being full-blown action/spy-thriller. Now, one could easily critique the franchise for becoming a cash-grab and trying to take advantage of audiences who were fans of the first few films but not big supporters of the last several, but the important thing to take away from the most recent Fast Saga movies is that the creators were (at the very least) trying to keep things fresh.
But now, as the franchise reaches the tenth film in the saga, the trailer seemed to reveal that Dom and his crew will hopefully be getting back to what made audiences love the franchise so much in the first place – family. The trailer opens with Dom and the whole gang trying to live ordinary lives and specifically focuses on Dom bonding with his son, Brian. But then the action picks up and reveals that the films antagonist will be the son of Hernan Reyes, a crime-boss that audiences will remember from Fast Five, whom Dom (technically Hobbs) ultimately ended up killing at the conclusion of the movie. Tying back into the overall theme of family, Reyes’ son is out for blood and has held a vendetta against Dom for 12 years for stealing away the life that he never got to live. Hell bent on revenge, Reyes’ son vows to end Dom’s entire crew and family – and based on the trailer, he may just succeed.
The Cast
While the plot of the movie was officially revealed in the trailer, what may have been even more revealing to fans was the cast that Fast X has constructed for their tenth film. Of course, the majority of the entire main crew is all returning for the last go-around – including Vin Diesel as Dom, Jordan Brewster as Mia, Michelle Rodriguez as Letty, Tyrese Gibson as Roman Pierce, Ludacris as Tej, Sung Kang as Han, and Nathalie Emmanuel as Ramsey – but the star-studded cast doesn’t end anywhere near there.
Some of the returning characters that audiences spotted in the trailer will be Charlize Theron as Cipher, Jason Statham as Deckard Shaw, Helen Mirren as Queenie, and John Cena as Jakob Toretto. Now, it doesn’t seem like the movie will be bringing back every single star from the franchises’ past as there was no footage of Dwayne Johnson as Hobbs (understandably so) as well as no sight of Kurt Russell as Mr. Nobody.
That said, the film is adding some huge names to the cast for what will be their first appearances in the Fast Saga. Jason Momoa was revealed to be the film’s antagonist and will be playing Hernan Reyes’ son, as well as the addition of Brie Larson in a role that will be affiliated with the Mr. Nobody character (despite no sign of Kurt Russell in the trailer). Another notable actor that was seen incredibly briefly in the trailer was Alan Ritchson, the star of Amazon’s Jack Reacher series. While not much was revealed about the character he’ll be playing, the brief shot fans got showed him holding a gun so it might be safe to assume that he’ll be connected to Mr. Nobody or Brie Larson’s new character.
Everything Else
Aside from the foundation of the plot and several brief glimpses of the cast, surprisingly not much was revealed in the trailer (despite it being nearly 4 minutes long). A lot of the shots revealed that a portion of the film will be taking place in Italy (specifically Rome) as well as showing the gang back at the old house from the very first film. The main takeaway is that the film will be releasing on May 19 so fans will barely have to wait three months before they race to theaters to watch the movie. Another huge takeaway (although, it’s more of an assumption) is that the Fast Saga might finally be coming to a close with Fast X. While nothing was explicitly stated in the trailer, there were several hints dropped that the Toretto family might finally be hanging it up for good. Now, some fans might be upset by this notion (while others would argue that the franchise should have ended long ago) but audiences need to remember that the Fast and Furious franchise has already branched into spin-offs (thanks to 2019’s Hobbs and Shaw film) so even if the tenth film is the last in the saga, it might just be used as a stepping-off point to allow the franchise to explore further spin-offs. Regardless of how the franchise got to this point, or where it will go from here, it’s safe to say that Fast X has earned the benefit of the doubt and will hopefully be a satisfactory conclusion to one the greatest franchises in Hollywood history.