R E V I E W – T R A I L E R
Ayaan Shams Siddiquee
After multiple years of delay, the Fast and Furious franchise’s latest installment, the ninth chapter in the saga, is set to be released this coming July. With just three months remaining, Universal Pictures released the newest trailer for the highly-anticipated Fast 9 and needless to say, it brought about a ton of speculation.
The three-minute-long trailer didn’t disappoint. A seemingly tame family drama, with Dom and Letty leading a quiet life off the grid with their son, Little Brian, quickly transitions to high-octane action guns-a-blazing left, right, and centre. Speeding cars, flying cars, shooting cars — you name it, the trailer had it all.
While the first trailer foreshadowed the return of Hans (that too, from the dead), and the debut of John Cena as the central antagonist, the newest trailer hinted at something previously unexplored by the franchise. Until now, the Fast franchise saw cars flung through buildings, parachuted onto other cars from the sky, beautiful and hyperbolic moments — all of which raised the question, how will the next movie surpass the rest?
To take the newest addition to greater heights (pun unintended), Fast 9 will (probably) be heading to outer space.
The final moments of the trailer hint at the theory, as Roman and Tej are seen to be strapped in a rocket car wearing DIY spacesuits. In an interview with Collider, returning director Justin Lin confirmed the Fast family’s journey to space — deciding to “drive Camaros and sip Coronas in the cosmos”.
“I think through the years, part of the fun is to come up with crazy ideas to challenge ourselves. But I have to say, we never do it just for the sake of shock value. It always takes something from the theme or the character journey. I can say that when I was working on Fast 9, there was a thread that felt very appropriate to take us to places that we’ve never gone to.”
As the subtle shifts of narrative point towards a plethora of unanswered questions, fans remain eagre to finally watch the film this coming June.
Until then, So Long, Space Cowb-
Oh wait, wrong franchise.