It’s been eight years since KungFuMagazine.com reviewed anything from the Fast & Furious film franchise. From the start, souped-up car sagas didn’t have a powerful enough martial arts connection to justify our unique style of Kung Fu film coverage. But when it came to the sixth installment, we were along for the ride. That’s when a few noted martial artists began joining the cast, so we took notice.

And right behind that, the franchise became a global juggernaut that significantly impacted one of our favorite topics – the rise of Chinese cinema. Since 2008, I’ve been prophesizing the day when China would steal Hollywood’s spotlight and become the world’s biggest box office. I even titled my Kung Fu Tai Chi cinema column Chollywood Rising in anticipation of the pivot.

Well, it has happened. Amid the pandemic, China conquered the cinematic world. It is now the biggest box office on the planet. The United States is number two. And that pivot has had profound impact on F9.

One of the many things I regret about the folding of our print magazine Kung Fu Tai Chi is that I never got to write an “I told you so” in my cinema column. For a dozen years, I planned to title it “Chollywood Has Risen” but the pandemic robbed me of that too. I confess that this review is contains some lingering feelings of that lost emotional baggage, so get in, buckle up, and enjoy the ride.

“There she goes, leaving you, again. Bloody fickle, that one.”
Owen Shaw (Luke Evans)

Before we dig into F9, let’s backtrack a few laps to put this in perspective. Our first review of a Fast & Furious Saga film was FAST & FURIOUS 6: A Sexquel with Conviction and it was Conviction that picked us up. ‘Conviction’ was a nickname of one of MMA’s celebrated darlings, Gina Carano. We’ve followed her wild ride for years, from her cinematic debut in HAYWIRE to her success through to THE MANDALORIAN, even until she cancelled herself from the franchise with her political opinions.

‘Cancel culture’ is a thing, but when it comes to movies and TV, it’s not so much about divisive politics as dividers want us to believe. It’s about capitalism. Cinematic franchises like Star Wars, the MCU and Fast & Furious are escapist. While it can be admirable when actors use their notoriety to promote social causes, it’s a double-edged sword for film promoters when they espouse a divisive opinion. They become a harsh reminder of the political realities we’re all trying to forget for a moment while watching the show. This can cost moviemakers their audience – literally millions of dollars – and that’s a figure any capitalist respects. I bring this up because a political gaff impacted F9, which I’ll come back to in a few laps. Back to the franchise.

“Hey, thought you could leave without saying goodbye?”
Brian O’Connor (Paul Walker)

FURIOUS 7 (2015) featured more martial artists. Tony Jaa and Ronda Rousey joined the cast. Unfortunately, KungFuMagazine didn’t review due to schedule conflicts. Nevertheless, we were involved.

This was also the installment that saw the tragic death of lead Paul Walker. Walker played Brian O’Connor through all the previous films except #3. KungFuMagazine launched a promotional sweepstakes for the Fast & Furious franchise just prior to Walker’s passing, and in deference to the tragedy, we postponed that promotion.

This film got into some international trouble too. Jaa got in a contract dispute with the Thai company Sahamongkol Film, who claimed exclusivity of Jaa. It wasn’t a political gaffe like Carano’s. It was a contract dispute, one that was significant enough to threaten to put the brakes on the release of FURIOUS 7 in Thailand. However, Sahamongkol Film eventually withdrew its lawsuit, and the film was shown on schedule.

Neither Walker’s death nor Jaa’s scandal affected the box office negatively. Quite the opposite. FURIOUS 7 cruised on to make over $1.5 billion. That’s billion with a B. When it was released in China in 2015, it captured the title of Hollywood’s biggest release ever there with a historic $390 million box office take. That was nearly $40 million more than what the film made domestically. In this way, FURIOUS 7 became a starting flag for Chollywood to dethrone Hollywood. It even did well in Thailand, which is not a major film market, raking in $13 million to date. This is when F7 becomes a global phenomenon.

“One thing I can guarantee... no one's ready for this.”
Cipher (Charlize Theron)

The following two installments weren’t reviewed by KungFuMagazine either. Number 8, THE FATE OF THE FURIOUS (aka THE F8 OF THE FURIOUS, 2017) didn’t have any notable martial arts components. However, in retrospect, it’s impact on Chollywood’s rise was significant and we should’ve covered it. We were tempted because early in production, there was a rumor that Zhang Ziyi might be cast to further secure the PRC audience. But that didn’t come about.

F8 didn’t perform as well as its predecessor, $1.2 billion overall. However, it did significantly better in PRC, earning $392 million and overtaking FURIOUS 7 as the biggest Hollywood release in China. Compare that to a $226 million take domestically, and FURIOUS 7 almost qualifies as another WARCRAFT Redemption film. The slang WARCRAFT Redemption emerges from the 2016 film which flopped domestically but was redeemed financially in China. While F8’s $226 million domestic wasn’t a flop, the difference of $166 million betrays how the economy has shifted East. 

For the sidecar spinoff, HOBBS & SHAW (2019), David Leitch took the wheel as director, so we hoped for better fight choreography given his work with the John Wick franchise. However, for martial arts fans, the fights fell short. While Jason Statham did deliver a few combos over a half dozen moves in one shot, the rest of the fights were simplistic, even for the Rock. It was particularly disappointed with the finale fight because the heroes were armed an array of traditional cold weapons, but that wasn’t exploited to much choreographic advantage. While HOBBS & SHAW underperformed for the franchise, China beat the U.S. to the checkered flag once more with $201 million in PRC versus $173 million domestic.

Fast Family Forever

F9 marks the return of Justin Lin in the Director’s chair. Lin was responsible for supercharging the franchise having directed installments 3 through 6. Those four films put the pedal to the metal, driving the Fast saga towards becoming the monster car global film franchises that it is today.

In an inclusive move of foresight, Lin carried over the character of Han Lue (Sung Kang) from his solo directorial debut film, BETTER LUCK TOMORROW (2002). That film became an unofficial part of the franchise, an origin story for one of the main characters. Lin added Asia into the already diverse cast of Dominic Toretto (Vin Diesel, who has ‘ambiguous’ ethnicity), Letty Ortiz (Michelle Rodriguez), Roman Pearce (Tyrese Gibson), and Tej Parker (Chris ‘Ludacris’ Bridges). Alongside Kang, Jason Tobin played Earl in THE FAST AND THE FURIOUS: TOKYO DRIFT (2006) but we really wish his role had been Virgil from BETTER LUCK TOMORROW instead. Both Han and Earl return in F9 (not a spoiler – it’s in the trailer, plus this franchise is known for having characters come back from the dead).

With Lin at the wheel, will F9 garner the same kind of blockbuster results as his previous installments? It’s unlikely, given the pandemic. F9 was originally scheduled to premiere in April 2020 but Covid slammed the brakes on everything. Now, F9 is one of the first blockbusters to herald the return to in-person theaters. This was the first in-person screener we have attended since BIRDS OF PREY early last year and we were delighted to be back in the theaters. With the U.S. opening up, it has the potential to be the first post-pandemic blockbuster, but that all depends upon how cautious audiences are.

Regardless of the U.S. box office, F9 already done well. The film has been out for a month already overseas. It has been playing the Middle East, Asia, and most importantly, China. It has already recovered its estimated budget of $200+ million by grossing $270 million internationally. That places it currently at #4 for the 2021 global box office, just behind GODZILLA V KONG. The top two finishers were Chinese films that you may not have heard of yet: #2 DETECTIVE CHINATOWN 3 and #1 HI, MOM. F9 will have to race to catch up to GODZILLA V KONG. It is projected to have a $65 million opening weekend here in the U.S. but it trails the Kaijus by $150 million. HI, MOM is already way in front at $847 million.

“Now your little family is in my world.” Jakob Toretto

Back to that political gaff that almost cost F9 the China market. It was the newbie to the cast, John Cena, who plays Dom’s brother Jakob. China restricts how many foreign films are allowed to be shown in the country. Every Hollywood film wants that audience because as you can see, it’s millions of dollars. And nowadays, films can make more in China now than domestically, thus the aforementioned Warcraft Redemption.

In a promotional interview in Taiwan, Cena spoke astonishingly fluent Mandarin, but he said, “Taiwan is the first country that can watch F9." Anyone who knows anything about Taiwan understands. Taiwan is a self-governed democratic island that China claims it as its sovereign territory. In China’s eyes, Taiwan is not a ‘country.’ As a result, F9 was nearly shut out of that profitable PRC market.

Cena reversed gear with profuse apologies, owning his mistake, and professing his love and respect for China and the Chinese people, again in remarkably good Mandarin. There was some backlash in the U.S. as political pundits derided Cena for bowing down, but any true capitalist understands. That was an apology worth $270 million and counting, profits coming from a communist nation no less. Yay capitalism.

“It’s good to be back” Han Jue

Is it worth leaving your sheltered place and going back to the theaters for F9? One thing is clear. This is a big screen film. It’s eye-poppingly cinematic. Watching it on your iPhone just won’t do it justice. If you go, splurge on a big screen with a pumped-up sound system like a Dolby theater. F9 drops a lot of big bass booms – from the rumbling revving of supercharged engines to the continuous barrage of bombs, land mines and full-auto fire fights, to the bumping hip hop soundtrack, to that distinctive growling baritone voice of Diesel. Turn up the bass.

The Fast and Furious franchise has some of the most ridiculous escapes and absurd car stunts. You really need to park your brain outside and just enjoy the ride. If you stop the think about any of it, it’s a car wreck of illogic and impossibilities. However, if you’re new to the Fast and Furious films, starting with F9 is not as confusing as coming in on HARRY POTTER AND THE DEATHLY HALLOW PART 2 (2011) or AVENGER: ENDGAME (2019). The story is simple enough for anyone to catch up quickly.

It’s muscle cars and a macho gun show, not just firearms but upper arms. Beyond Diesel’s and Cena’s pumped-up muscles, Rodriguez sports bulging biceps that put most men to shame. Her sneering intensity redefines the heroine, especially when Letty is the one who has to save Dom, not the other way around. Despite the somewhat male-dominated cast, the women deliver strong characters too. The best fight scene comes from Letty, Mia (Jordana Brewster) and newcomer Elle (Anna Sawai).

F9 has just enough plot to get to the next car chase. There’s a new kind of car-fu physics here unique to Fast and Furious. It’s the bastard child of Kung Fu wire work and Looney Tunes where cars can defy gravity as long as they have enough momentum. If you can accept that, it’s a fun ride.

F9 doesn’t take itself seriously and neither should you. It is self-aware of its own bombast and the characters even poke fun and the preposterousness. Pearce ponders how they’ve all escaped the most unbelievable missions and survived without a scratch. “Y’all ever thought about the wild missions we’ve been on?” he ponders. Throughout the film (and the franchise) Pearce survives the most insane conflicts and somehow, his ruminations about why almost justify the preposterousness.

At a turning point, Cypher talks about how if this were a movie, that would be exactly what would be happening in that moment. No cliché is left unrepeated. It takes self-parody to new heights that are truly and literally stellar, which is exactly where it should go at this point.

Despite its campiness, it still has heart. This one is for the fans, especially to Lin’s first installment, TOKYO DRIFT. It’s packed with Easter eggs and throwbacks, plus a few sly cameos. F9 is 145 minutes of mindless escapist action and humor. And after a year and a half in lockdown, we can all ride on a little of that.