Everything You Need To Remember To Watch And Understand Fast X
As Dominic Toretto (played with muscle-y esteem by Vin Diesel) once said, "I live my life a quarter-mile at a time." When 2001's "The Fast and the Furious" came out, this sentiment referred to Dom's love of street racing. But on the eve of the premiere of "Fast X," the 10th (11th, if you include 2019's spin-off "Fast & Furious Presents: Hobbs & Shaw") entry in the series, perhaps Dom should've said he lives his life a quarter-century at a time.
The release of "Fast X" marks 22 glorious years of the "Fast" saga, and as the 25-year mark approaches, it seems that Diesel and company are eager to give their long-running franchise a big, splashy final act. Because the "Fast" films are not based on any pre-existing source material, the journey from each movie to the next has been thrillingly unpredictable as the Torettos and their extended family reach bigger and crazier heights.
Now that Diesel, the rest of the ensemble cast, and the producers of the series are calling "Fast X" the first part of a two (or possibly three!) part finale for the saga, the exquisite corpse-meets-Dungeons-&-Dragons-campaign nature of the films and their revolving cast of supporting characters might be difficult to keep track of. Fear not — we got you, fam. Here's everything you need to remember to watch "Fast X."
Fast saga phase one: remember when this was about outlaw street racers?
Actually, claiming that the "Fast" saga isn't based on anything isn't strictly true; this 1998 article from Vibe written by Ken Li about real-life illegal street racing in New York City became the spark that started the "Fast" series' engine, with director Rob Cohen and longtime series producer Neal H. Moritz seeing an opportunity to make a film centered around an edgy, youthful subculture.
What they came up with in 2001's "The Fast and the Furious" was a loving let's-say-homage to Kathryn Bigelow's 1991 surfing crime drama "Point Break," where a young LAPD officer, Brian O'Conner (Paul Walker), is sent to infiltrate the street racing crew of Dom Toretto upon suspicion that Toretto and company are involved in a series of high-speed heists of electronic goods. It turns out that they are, but the truth is more complicated than Dom, his girlfriend Letty Ortiz (Michelle Rodriguez), and Dom's sister Mia (Jordana Brewster) — whom Brian falls in love with — being mere criminals. They have a code of honor and ethics in the way they use their skills to survive, and Brian, realizing that, goes rogue.
The following two entries in the series, 2003's "2 Fast 2 Furious" and 2006's "The Fast and the Furious: Tokyo Drift" continued this blend of action film, street-level crime drama, and racing, with Brian taking on a small-time drug lord with his old pal Roman Pearce (Tyrese Gibson) in Miami and an ex-pat military brat, Sean (Lucas Black) getting mixed up with the Yakuza in Tokyo along with new pal Han Lue (Sung Kang), respectively.
Fast saga phase two: the heists get bigger, and so do the stakes
Everything began to change with 2009's "Fast & Furious." In addition to revealing that Han used to run in a crew with Dom, Letty, Leo (Tego Calderón) and Santos (Don Omar) in the Dominican Republic between the events of the first film and "Tokyo Drift," the movie sees newly minted FBI agent Brian O'Conner helping Dom investigate the apparent death of Letty at the hands of the Mexican drug lord, Braga (John Ortiz). In part to help out Brian and the authorities — and in part to get revenge for Letty — Dom, Brian, and one of Braga's underlings, Gisele (Gal Gadot), take down Braga's drug operation. Upon re-entering the U.S., Dom, still wanted for his crimes, is arrested, and Brian and Mia decide to spring him from a prison transport.
Fleeing to Rio de Janeiro at the beginning of 2011's "Fast Five," the trio hears about a job to steal cars for cash. Unfortunately, one of the vehicles is owned by another drug lord, Hernan Reyes (Joaquim de Almedia), and the heist not only gets the three on Reyes' hit list, but on DSS agent Luke Hobbs' (Dwayne Johnson) as well.
Needing to put a stop to Reyes as well as find a way to evade the DSS, the trio decides to steal Reyes' ill-gotten gains that he keeps protected in a massive vault within a police station. In order to pull off the heist, Dom and Brian recruit their compatriots: Roman, Tej (Chris "Ludacris" Bridges, from "2 Fast"), Han, Gisele, Leo and Santos. Additionally, Dom falls for a local police officer, Elena Neves (Elsa Pataky), who has a grudge against Reyes and eventually sways Hobbs to help the outlaws in their quest.
If there's one "Fast" film you should revisit before "Fast X," it's "Fast Five." Not only is it generally considered the best of the series, but its events greatly impact the story in the upcoming film, especially when it comes to Jason Momoa's new villain, Dante.
Fast saga phase three: super spies with super cars
If "Fast Five" proved that the franchise had a rich group of characters, 2013's "Fast & Furious 6" demonstrated that the series had no ceiling in terms of tone, genre and plot. The team is pulled out of "retirement" by Hobbs upon his discovery that rogue mercenary Owen Shaw (Luke Evans) has hired a new crew member: an amnesiac Letty. It turns out that Shaw rescued Letty after her near-fatal accident, and he now seeks the Nightshade, a device that could compromise everything electronic in the world. Dom's team tracks Shaw down and stops him while turning Letty back to the side of Good. However, Gisele sacrifices herself during the final battle, and Shaw's downfall enrages his brother, Deckard Shaw (Jason Statham), who seeks revenge by apparently killing Han in Tokyo (thereby allowing the series' timeline to finally catch up to the events of "Tokyo Drift") and blowing up the Toretto's L.A. home.
In 2015's "Furious 7," Dom, a slowly recovering Letty, Brian, Mia, Roman, Tej, and Hobbs attempt to stop Shaw from acquiring the God's Eye, an all-powerful search engine tech created by master hacker Ramsey (Nathalie Emmanuel), and are helped by a representative from a mysterious American spy agency, Mr. Nobody (Kurt Russell). While actor Paul Walker tragically died during production, the film allows Brian to live on, the character choosing to retire from the team along with Mia and his son.
2017's "The Fate of the Furious" introduces an evil cyberterrorist, Cipher (Charlize Theron), who uses Elena and her secret child with Dom as bait to "turn" Dom for her own purposes in stealing both the Nightshade and the God's Eye. While the team successfully stops Cipher with the financial help of Agency member Little Nobody (Scott Eastwood), she escapes after brutally murdering Elena. Hobbs and Shaw head over to their spin-off movie, where the pair reluctantly help the British and American governments quell a high-tech doomsday cult.
F9: to infinity and beyond
Dom, his son Brian (aka Little B), and his wife Letty are once again attempting to enjoy living off-the-grid at the start of 2021's "F9" when Roman, Tej and Ramsey arrive with a mysterious transmission from a now-missing Mr. Nobody. It turns out that Mr. Nobody apprehended Cipher, but she was kidnapped while she was in possession of a device known as Project Aries, next-level tech that can hack into anything that's controlled by a computer. The culprits are Otto (Thue Ersted Rasmussen), a dictator's spoiled son, and the heretofore unmentioned secret brother of Dom and Mia, Jakob Toretto (John Cena).
In a series of flashbacks, it's revealed that Jakob was instructed by his and Dom's father, a professional car racer, to throw a race in order to help the family's debt, resulting in an accidental but deadly explosion. That tragedy resulted in a rift between brothers, as Dom wasn't aware of his father's orders to Jakob. Mr. Nobody and the Agency recruits Jakob, only for him to go rogue once Nobody started using Dom to run missions.
In attempting to stop Jakob and Otto, Dom and the family enlist the services of friends old (Helen Mirren as Queenie Shaw, the career criminal mother of the Shaw brothers), new (Anna Sawai as Elle, whose DNA is the key to operating Project Aries) and resurrected (Han, who faked his death courtesy of Mr. Nobody in order to protect Elle and Project Aries, unbeknownst to Deckard Shaw). After Cipher convinces Otto to betray Jakob, and Dom realizes that Jakob deserves a second chance, Jakob switches sides, helping the team stop Otto and Cipher from using Aries as part of a plan that involves Roman and Tej destroying a satellite in outer space. Victorious, Dom, Letty and the rest of the team reconvene in L.A. at the newly rebuilt Toretto home — even though Cipher is once again at large.
Now you're ready to follow the team's next adventure in "Fast X," hitting theaters on May 19, 2023. So buckle up, hit the gas, turn on the NOS, and hold on tight.