FAST AND FURIOUS 9 is Shakespearean
..."Shakespearean" ≠ "lofty" but "pertaining to Shakespearean themes"
Fitting for the post-pandemic summer of 2021, Fast and Furious 9 (FF9) is a reunion movie.
*SPOILERS*
The Fast and Furious family all gets together again. The main new character introduced, awesomely played by pro wrestler John Cena, turns out to be the long lost brother of the Vin Diesel character. We are reunited even with members of the street racing family who had been killed off in previous movies. When Han from Tokyo Drift (last seen in an exploding car) reappears, the obvious question the audience has been wondering surfaces: “I thought you were dead?!”
That and many other questions are asked during the movie by the two comedic relief characters, Roman (played by Tyrese Gibson ) and Tej (played by the famous rapper Ludacris). These two are clowns in the Shakespearean sense (remember the grave diggers in Hamlet?). Roman and Tej say what the audience is thinking, and get directly to the deeper topics that are only indirectly addressed by the serious characters in the action.
In one of the best scenes of the movie, Tyrese asks: why have we not died yet, or even gotten a scratch given all the death defying situations we’ve been in? The science-nerd Ludacris entertains the question, pointing out that the hypothesis that they are invincible has been confirmed many times by now. Tyrese then almost breaks the fourth wall saying, “…maybe we are immortal,” until Ludcris brings the audience back by saying: “maybe…. you’re a dumb ***!” (Take that and rewind it back, Fast and Furious fan-fiction conspiracy theorists)
In one of the final scenes of the movie, Tyrese and Ludacris are the ones who must save the day- in SPACE. According to Ludacris’ calculations, to save the day in this situation has 100% certitude of death. The scientist cannot bring himself to do the courageous thing and accept death, until Tyrese responds that he must have FAITH. For the movie to continue, Tyrese’ plea for faith is what is required of the audience too- we the audience must have faith in Tyrese, even though it’s just a movie.
I attended the movie at a packed drive-in movie theater outside of Houston, the Showboat. The audience absolutely loved it; they clapped and laughed, only thing they didn’t do was rev their engines.
Sounds promising enough to make it a much better bet than everything else that's being released. They had a whole year and a half off, and they come back and try us to lure us back into the theaters with the current crop? Anyone seen the Washington Heights movie?