F9 (film)

With a ninth film planned since 2014, Lin was confirmed as director in October 2017, returning to the franchise for the first time since directing Fast & Furious 6 (2013). F9 is the first film in the franchise since 2 Fast 2 Furious (2003) to not be written by Chris Morgan. Dwayne Johnson, who appeared in the previous four films, was announced to return in April 2017, but confirmed his absence in January 2019. The rest of the cast was finalized with the addition of Cena six months later. Brian Tyler returned to compose the score.^[7] Principal photography began in June 2019 and lasted until that November, with filming locations including London, Edinburgh, Tbilisi, Los Angeles, and Thailand.


F9 was originally scheduled for release by Universal Pictures on April 19, 2019, but was delayed several times, first due to the release of the spin-off film Hobbs & Shaw (2019) and planned release of No Time to Die (2021), and then the COVID-19 pandemic.^[8][9][10] It first was released in South Korea on May 19, 2021; it was released in the United Kingdom on June 24, then released in the United States on June 25.^[11] The film received mixed reviews from critics with praise for the stunts, direction and cast performances, but criticized its plot and revision of tropes. It set several pandemic box office records and grossed over $726 million worldwide, becoming the fifth-highest-grossing film of 2021. It was followed by Fast X in 2023.

Plot[edit]

In 1989, Jack Toretto participates in a late model race on a short track, with his sons Dominic Toretto and Jakob Toretto working in the pit crew. Dom argues with rival racer Kenny Linder about his dirty tactics. During the race, Linder's car clips Jack's bumper, causing his car to crash, killing him. A week after, Dom is arrested for beating Linder to near death. While serving his sentence, Dom recalls that Jakob had worked on their father's car the day he died and concludes that Jakob killed their father. Upon release, Dom confronts and challenges Jakob to a race, forcing him to leave town when he loses.


Thirty years later, Dom is retired and raising his son Brian with his wife Letty Ortiz. Roman Pearce, Tej Parker and Ramsey arrive with a news that shortly after arresting Cipher,^[a] Mr. Nobody's plane was attacked by rogue agents, who abducted Cipher and crashed in Montequinto, a fictional Central American country. Dom agrees to help them after realizing Jakob is involved. Searching the plane, they find part of a device called Project Aries, which can hack into any computer weapons system. The team is ambushed by a private army led by Jakob, who steals the device. Michael Stasiak helps Dom's crew escape to their safe house at the Caspian Sea and Dom's sister Mia Toretto arrives to help. The team learns that Han Lue is connected to Project Aries, where Letty and Mia leaves for Tokyo to investigate.


Meanwhile, Jakob meets with Otto, Jakob's associate and financier. Cipher, who is being held at their base, tells Jakob that the other half of Aries is in Edinburgh. Dom meets his father's mechanic Buddy, who took Jakob after his exile, and learns that Jakob is in London. In Tokyo, Letty and Mia find Han alive, along with his ward Elle. Roman and Tej travel to Germany to recruit Sean Boswell, Twinkie and Earl Hu, who have been working on a "rocket car". In London, Dom meets Queenie Shaw, who gives him Jakob's location. Dom confronts Otto and Jakob at a party held at Otto's mansion; Otto has Dom arrested, but Leysa, Dom's old friend, rescues him. Tej, Roman and Ramsey join Dom in Edinburgh, where Jakob is using an electromagnet to steal the other half of the Project Aries. Tej and Roman find the truck containing the electromagnet; as they fight Otto's men, Ramsey commandeers the truck to chase after Otto.


Dom intercepts Jakob and the two fight throughout the city. Before Otto can extract Jakob, Ramsey runs his car off the road and uses the electromagnet to capture Jakob. At the safe house, Han reveals that he was assigned by Mr. Nobody to protect Elle and Project Aries as Elle's DNA is its biometric activation key. When Jakob went rogue and teamed up with Otto, they used Deckard Shaw to fake Han's death^[b] and protect Elle. Otto and his men attack the safehouse and free Jakob, who reveals to Dom that their father, wanting to escape deep debt, had instructed Jakob to tamper with his car to throw the race. Jakob and Otto kidnap Elle and take the other half of the Project Aries. Otto launches a satellite into orbit, while Jakob has Elle activate Aries. They begin uploading Aries to the satellite, moving throughout Tbilisi in an armored truck.


Dom, Letty, Mia, Ramsey and Han race to stop the upload. As Mia and Han try to breach the truck, Otto reveals that he and Cipher have teamed up and throws Jakob off the truck. Jakob is rescued by Dom and Mia, where he helps them access the truck. Using the rocket car, Tej and Roman enter orbit and destroy the satellite, stopping the upload. Cipher bombs the truck using a UAV in an attempt to kill Dom, but unintentionally kills Otto. Dom uses the ricocheting truck to destroy Cipher's drone, which is revealed to be simulated, and Cipher escapes. Dom and Mia reconcile with Jakob and Dom allows him to escape custody by giving him the keys to his car, finally forgiving Jakob. Tej and Roman reach the International Space Station and are safely returned to Earth. The team celebrates their success with a barbecue at Dom's house. While preparing to say grace, Brian O'Conner's car arrives in the driveway.


In a mid-credits scene, Deckard comes face-to-face with Han and is shocked to see Han alive.