As a refresher, I'll start with a cryptic run down of the characters that came and went in 1 to 9 of this franchise.
The top heavy-weight added along the way was Gisele (Gal Gadot), but then she died and reincarnated as Wonder Woman. Not exactly to replace her but joining the team was another reincarnation, from Game of Thrones, Nathalie Emmanuel as Ramsey as the wiz kid. While this is an ensemble surrounding Dom, there is arguably a female co-lead, Letty (Michelle Rodriguez) who also died but came back to life, in this very franchise. When she was presumed dead, Elena (Elsa Pataky) became the temporary consolation but died herself when Letty came back to life.
For frenemy, there was Hobbs (Dwayne Johnson). For a classy villain (at least initially) there was Shaw (Jason Statham). These two became so popular that they spin off with "Hobbs and Shaw". Then, we had three Oscar winners. Playing two mothers were Helen Mirren and Rita Moreno. Charlize Theron played Cipher the ultimate villain. Oh yes, not to miss the fun was Kurt Russell as Mr. Nobody, who headed The Agency that was friendly to Dom's family. Characters and people come and go, but the saddest is the untimely death of Paul Walker, the actor, who had the only true pivotal role holding the concept of "family" together.
This is a revenge story going back to "Fast 5". Flashback scenes (original and newly created) set up the back-story that fuels devilishly delirious Dante's (Jason Momoa) revenge for his father who was taken down by Dom and family. Back to present, the audience bath in the warmth of a family backyard gathering including everybody (those still alive anyway), followed by a little reminiscence here and there, with Han (Sung Kang), then Letty. Bad news comes from unexpected quarters, not a family member kidnapped or killed. Cipher shows up in blood, explaining "The enemy of my enemy is you". Dante had just raided her place for her gadgets and told her "You want to control the world. I want to punish it".
The first big set piece takes place in Rome, giving the audience what they expect. After the mayhem, everybody in Team Toretto stayed alive but Letty is captured by The Agency and held captive at a black site. Different characters, old and new, go into different trajectories.
The Agency, with Mr Nobody nowhere to be seen, is now hostile, out to get everyone in Team Toretto, especially the loved ones. With the help of Uncle Jakob (John Cena), Mai (Jordana Brewster) and kid Toretto, make a narrow escape. Jakob becomes babysitter while Mai goes to join the team in action.
After a brief meeting with Queenie (Helen Mirren) in the wakes of the Rome mayhem, Dom sets of to Rio to finally face off with Dante, in a car race in Rio where he discovers Elena's sister Isabel (Daniel Melchoir), that is, his son's aunt!
While Mr Nobody is out of the picture, it turns out that he has a daughter Tess (Brie Larson), who seeks out Dom and is persuaded by him to rescue Letty. Off she goes to the black site and the two girls do their thing. When they finally get separated, Tess comes to Dom's assistance, gets shot but not fatally, and is rushed off to hospital by Isabel. Letty gets help from Cipher. As the duo emerge somewhere in Antarctica, in a sea of white ice, they see a sub breaking ice, literally. The hatch opens, someone emerges, drawing from you a "Are you're kidding me"!? In delight. That, by the way, is the final minute of this movie.
A quartet of Ramsey, Han, Roman (Tyrese Gibson) and Tej (Ludacris) find themselves in London with their own adventure. When in London, who do they run into? Shaw, obviously, who killed Han somewhere along the line in the past. Somehow, after the mandatory melee when he tries to kill him again, they become frenemies, as you might expect.
The final set piece is a rescue action sequence with Dom rescues his kid who had fallen temporarily into the hands of Dante. You would expect that Dante is to meet his end. Not the case. You see, watching the end of this movie is like watching Frodo and Sam going into Mordor. There are two more to come in this trilogy which is planned to end this long-lived franchise at Fast XII. In the meantime, with all the loose-ends, have fun contemplating the whereabouts of this profusion of characters.
The top heavy-weight added along the way was Gisele (Gal Gadot), but then she died and reincarnated as Wonder Woman. Not exactly to replace her but joining the team was another reincarnation, from Game of Thrones, Nathalie Emmanuel as Ramsey as the wiz kid. While this is an ensemble surrounding Dom, there is arguably a female co-lead, Letty (Michelle Rodriguez) who also died but came back to life, in this very franchise. When she was presumed dead, Elena (Elsa Pataky) became the temporary consolation but died herself when Letty came back to life.
For frenemy, there was Hobbs (Dwayne Johnson). For a classy villain (at least initially) there was Shaw (Jason Statham). These two became so popular that they spin off with "Hobbs and Shaw". Then, we had three Oscar winners. Playing two mothers were Helen Mirren and Rita Moreno. Charlize Theron played Cipher the ultimate villain. Oh yes, not to miss the fun was Kurt Russell as Mr. Nobody, who headed The Agency that was friendly to Dom's family. Characters and people come and go, but the saddest is the untimely death of Paul Walker, the actor, who had the only true pivotal role holding the concept of "family" together.
This is a revenge story going back to "Fast 5". Flashback scenes (original and newly created) set up the back-story that fuels devilishly delirious Dante's (Jason Momoa) revenge for his father who was taken down by Dom and family. Back to present, the audience bath in the warmth of a family backyard gathering including everybody (those still alive anyway), followed by a little reminiscence here and there, with Han (Sung Kang), then Letty. Bad news comes from unexpected quarters, not a family member kidnapped or killed. Cipher shows up in blood, explaining "The enemy of my enemy is you". Dante had just raided her place for her gadgets and told her "You want to control the world. I want to punish it".
The first big set piece takes place in Rome, giving the audience what they expect. After the mayhem, everybody in Team Toretto stayed alive but Letty is captured by The Agency and held captive at a black site. Different characters, old and new, go into different trajectories.
The Agency, with Mr Nobody nowhere to be seen, is now hostile, out to get everyone in Team Toretto, especially the loved ones. With the help of Uncle Jakob (John Cena), Mai (Jordana Brewster) and kid Toretto, make a narrow escape. Jakob becomes babysitter while Mai goes to join the team in action.
After a brief meeting with Queenie (Helen Mirren) in the wakes of the Rome mayhem, Dom sets of to Rio to finally face off with Dante, in a car race in Rio where he discovers Elena's sister Isabel (Daniel Melchoir), that is, his son's aunt!
While Mr Nobody is out of the picture, it turns out that he has a daughter Tess (Brie Larson), who seeks out Dom and is persuaded by him to rescue Letty. Off she goes to the black site and the two girls do their thing. When they finally get separated, Tess comes to Dom's assistance, gets shot but not fatally, and is rushed off to hospital by Isabel. Letty gets help from Cipher. As the duo emerge somewhere in Antarctica, in a sea of white ice, they see a sub breaking ice, literally. The hatch opens, someone emerges, drawing from you a "Are you're kidding me"!? In delight. That, by the way, is the final minute of this movie.
A quartet of Ramsey, Han, Roman (Tyrese Gibson) and Tej (Ludacris) find themselves in London with their own adventure. When in London, who do they run into? Shaw, obviously, who killed Han somewhere along the line in the past. Somehow, after the mandatory melee when he tries to kill him again, they become frenemies, as you might expect.
The final set piece is a rescue action sequence with Dom rescues his kid who had fallen temporarily into the hands of Dante. You would expect that Dante is to meet his end. Not the case. You see, watching the end of this movie is like watching Frodo and Sam going into Mordor. There are two more to come in this trilogy which is planned to end this long-lived franchise at Fast XII. In the meantime, with all the loose-ends, have fun contemplating the whereabouts of this profusion of characters.