The Fate of the Furiousis the first film in a new trilogy. It is known. Franchise starVin Dieseland long-time writerChris Morganhave been trotting out that exact verbiage in interviews over the last few weeks, making it clear that the events ofFatewill pay off in the ninth and tenth films. So now that we’ve all had a chance to see the movie (at least judging bythose box office returns), let’s take a look at the end ofFateand what it sets up for theFuriousfilms to come.
Spoilers for Fate of the Furious below, obvi.
Fate of the Furiousis the first franchise installment after the tragic and untimely death ofPaul Walker, who spent a decade playing Brian O’Connor; the swoonworthy heart and moral compass of the franchise who traded in his badge for a life among the outlaws. Without the core of Brian’s story, his b/romance with the Toretto siblings, and the corresponding real-life chemistry between Walker and Diesel,Fatestaged an inversion of the franchise format by making Dom Toretto, the Furious paterfamilias, turn against his own family to as an aide to theCharlize Theron’s cyber terrorist, Cipher.
If you need a quick refresher, Cipher finds Dom in Cuba on his honeymoon with Letty (Michelle Rodriguez) where she coerces him to betray his beloved family to save a son he didn’t know he had. Turns out Elena (Elsa Pataky) got pregnant sometime betweenFast FiveandFurious 6, but she realized it just as Dom learned Letty was still alive, so she kept the news to herself with a plan to tell him after he got back from his honeymoon. And so we meet the little chubby-cheeked Toretto without a name, which is a super soapy narrative move, but also one of the only justifications that would sell Dom’s turn against his family.
In the process, we also learn that Cipher is the ultimate big bad of the franchise. Not just because she’s deadly cold – Cipher has Elena shot in the head just because Dom wasn’t willing to put down his own wife – she’s also a sort of Thanos to theFast and Furiousworld. Turns out Cipher has been pulling the strings all along. She employs multiple terrorists, includingFurious 7’s Jakande (Djimon Hounsou), the mercenary who kidnapped Ramsey for the God’s Eye, and Owen Shaw (Luke Evans), theFurious 6baddie who pitted the amnesiac Letty against her family in an attempt to sell a deadly tech device to the highest bidder. The fact that Owen Shaw was on Cipher’s payroll is important for a couple reasons. One, he was the boss of Braga (John Ortiz), the drug lord who set Letty’s execution inFast & Furious. But more importantly, it was Owen’s defeat inFurious 6that drew the attention of his bigger, badder brother Deckard Shaw (Jason Statham), the assassin who terrorized the family inFurious 7.
Here’s whereFate of the Furious runs into a narrative snag that has some fans… well, furious. If you recall, Owen was left in critical condition afterFurious 6’s infamous neverending tarmac battle, leading his seriously pissed off ex-special forces brother to the family’s doorstep, where he tried to kill them all. Which is where things get tricky, becauseFate of the Furiouspulls some serious retconning and audience manipulation to make Deckard a new member of the family just one film later.
Fate softens up the Shaw boys a bit by introducing us to their mother (Helen Mirren), who Dom contacts while he’s under Cipher’s thumb with a deal – if her sons rescue his baby, Dom will let the Shaw boys go free and, in the process, give them at shot at getting revenge the woman who tore the Shaw family apart. See, it turns out Cipher tried to recruit Deckard first, and when he said no, she went after his little brother. It also turns out that Deckard was an awarded British military hero before his government turned on him, labeling him a terrorist (something along the lines of what happens toDwayne Johnson’s Hobbs at the beginning ofFate). Deckard fakes his own death with a little help fromFast Five’s Leo (Tego Calderon) and Santos (Don Omar), tracks Cipher’s plane via Dom’s familiar cross necklace, and rocketeers onboard with Owen in tow, where the duo take out her men and rescue the baby. They get their hero moment (though Cipher escapes), Statham gets the best set-piece in the movie, and after striking up a broship with Hobbs, it seems Deckard gets a spot at the family table. Maybe one of the spots where Han and Gisele used to sit.
That’s the big flaw in theFate of the Furiousscript. It ignores the fundamental tenant the entire franchise is built on: family. Deckard didn’t just come at the family, he executed a beloved character,Sung Kang’s Han, in cold blood. Han’s death has been shown in threeFuriousfilms, it’s a central event that caused the entire franchise to pivot and shift timelines just to keep the character around.Fate of the Furiousnot only acts like it never happened, it invites the murderer to a seat at the table. Well at least the new table, since he blew the old one up. Understandably, the fact that Deckard killed Han is getting most of the play right now. However, it’s equally important to note that Deckard tried to blow up not one, but two pregnant women. Pregnant women who were carrying the Toretto bloodline, no less. Mia was carrying her second child with Brian at the time and almost went up in flames when Deckard bombed the old Toretto home, and Elena, who would have been pregnant with Dom’s son at the time, was bombed out of a fourth-story window when he targeted Hobbs' office.
He can say he did it all for his family, the sacredFuriousmantra, but straight up, the Deckard Shaw we were introduced to inFurious 7was a monster andFate of the Furiousdoesn’t come close to absolving him.
However,Fate of the Furiousdoes makes it very clear that Deckard is a part of the team now, not just because Mr. Nobody (Kurt Russell) says so, but because he’searnedan ice cold Corona and a seat at the table. Likewise, Owen Shaw is still in play, along with their cheeky mum, who Morgan has said he wants to give more to do in future films. What does all this mean for the future? Well, there’s a few things to look at. For one, the signs are pointing to a possible new chapter in the Han saga, or at least a coda. While it’s infuriating that Han is never mentioned, it’s also impossible to believe that Chris Morgan, who has orchestrated the entireFuriousnarrative sinceTokyo Drift(the film that introduced Han in the first place) just forgot about him. Morgan has said in interviews that we don’t know Shaw’s full story yet, and considering this franchise’s track record with resurrecting characters, it’s possible thatFateis laying the groundwork for a reveal that will fully absolve Shaw of his sins (except that whole exploding pregnant women thing). If Owen survived that runway, I like to think Gisele could have too. I like to think that she and Han are pulling a Brian and Mia on the beach somewhere.
What’s more certain is that Cipher will be definitely back, and boy is she going to be pissed. Cipher kidnapped Dom’s kid and turned his life upside down mostly just because he pissed her off too many times. And he didn’t even know she existed when he took down her other crews. This time, Dom not only wiped out her organization, he killed her “red headed boyfriend”, sent the Shaw brothers after her, and destroyed her nukes.Fate of the Furiousdidn’t just introduce another disposable villain to be topped in the next film, it established a primary antagonist that can carry the family through the rest of the trilogy.
Then there’s the matter of Hobbs. SinceFast Five, Johnson has become a critical component of theFast and Furiouscharm. Adding Statham to the mix only makes it more obvious as the two have fantastic screen chemistry and their beefy rivalry-turned-bromance a much need dose of that testosterone-drenched male bonding that has defined the franchise through the amorphous lineup of filmmakers and cast members over the years. In truth,Johnson should be leading these films now. However, at the end of theFate, Hobbs turns down Mr. Nobody’s offer to be reinstated, opting to stay home with his daughter. There are also rumors that Vin Diesel shut down an ending scene that focused on Hobbs and Shaw, reportedly a continuance of the well-documented beef between Diesel and Johnson. It’s unlikely that Hobbs' decision to retire will keep him out of the franchise for long considering Johnson’s star power and box office appeal, but Diesel is a creative force on the franchise so how that conflict will manifest in the narrative, if at all, remains to be seen.
Finally, there’s the matter of the baby. He is adorable and I expect he’ll stay that way.Dom named him Brian in a loving nod to Paul Walker. Of course he did. Family forever.
What do you guys think of the ending? Can you buy into Deckard Shaw the good guy? Is Cipher a strong enough villain to carry two more films? Should Hobbs be the main man now? Sound off in the comments.
