Fast and Furious star Vin Diesel is claiming that the final two installments of the franchise will start filming next year. Why wouldn’t they add two more movies to this neverending muckraker of a franchise — the ninth installment just opened with a pandemic-era record $70 million at the weekend box-office.
"I'm doing Fast 10 Part 1 and Part 2, the finale of the saga, in January," Diesel, who plays Dominic Toretto, said in a recent interview with Regal.
I did not review “F9,” nor do I have the desire to do so, the whole series strikes me as one big cash grab. Sure, it’s had its semi-decent bright spots; the underrated “Tokyo Drift” is a particular standout due to being such an anomaly when compared to the rest of the series; As it stands, “Fast Five” is the best of the nine, due to its Rio de Janeiro setting and the introduction of Dwayne Johnson’s Hobbs.
In 05.22 21 I posted “Has the ‘Fast and Furious’ Franchise Ever Been Good?” —
“Yes, the ninth installment in the “Fast & Furious” franchise will be a very popular movie for the low-IQ movie crowd and they tend to show up in droves to watch these movies. The lures of this never-ending franchise has always been the fast cars, but “The French Connection,” “Death Proof,” “Drive,” “Bullit,” “Ronin,” or even “Baby Driver” this is not.”
“Vin Diesel and company are back for “F9” and I honestly couldn’t care less about it. There will be big guns, big muscle, big cars and, really, just big everything because this is America and it’s go big or go home. This ninth chapter will also, I’m just guessing here, end with a big family barbecue where the whole cast is gathered together as the camera slowly rises to the clouds.”
“Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson and Jason Statham won’t be returning for this new sequel. Vin Diesel, who played the other bald team member in the franchise, is back. In fact, Diesel is the only actor that has been in every ‘Furious’ movie since the franchise began in 2001 with “The Fast and the Furious”. He just loves this shit, and why wouldn't he? The 53-year-old actor gets payed $20 million a pop for every one of these bad boys. He will be joined by regulars Michelle Rodriguez, Tyrese Gibson, Chris “Ludacris” Bridges, Jordana Brewster, Nathalie Emmanuel, Charlize Theron, and … Helen Mirren?”
I’ve seen the eight previous films and only moderately liked 2011’s “Fast Five,” the rest were as bland, overstylized and empty as Vin Diesel’s acting.