Fans of Fast & Furious were left reeling today after the newly released trailer showed John Cena in a previously unknown role.
WWE Superstar John Cena, who has been known to go in on ventures outside the ring including rapping, acting, and game show-hosting, was confirmed today in a new role as Vin Diesel’s brother in Fast & Furious 9. You can watch his appearance in the trailer above, which was officially released this morning.
The trailer shows Dom Toretto (Vin Diesel) leading a peaceful life post-F&F 8, happily married to Letty (Michelle Rodriguez) with young son Brian. Of course, things inevitably descend into a hellish rocket-fueled racing nightmare when a mysterious enemy, Jakob (John Cena), bursts his peaceful little bubble. He is a master thief. Assassin. High performance driver. But it doesn’t stop there. He is also…Dom’s little brother.
Other notable Easter eggs include the return of Sun Kang’s Han, who was killed off in Tokyo Drift. Although he was shown in flashbacks in some of the later movies, he finally returns in the flesh in the ninth installment of this gripping ballad to road rage.
It’s also been reported that Bronx-native rapper Cardi B and reggae-pop superstar Ozuna make appearances in the film, though Cardi is in character while Ozuna is expected to cameo as himself. Charlize Theron and Helen Mirren round out the cast.
The trailer ponders important questions on the meaning of life and family. Mirren’s haunting narration is superimposed over Amazing Race-esque scenes of the gang racing up tropical mountains, jumping out of windows and firing guns across European cities, and even shredding a rickety wooden bridge as the desperately ford a gorge. Dom (in white) is tackled by Jakob (in black). Because Dom is the good one and Jakob is the bad one. Obviously.
The Fast and Furious franchise — or, as it is now known, The Fast Saga — is slated for two upcoming releases in the next two years, so expect an F10 on the horizon sometime soon. The movies transitioned to being more spy-oriented in 2009 with the release of Fast & Furious 4, which saw the ragtag team of drag racers and street thieves evolve, basically, into cartel-bashing international super-cops. Cipher returns in F9 as an ally of Jakob, which will certainly please fans who were happy with her big reveal in The Fate of the Furious.
It isn’t clear yet whether this epically saturated blockbuster will be a smash hit for Universal Pictures; some F&F titles are huge hits and others a flop with fans and critics alike. Still, it’s worth going out to see this one and make that judgment for yourself. F&F is one of the highest grossing film franchises in media history for a reason. With so much of the original crew coming back together to make this film, it’s sure to be a hard-hitting dose of nostalgia if nothing else.
Fast & Furious 9 is out everywhere in the US on May 22, 2020.
