F9: The Fast Saga finally sends Fast and Furious to space, and the filmmakers apparently had some help from real NASA scientists to make it happen. Getting Dom and the Fast family into orbit has been a joke among fans for years – a testament to how many other absurd things have already happened onscreen in the franchise. With F9, the cast and crew have taken things to a whole other level.
Since Fast Five, every successive film in the franchise has been an exercise in one-upping the last one. There was a time when dragging a giant vault through the streets of Rio and using it as a wrecking ball to take out enemy cars was the peak of the series’ absurdity. But in the years since, the crew has raced tanks, taken down airplanes, outrun drones, battled against nuclear submarines, and leaped cars between adjacent skyscrapers. Twice. Suffice to say, by the time F9 came out, Fast and Furious seemed like it was running out of boundaries to push. At least, on Earth.
In F9, Tej and Roman get blasted into orbit in a rocket car, and while that might sound like the most unrealistic stunt the series has pulled yet, it actually had a lot of professional consultation. Speaking recently with Vulture, director Justin Lin discussed the leadup to F9’s space scenes and the numerous conversations he had with actual rocket scientists. According to Lin, the rocket car is actually one of the more feasible action sequences Fast and Furious has had in years. Read his full quote below.
“Going to space was not something I took for granted or I was very flippant about… It is something that I did have a lot of conversations about. A lot of conversations. And it went from rocket scientists laughing, going, ‘What the fuck?’ to us saying, ‘Well, can this really happen? If other rocket scientists have to get up there and the capsules are coated with these polymers? Blah blah blah.’ This is something that was thought out. If anything — logistically, scientifically — it’s one of the most sound action set pieces in our franchise.”
After all the buildup leading into F9’s release, the space sequence certainly didn’t disappoint. Seeing Tej and Roman soaring over the Earth to take down a satellite that could dismantle modern society is just as ridiculous as it sounds, and it’s one of the absolute high points of the franchise so far. And with two more movies to go, it seems likely that F9 won’t be the crew’s last trip into the cosmos.
It’s honestly a bit difficult to imagine Fast and Furious 10 topping the absurdity of the previous films, and even harder to imagine Fast and Furious 11 doing so again. At this point, Dom and his family of superhero racers have faced off against nearly every kind of vehicle on the planet and averted global catastrophe multiple times over. That’s a long shadow to outrun for two more movies, but if any franchise can do it, it’s Fast and Furious.
Source: Vulture