As the highest-grossing Hollywood blockbuster released since the beginning of 2020, Fast & Furious 9‘s box office haul of $716 million and counting showed that even a pandemic was no match for family. A 59 percent score on Rotten Tomatoes makes it one of the worst-reviewed entries since the initial reinvention a decade ago, but an audience score of 82% proves the fans are more than happy with the outcome.
At 143 minutes, F9 is a whole lot of movie as it is, but that hasn’t stopped the home video release from being burdened with a Director’s Cut, albeit one that only adds an extra seven minutes. While Zack Snyder would openly laugh in the face of an extended version with such a paltry amount of new footage, director Justin Lin explained in a new interview with ScreenRant why he decided it was a worthwhile endeavor.
“Well, it’s interesting, because a lot of times when you see and hear extended cut, you’re like, ‘Oh’, you watch it and you’re like, ‘Wait, was this like an extra punch in a fight’, or whatever. But I can tell you, I think developing this film… I think coming back, we had even more. It felt like it was like three movies that were squished into one. I don’t even think Fast 9, or F9, is a film. It almost just feels like it was a point in time to be able to connect all these characters. And so, when we were going to the theatrical release, I just felt like, for pacing, I had to take some out. Not for quality, it was just pacing. And so, to be able to have this opportunity, to be able to share everything with the audience, that’s exciting, just to have this medium.”
If you’ll believe it, the lengthier scenes restored to their original glory largely focus on family, deepening the relationship between the Toretto siblings, one that grew so fractious that we never heard any mention of Jakob for 20 years. Now, he’s burst back onto the scene with forearms like holiday hams, using them to rappel the entire length of Edinburgh in a straight line—something you most definitely cannot do.
Fast & Furious 9, except with seven more minutes of both fastness and furiosity? Yes please, and we can expect this one to dislodge the Snyder Cut from the sales charts in short order.
