One of the most awkward encounters across the tenth and eleventh installments in the Fast & Furious franchise is going to be the reunion between Sung Kang’s Han Lue and Jason Statham’s Deckard Shaw.
After all, the former was murdered during the sixth film’s credits scene to set Shaw up as the big bad of number seven, but despite trying to kill Dominic Toretto and the crew for the entirety of the running time, just one film later he was welcomed into the fold as part of the family after teaming up with his brother to rescue a baby from a free-falling plane as part of a daring midair rescue mission, a sentence that would only make sense in The Fast Saga.
Statham’s former rogue is now accepted as part of the family, but Han is also back in the fold for Fast & Furious 9, which hits theaters nationwide today. In a new interview, Kang was asked how he could end up taking his revenge against the man thought to be responsible for his death, and it sounds as though he won’t be opting for the straightforward ‘kicking his ass’ method.
“Well, I mean, all kidding aside, Han has lost his love and there’s revenge from his side. He needs that. But the question is, how does a person or a man like Han enact his revenge? Is it by force or is it psychological? Is it emotional? What is it? I think that’s what I’m looking for to is how is that face-off approached? Is it traditional?
Because I don’t think one-on-one that he’s going to take Deckard Shaw. I mean, Deckard Shaw is Jason Statham. He knows martial arts. Han doesn’t. He knows no martial arts. I know for a fact, because Sung Kang knows no martial arts. If I know no martial arts, Han knows no martial arts. Han’s a lover. He’s not the fighter. So let’s see, let’s see.”
It’s true that in both real life and onscreen Kang wouldn’t stand a chance against either Statham or his Fast & Furious alter ego, so perhaps the emotional and/or psychological route is the smartest and safest way to go. #JusticeForHan is about to be served, and with the concluding movies set to bring back almost everyone to have played a substantial role over the last two decades, the actor may have to backtrack on previous comments he made where he claimed not to have any issues with Shaw getting a redemption arc at this expense.
