Officially, the Fast & Furious franchise consists of nine feature films, with the tenth on the way, plus a spin-off, Hobbs & Shaw (2019), which didn't please Vin Diesel at all. However, that is only section of the story: true fans understand that the Gospel According to Toretto has spread through animated series ?Fast & Furious: Spies at Full Throttle (2017-2021)?, video gaming, an attraction in every the Universal theme parks and a couple of short films simply for the very, very insiders.
The first of them has the incredible title of The Turbo Charged Prelude for 2 2 Fast 2 Furious (2003) and is, well, a straightforward prelude to the second film, devoted to how Brian O'Connor (Paul Walker) manages to evade the authorities. from Los Angeles until landing in Miami. The producers' idea was to determine a kind of connective tissue between the first two installments and fill a narrative gap that, ultimately, consolidated Brian because the absolute protagonist of the story, since Diesel did not want to return. Only Fast X designed for the web ?hence its aesthetic, almost worthy of a Sisq� video clip?, although some North American cinemas showed it before 2 Fast 2 Furious to provide the public a more complete experience.
When you won't find anyone defending The Turbo Charged Prelude for just two 2 Fast 2 Furious as an essential piece of mythology, things are very different in terms of the next short. Los Bandoleros (2009), written and directed by Vin Diesel himself, introduces Tego Calder�n and Don Omar in to the saga, two musicians turned actors who be essential pieces in some subsequent installments, especially Fast 5 (2011). Not only that, but it also details what happened to the characters of Dom and Letty (Michelle Rodriguez) after the original film, besides recovering Sung Kang's Han, whose friendship with the paterfamilias had been established by the end of Fast & Furious: Tokyo Race (2006). More than an interlude between movies, Los Bandoleros is a refoundation of the franchise, a new beginning where Diesel allowed himself to look at a far more poetic and relaxed tone, commensurate with the natural settings of the Dominican Republic (where he himself, a reggaeton enthusiast, insisted that ought to be set). It is not strictly necessary that you view it in the next fast and furious marathon, nonetheless it responds to the authorial vision of the primary creative engine of it. That makes it an interesting curiosity.
However, the story will not end there. Only the most dedicated to the reason know this, but there is a secret, semi-official film that, because of director Justin Lin's capability to slip under Universal's radar, can be viewed as area of the experience. From the certain viewpoint, sure, but take our word for it: the crime dramedy Better Luck Tomorrow (2002) traces the origins of the character Han Lue, also played by Kang (can you envisage any other actor in that role?). He and Lin have confirmed on multiple occasions that it's indeed exactly the same character, so there is no reason, other than the obvious and boring copyright issue, to exclude her from canon. In fact, their presence transforms this cinematic universe into a more expansive and richly nuanced place: it's funny to think that while Dom and Brian were meeting in downtown L.A., the characters in Better Luck Tomorrow were living their very own ordeal a few feet away. kilometers of distance.
The story of how this indie film found its way into F&F is fascinating enough to miss. When screenwriter Chris Morgan heard that Universal was open to ideas for a third film in the series, he showed up at his offices with a pitch about how Dominc Toretto decides to travel to Japan to investigate the murder of a vintage friend. Since Diesel had not been yet interested in time for what would become his family ? he only wished to create a brief final cameo following the studio gave him the rights to The Chronicles of Riddick (2004) ? Morgan contacted Justin Lin to imagine a fresh protagonist. The director thought it might be a great opportunity to cast an Asian-American actor as the franchise's new hero, however the producers flatly refused, arguing that someone like Lucas Black could have more potential at the box office. Lin reluctantly agreed, asking them to at least let him revise the script to create it less "offensive and outdated" (those were his words).