Officially, the Fast & Furious franchise includes nine feature films, with the tenth along the way, plus a spin-off, Hobbs & Shaw (2019), which did not please Vin Diesel at all. However, that is only portion of the story: true fans know that the Gospel According to Toretto has spread through animated series ?Fast & Furious: Spies at Full Throttle (2017-2021)?, video gaming, an attraction in all the Universal theme parks and a couple of short films just for the, very insiders.
The first of them has the incredible title of The Turbo Charged Prelude for just two 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 some sort 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 didn't want to return. A mere promotional material designed for the web ?hence its aesthetic, almost worth a Sisq� video clip?, although some North American cinemas showed it before 2 Fast 2 Furious to give the public a far more complete experience.
While you won't find anyone defending The Turbo Charged Prelude for 2 2 Fast 2 Furious as an essential little bit of mythology, things have become different with regards to 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) following the original film, along with recovering Sung Kang's Han, whose friendship with the paterfamilias have been established at the end of Fast & Furious: Tokyo Race (2006). A lot more than an interlude between movies, Los Bandoleros is a refoundation of the franchise, a fresh beginning where Diesel allowed himself to look at a more poetic and relaxed tone, in keeping 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, but it responds to the authorial vision of the main creative engine of it. That makes it an interesting curiosity.
However, the story will not end there. Only probably the most dedicated to the reason know this, but there exists a secret, semi-official film that, thanks to director Justin Lin's capability to slip under Universal's radar, can be considered part of the experience. From the certain perspective, sure, but take our word for this: the crime dramedy Better Luck Tomorrow (2002) traces the origins of the character Han Lue, also played by Kang (can you imagine any other actor in that role?). https://www.fastxmovi.com/ and Lin have confirmed on multiple occasions that it's indeed the same character, so there is no reason, other than the obvious and boring copyright issue, to exclude her from canon. Actually, their presence transforms this cinematic universe right into a more expansive and richly nuanced place: it's funny to believe that while Dom and Brian were meeting in downtown L.A., the characters in Better Luck Tomorrow were living their own ordeal only 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 available to suggestions for a third film in the series, he arrived 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 returning to what would end up being his family ? he only wanted to make a brief final cameo after the studio gave him the rights to The Chronicles of Riddick (2004) ? Morgan contacted Justin Lin to imagine a new protagonist. The director thought it will be a great opportunity to cast an Asian-American actor as the franchise's new hero, but the producers flatly refused, arguing that someone like Lucas Black would have more potential at the box office. Lin reluctantly agreed, asking them to at the very least let him revise the script to make it less "offensive and outdated" (those were his words).