- Warning: There are spoilers ahead for "
Fast 9 ." Universal Pictures debuted a seven-minute scene from the film to press on Wednesday.- We saw Dom's wild car jump from the trailers. It will be earlier in the
movie than we thought.
I watched seven minutes of the next "Fast and the Furious" movie and if the entire film has the energy of that action-packed sequence, my eye balls are ready for more.
Insider was on hand as 13 movie studios gathered together to preview some of their upcoming summer releases during Wednesday's "The Big Screen is Back" event in Los Angeles. "F9'" footage was shown to the small group of press on hand.
The ninth installment in the "Fast" saga follows Dominic Toretto (
Dwight Caines, president of domestic marketing for Universal Pictures, introduced the extended clip as the film's first big action sequence.
"When we think about the power of movies to connect strangers, think about the power of movies to bring together people from different walks of life, and if you think about the need that we've all had this past year and a half to really connect with each other, 'Fast' is the kind of movie whose DNA is built for that," Caines said.
"'Fast' opening weekend audiences are historically more culturally diverse than the 'Avengers' movies, the standalone Marvel movies, and the 'Star Wars' movies," he added.
The exclusive clip shows an action-packed scene when Dom and Letty meet Jakob Toretto
The clip began with Dom and Letty racing through a forest in Central America as they're being pursued by a group of people we never get to see. Apparently, they have some sort of device that the mystery group are after.
Naturally, Dom is in his classic Charger while Letty is riding a motorcycle.
Somewhere behind them are Roman (Tyrese), Ramsey (Nathalie Emmanuel), and Tej (Ludacris) in another vehicle.
Letty gets hit and soars through the air. Dom swings in just in time to catch Letty on the roof of his car because of course he does. He didn't lose Letty to amnesia and he's not about to lose her to something as simple as this. Ride or die.
A blue Ford Mustang GT350 pulls up alongside them. John Cena's new character opens his driver seat door to snatch up a device Letty dropped and races off.
Letty looks at Dom and says, "That was Jakob back there, wasn't it?"Dom, ever the conversationalist, stays silent and pursues his younger brother.
As seen in the trailers, Jakob races off a cliff only to be rescued moments later by Cipher (Charlize Theron) in some really nice jet. (It's a moment that plays as absolutely bonkers in the trailer).
Meanwhile, Roman, Ramsey, and Tej are navigating a rickety bridge where Jakob raced off the cliff. The bridge gives way, but they (seemingly defy physics) make it to the other side.
With helicopters pursuing him and the bridge now gone, Dom takes a leap of faith, hoping a cable will latch onto his car (it does - because Dom's basically the Iron Man of this franchise) and swings from cliff to cliff.Dom and Letty land pretty safely though his car's seen much better days.
The clip ends with Letty looking over at Dom and saying, matter of factly, "Well, that was new."
Universal didn't give away this movie in the trailers and that makes me even more excited
Every "Fast" film opens up with a big action scene or race and it seems like this one may be it. I was shocked that this was the scene shown.
I thought we were going to see some simple exposition between Dom and Letty at home with the protagonist's son, Brian. Instead, we saw this huge action sequence that takes place early in the film (since Caines noted it's the first big action sequence.)
From the trailers, I assumed this absolutely bonkers (but satisfying) scene with Dom's charger swinging from mountain to mountain was something that would occur mid-way through the film, but it seems like that's not the case at all.
That's exciting since the trailers have shown off several other big action stunts, including a high-powered magnet that pulls vehicles through walls, (what appears to be) a rocket strapped to a car with Tyrese and Ludacris maybe going to space, and a massive truck getting flipped upside down.
The other takeaway is that Letty seems well aware of Jakob. She asks Dom if the man they see is Jakob so she clearly recognizes him from some point in their lives.
It will be interesting to see how director Justin Lin explains Jakob's absence from the previous eight films. I wouldn't be surprised if we see a flashback sequence with some sort of fallout between a young Dom and Jakob.
If I had to guess, it could be over the death of their father. Maybe it's over Dom going to jail.
Between the introduction of Jakob, the return of Han (Sung Kang), Helen Mirren's fast and furious car chase with Dom, and the first real scenes between Letty and Mia (Jordana Brewster) in the franchise, this movie's going to be absolutely off the walls and my body's ready for it.
If this is the level of energy at the film's start, I can't even imagine the adrenaline rush I'm going to get watching the other action pieces when I screen it next month.
"Fast 9" opens in China on Friday and will open in the US on June 25. Until then, check out our conversation with star Jordana Brewster looking back at 20 years of the FastFam.