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Jul 29, 2023

'Fast X': Details, Nods, and 'Fast and Furious' References You Missed

The movie starts out with a massive flashback to the events of the end of "Fast

The movie starts out with a massive flashback to the events of the end of "Fast Five," when Dominic Toretto (Vin Diesel) and his crew steal Hernan Reyes' (Joaquim de Almeida) vault.

If some of those shots looked unfamiliar, it's because they're new.

"We reshot some stuff on 35-millimeter with the same cameras," director Louis Leterrier told Insider. "We also went into the archives and looked at all the dailies. So there was a lot of stuff that you haven't seen before."

"We reinterpreted the chase through a different point of view, through the Reyes' point of view," Leterrier added of the opening sequence. "So, Dom and Brian are the bad guys in our point of view at the beginning of the movie."

Of going back through footage from "Fast Five," he added: "That was exciting. That was also very emotional because I was watching dailies with Young Vin and Young Paul and then they were Brian and Dom between 'action and cut,' but I could see their interaction as friends before and after, and that was really amazing to see. Really, really emotional."

In "Fast X," Dante (Jason Momoa) seeks revenge on Dom's crew for killing his dad. But real "Fast" fans know that Luke Hobbs (Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson) was the one who actually shot the Reyes patriarch.

For someone who's been planning his revenge on Dom for a decade, it's strange that Dante doesn't fixate on that important detail — until the end-credits scene when the villain acknowledges that Dom drove the car, but Hobbs pulled the trigger.

According to Universal, Dom's son, Little Brian, is 8 years old in "Fast X."

Since Little B was about four in "Fast 9," the sequel likely takes place about four years later.

That's a nod to the start of 2017's "The Fate of the Furious."

When Dom and Letty (Michelle Rodriguez) visit Cuba on their honeymoon, Dom shows Letty that his cousin has a boat engine inside of a car he's fixing up.

Diesel's 20-minute prelude to the fourth "Fast" film, "Los Bandoleros," shows Dom, Han, and Letty in the Dominican Republic, breaking Leo (Tego Calderon) out of prison to plan a way to bring gas to its citizens.

Written and directed by Diesel, the short film's Spanish title translates to "Outlaws," a fitting nickname for Dom and Han.

Before he rolled with Dom's crew, Tej (Ludacris) operated an auto garage seen in "2 Fast 2 Furious."

After the events of "Fast Five," Tej used the money he earned from the heist to open another garage in Miami named Tej's Auto Service.

The song was cowritten by Puth to close out the 2015 film "Furious 7" as a tribute to Paul Walker, who died in 2013 before completing the movie.

Letty was previously killed off in the fourth "Fast and Furious" movie. In the end-credits scene of "Fast Five," it was revealed that she wasn't dead.

Letty returned, with amnesia, in "Fast & Furious 6."

The two were married off-screen in the Dominican Republic in the fourth film's prequel short, "Los Bandoleros," which was directed by Vin Diesel.

Glimpses of their wedding ceremony were featured in "Furious 7," when Letty regained her memories.

In "F9," it was established that when unwanted visitors stopped by, Little Brian (the son of Dom and Elena Neves) had a plan in place for where to hide so he'd stay safe.

Cipher, the main villain of "The Fate of the Furious," unexpectedly appears on Dom's doorstep, bleeding and bruised.

"I met the devil tonight," she tells Dom, before saying that Dante showed up at her lair, killed some of her men, took a few of them with him, and stole her tech.

"The enemy of my enemy is you," Cipher says, warning Dom that Dante's coming after him.

Dom's heard that line before, but it was used against him.

In "Furious 7," Deckard Shaw (Jason Statham) asked Dom if he ever heard the phrase "the enemy of my enemy is my friend" before revealing he teamed up with another group that was after Dom's crew.

In "Fast X," Ramsey (Nathalie Emmanuel), Roman (Tyrese Gibson), Tej, and Han head to Rome to retrieve a chip. They strap a small figurine, which they nickname "tiny Tej," to a mini car that's being remotely controlled.

"You said you wanted to drive. Now you driving," Roman tells Tej.

This moment is reminiscent of a scene from "Fast Five," as the team was doing some recon to figure out how to steal Reyes' fault from the police station in Rio. They did this by having Roman plant a robot-like car with a camera in the evidence room.

As Tej navigated the vehicle, Roman made fun of his driving skills.

"You still can't drive," he told Tej. "Now I see why you're always getting into accidents. You can't even drive a damn remote-control car.

Dante is fond of accessorizing and wears a variety of jewelry in "Fast X." Among his many rings is one that has a skull on it.

In real life, Momoa's been rocking similar skull jewelry for years. Back in 2018, he even commissioned matching skull rings for himself and Lenny Kravitz.

It's possible that Dante's skull ring may have been Momoa's idea.

In the production notes, Momoa said that he "was inspired by a pastel sapphire necklace to create a softer side to Dante."

"I wanted to see him in all these pastel colors, in contrast to his dad's put-together character," he explained. "I wanted to create an inviting appearance where, once you get close, it's like being invited in by the devil. And once he has you, he has you."

Eastwood actually auditioned to play Captain America in the Marvel Cinematic Universe.

This isn't the first time someone's been referred to as Cap in the "Fast" franchise.

When Hobbs visits the CCTV office and asks for access to footage around Waterloo Station, one of the employees says, "Will somebody tell Captain America here that requires clearance?"

Created by Ramsey and introduced in "Furious 7," Mr. Nobody (Kurt Russell) described it as a tracking device that can simultaneously hack into "anything on the digital network," including cell phones, satellites, ATM machines, and computers to locate someone.

"If it's got a microphone and a lens, God's Eye can find you," Mr. Nobody told Dom.

Aimes, the new leader of the Agency, uses Ramsey's device to track down Dom's group after Dante frames them for a terrorist attack in Rome in "Fast X."

After beating Mia in a video game, Dom's son tells his aunt, "It doesn't matter if you win by an inch or a mile – winning is winning."

That's a throwback to one of the franchise's best moments.

Dom delivers that line to Brian, little B's namesake, in the first film after beating him in a street race. Brian, smiling, is completely OK with it, telling Dom he almost had him.

This feels reminiscent of a fight scene from "F9," when Letty and Mia go to Tokyo in search of Han.

While inside a building, they're attacked and Mia uses the closet objects she can find, like pans and skillets from the nearby kitchen, to fend off the men.

Her jacket was actually a nod to Vin Diesel's daughter Pauline, who has a jacket with the same phrase written on it in real life.

During a recent appearance on "The Kelly Clarkson Show," Diesel said that Larson's character was inspired by his child.

Mr. Nobody's whereabouts have been unknown since "F9," where Dom and his team learned that his plane was attacked and crashed while transporting Cipher.

Jakob (John Cena) drove that same 1992 Mustang as a teen in a race against Dom's 1967 Charger in "F9."

In "Fast X," he tells Little B that he got the car when he was 13.

That car was purposely chosen for Jakob to signify the "real-world rivalry" between the Dodge Charger and Ford Mustang and mirror the film's tension between the Toretto brothers.

Blue was always associated with Walker's character, Brian, who became a brother to Dom in the series.

In 2021, "F9" director Justin Lin told Insider he only ever considered using the color blue for Jakob's car to highlight their brotherhood.

"We had to choose blue," Lin said at the time. "It's the exploration between the two… I think there was no other color than blue."

After Mr. Nobody gets injured in "Furious 7," he tells Dom he really needs to try a Belgian beer. Earlier on, Dom passed on Mr. Nobody's beer of choice, opting for a Corona.

By the end, Dom seems to consider giving a Belgian a shot.

In "Fast X," Mr. Nobody's daughter, Tess, unknowingly offers Dom a Belgian when they meet in Naples. The drink of choice likely made Dom think of her father.

This is a callback to a scene from "Fast & Furious 6," when Dom was trying to get Letty to remember her past.

He told her that she got the scar the first time they met, at a street race, when she was 15.

At the time, Dom was showing off, lost control of his car, and crashed into hers.

The couple, who wed in 2019, briefly bump into Jakob and Little B while trying to get through North Yuma Airport.

He races against Dante, Dom, and Isabel (Daniela Melchior) in Rio and it costs him his life.

During a conversation in Rio, Dante admits that his dad wasn't great, but Dom took their money and left them suffering.

In response, Dom said that he didn't take their money, he burned it.

Dom and Brian burned some of Hernan Reyes' money in "Fast Five," as a way to get the antagonist to consolidate his money from all the cash houses into one location.

But Dom's crew subsequently stole a vault full of $100 million from a police station to divide among themselves.

Not many people outside of Dom's crew know about that since they swapped out the vaults, leaving an empty one to be found by Hobbs on a bridge in Rio de Janeiro.

Not only did Cipher have Little Brian's mother, Elena (Elsa Pataky), murdered in front of Dom in "The Fate of the Furious," but Cipher also unnecessarily kissed Dom in front of Letty in that same movie.

Letty never had a chance to settle the score with Cipher for hurting her and her family. So when they get imprisoned together at a black site in Antarctica, Letty takes the opportunity to fully unleash on Cipher.

When Roman proudly figures out how to get himself, Han, Tej, and Ramsey out of Rome and into London to hide from Dante, Ramsey tells him this city is the worst place they can be since it's covered in cameras.

Roman should've known that.

In "Fast 6," as Dom's crew was hunting down Owen Shaw (Luke Evans), Luke Hobbs mentions to the entire team that London is the "worst damn city in the world to commit a crime. They got cameras on every street corner."

Davidson has a cameo as a guy who runs a black market site. Ramsey, Tej, Roman, and Han visit him to discreetly acquire weapons and transport. Instead, he betrays them and alerts the agency of their whereabouts.

In case that line sounds familiar, it's because it was said twice in "Fast Five."

Tej first said it when he rattled off the specs of Reyes' vault.

"Do I want to know how you know all that?" Brian asked him.

"I had a life before you knew me, O'Conner," Tej said. "Let's just leave it at that, all right."

Then, after Han manages to acquire a safe that's a duplicate of the one Reyes owns, Tej asked: "Where in the hell did y'all get one of these?"

"Well, we had a life before you met us," Han replied.

Meadow Walker Thornton-Allan appears on Jakob and Little B's flight.

She gives Jakob three mini Smirnoff bottles, saying: "Here's the drink you ordered, sir."

Walker teased her cameo with a touching message shared on Instagram ahead of the sequel's release.

"I grew up on set watching my father, Vin, Jordana, Michelle, Chris and more on the monitors. Thanks to my dad, I was born into the fast family. I can't believe now I get to be up there too. With those who have been around to see me grow up," Walker wrote.

"I am so blessed to be able to honor my father's legacy and share this with him forever," she added.

When the Deckard and Han confrontation was first filmed for "Fast 9," Han had extremely short hair.

But when the scene appears in "Fast X," audiences see a reshot scene with Han confusingly sporting his trademark long locks. The two scenes don't quite match up.

"The reason I wanted Han's hair to be short was that he's in hiding," Sung Kang told Insider of Han's different look in "F9." "So if he's walking around looking like Han it doesn't really make any sense to the character. You cut his hair, he kind of blends in."

When he returned for "Fast X," he requested Han's hair to be long again.

"I realized that there are a few things that people need from Han," Kang said. "They want snacks, they want cool cars, and they want his hair. The hair is almost like a superpower he has."

Unfortunately, when they filmed the "F9" mid-credits scene with Han's shorter hair, Kang wasn't aware that moment would take place years later in the "Fast" timeline to match up with the events of "Fast X." As a result, Kang said they talked a lot about Han's hair, resulting in the behind-the-ear tuck we see on screen.

"Because everybody is OCD about their work and they're into details, details are what matters, there were a lot of notes and discussion about, "Hey Han's hair in the tag is short. How are we gonna do it?" And we did these tests where you get really close with the tucked-in hair," Kang said of Han tucking back his hair in order to give it a shorter appearance.

Deckard's rage has been on display in past installments of the franchise, particularly when he played the villain in "Furious 7."

Earlier in the film, Roman's Lamborghini's license plate reads "Car Sick."

While in Deckard's hideout, Ramsey realizes that Dante has hired mercenaries to go after everyone who has ever helped Dom.

As she speaks, an image of Monica from "2 Fast 2 Furious" can be seen on a monitor.

That photo may be the only time Fuentes resurfaces. During an appearance on "The View" in 2022, Mendes said she "won't do violence" or anything with sexuality if she returns to acting.

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