The basic formula that made the “Fast and Furious” franchise immensely successful across the globe—at least post its grounded period—was a strange adherence to showcasing honor among heinous criminals, explosive and senseless action set pieces that defy the laws of physics, and a repeated emphasis on prioritizing the importance of family. Despite being uninventive, this formula, which had worked pretty well for the series thus far and made the franchise among the top earners, has expectedly seemed to have run its course, as the latest entry, Fast X, the first chapter of three parts of the franchise’s culmination saga, suggests. Delving through and countering various world-ending threats through their journey, Dom and his family are facing a danger that entails more personal stakes than in previous installments, and yet, viewers don’t feel the emotional connection they had expected to see in ‘the beginning of the end.’ However, the movie does a decent job of hyping fans up for the subsequent follow-ups, thanks to teases of some long-awaited and even surprising returns.
Spoilers Ahead
Who Is Dante? What Connection Does He Have With Dom And His Family?
The very beginning of the movie takes the viewers back in time to Rio de Janeiro, during the events of “Fast Five” when, as part of the plan orchestrated by their crew, Dom and Brian initiate an operation to steal the fortune of druglord Hernan Reyes. Dom and his crew were incriminated by Reyes on murder charges against DEA agents, and as a form of revenge, the team decided to cook up a heist that would rob Reyes of the entirety of his riches, which he had stowed away in a security vault inside a police station (under his payroll). Viewers meet Dante, son of Hernan Reyes, who was present at the moment at the same police station when the heist was about to happen. With no better alternative at hand, Dom and Brian used the Dodge Charger police cars they had stolen to drag the entire vault out of the building and across the town, leading to a chase by police and separately by Reyes and Dante. As Dom managed to break his trail by swinging the attached vault across the road, Dante’s car got hit, and Dante was thrown into the water below, getting knocked out in the process and almost drowning. Dante would later gain consciousness again from a near-death situation and find out that his father had died, with their entire family fortune gone. The incident that changed his destiny forever will make him hell-bent on obsessively investigating Dom and his family since then, planning a horrifying revenge. In his line of work, Dom has riled up quite a large number of adversaries, and as the movie progresses, we realize Dante is going to be the most despicable of them all.
How Did Dante Manage To Tear Apart Dom’s Family?
In present-day LA, Dom, and Letty are living a peaceful, ‘normal’ life with their son (technically Dom and Elena’s), Brian Marcos. The bond between the extended family is tighter than ever, and Roman, Tej, Han, and Ramsey are living their best lives by making a fortune off of the agency’s contracts. A breakfast scene with the entire extended family present at the garden dining table, with Dom’s mother Abuelita joining to say grace before the meal, sums up the quiet, blissful state and also the importance of the family itself. However, Dom also fears for his son, wife, and the rest of the family, an anxiety he shares with Letty.
Like a bolt out of the blue, the criminal mastermind Cipher appears in a battered state at the doorstep of the Toretto household and warns them of Dante, who has turned henchmen of Cipher’s syndicate against her, taken her entire operative unit and technology, and is coming after Dom and his family. The reason Cipher bothered to come and tell Dom about this is because of the enemy of my enemy situation she suddenly found herself in.
Dom and Mia let the current chief of the secretive government organization, the Agency, Little Nobody, who is their ally, know about this, and they arrest Cipher first. They get to know that the situation has already started to go south as Tej, Roman, Han, and Ramsey have undertaken a heist mission in Rome, mistakenly considering it to be commanded by the Agency. Failing to establish communication with them, Dom and Mia race against time to intercept the heist situation and soon learn that the heist Roman and others have orchestrated on a military truck consists of a primed bomb, which Dante plans to explode in the Vatican now that he is remotely controlling the truck with Tej and Ramsey inside. All attempts to stop the bomb from detonating fail, but Dom manages to make a last-minute maneuver with his car, knocking the bomb into the Tiber, which reduces the impact somewhat and nullifies casualties. However, the destruction is immense, and the apparent act of terrorism puts a target on Dom and his family. Roman and others escape through underground tunnels and later through freight containers to reach London, but while chasing Dante, Letty gets caught by the Authority.
What Made The Agency Turn Against Dom And His Family?
Thus far, Dom’s team has successfully assisted the agency in fending off several world-ending threats, and in exchange, they have received protection, wealth, and other necessities. The partnership, which began with the ex-chief of the organization, Mr. Nobody, was also respected by Little Nobody, who commanded in the former’s absence. Now that Little Nobody is out of action, the current chief of the agency, Aimes, is hell-bent on bringing Dom and his team to justice. Mr. Nobody’s daughter, Tess, has her allegiance lies with Dom’s crew, and she asks Aimes to reconsider his course of action—to no avail. She goes off on her own to warn Dom, and after Dom requests Queenie Shaw to arrange a meeting with Mr. Nobody, Tess meets him in Naples in her father’s stead. She warns Dom of the changed loyalty of the agency and the fact that they will seek to hunt down Dom’s family as well. Tess had also managed to pilfer ‘God’s Eye,’ the ultimate surveillance device, from the Agency HQ and inform Dom of Dante’s connection with Rio (who doesn’t yet know of his identity). Dom requests that Tess look out for Letty before parting ways with her.
An attempt to abduct Dom’s sister Mia and his son Brian is made at the Toretto household by the agency operatives ; however, a timely interception by Jakob, Dom’s brother, whom he had informed about an imminent attack, foils that plan.
According to Dom’s instructions, Jakob decides to bring Brian with him to a rendezvous point and the uncle-nephew bond en route. Roman and the team find themselves bankrupt as Dante has hacked their finances (except Roman, who has the majority of his money stashed with himself), and they seek the help of one of Ramsey’s hacker associates in London, which proves futile. Han decides to make a visit to his old foe, Deckard Shaw, for assistance while they are in London, which goes well after a bunch of agency operatives arrive there as well. Shaw decides to help the bunch with artillery and transport, and after knowing all of Dom’s past associates are in danger, including his mother, Queenie, he sets off on his own to ‘dig some graves.’
What Does Dom Find Out In Rio? What Is Letty Up To?
Dom decides to make a visit to Rio after receiving Tess’ information and meets Dante in person, who shares the motivation behind his pursuit of vengeance. Dante feels that while pulling off a stunt by stealing Hernan’s fortune, Dom robbed him of his family and a future, and therefore he should be paid in kind as well. At that moment, instead of settling things between them through violence and bloodshed, they come to a deal to race to assert dominance, and among the participants are Diogo, one of Dom’s ardent followers, and Isabel, who strikes Dom as someone familiar. During the race, Dom realizes that Dante has rigged the NOS systems of the other two cars as a cruel way to present Dom with the dilemma of choosing to save either of their lives, and Dom ends up saving Isabel at the cost of Diogo’s death. Dom gets to know that Isabel is his deceased ex-girlfriend Elena’s sister, and going through Elena’s files, he gets intel about a police station being a location of interest regarding Dante.
On the other hand, under Aimes’ command, Letty gets imprisoned at one of the agency’s black sites, and as per Dom’s request, Tess makes a visit to her. To allow her escape, Tess injures Letty, which would cause her to get admitted to the less surveyed medical station, and goes off again to assist Dom. After waking up at the medical station, Letty finds Cipher there as well, who uses her tech to free themselves, uses anesthetic to incapacitate the operatives present, and hatches an escape plan. However, the ladies cannot keep themselves to themselves much longer and engage in an all-out brawl. Later, as Letty finds out that they have been imprisoned in Antarctica, of all places, she agrees to take help from Cipher, and the duo venture outside together.
‘Fast X’ Ending Explained: Did Dom And His Family Survive?
At the police station, which is the same exact spot from where Dom and Brian stole Reyes’ vault all those years ago, Dom finds an elaborate visual reminder set up by Dante, who calls Dom and keeps on goading him and threatening his family. Meanwhile, Aimes, who had been covertly tracking Dom using Tess’ location, catches up to him, and Dom surrenders without any qualms. Dante attacks the convoy on the same highway where Dom’s vault attack nearly killed him but finds himself surrounded by Dom, Aimes, and Tess. Dom starts pummeling Dante in anger, but the latter gains the upper hand in a moment as a sniper shoots Aimes, and Dante brings out Isabela as a hostage. Dom is forced to retreat to save Isabela, and Dante takes God’s Eye from Tess. Now having a definitive chance of tracking down Dom’s son and exacting perfect revenge, he leaves. Dom entrusts an injured Tess with Isabela, and Aimes, who sustained no major injury, decides to change his approach toward Dom and his family and agrees to help him bring down Dante.
Elsewhere, Roman and co. board a cargo aircraft to reach Dom; Jakob and Brian arrive at the rendezvous point in Portugal, find themselves surrounded by Dante’s forces, and make a run in Jakob’s ‘Cannon Car.’ The duo is soon reunited with Dom, who jumps off of Aimes’ agency flight in his muscle car and lands on the chasing convoy. Just when it seems the trio will make it through, Dante captures Brian from Jakob, prompting both him and Dom to chase him. Seeing another oncoming convoy that will surely block their path unless it is taken care of, Jakob decides to sacrifice his life for the greater good and bids his brother farewell. Using his car’s canon modifications, Jakob wrecks the convoy by setting the entirety of it ablaze and presumably sacrificing himself in the process. Dom manages to get Brian back by performing a desperate and unthinkable maneuver and catching his son in mid-air. Aimes informs him that he will be landing nearby and sends Dom his location for access.
However, Dom’s relief is short-lived, as he finds himself surrounded in a narrow stretch, cornered by two semi-trailer trucks from each side, and that too right over a river dam—exactly how Dante wanted them to be positioned. Dante presents another surprise to Dom, as right at the moment, the cargo craft carrying Roman and co. appears on the horizon, making Dom realize that it was all part of an elaborate trap. Before Dom alerts Roman of it, a missile is launched at their aircraft by none other than Aimes—a brutal betrayal, to say the least. Through the flashback sequence, it is revealed that Aimes was Reyes’ business partner and was present all those years ago during Dom’s heist. The aircraft crashes behind them, leaving the question of the fates of Roman, Han, Tej, and Ramsey dangling.
With the trucks approaching from both sides, Dom decides to drive right into the lower side of the dam and somehow manages to keep himself and his son unscathed from the fiery explosion caused by the collision behind. However, once again, an extended part of Dante’s plan puts them in jeopardy as he demolishes the dam above Dom and Brian, and viewers remain unaware of their fate, which will surely be explored in upcoming sequels.
As the movie ends, we see Letty and Cipher venturing further into Antarctica when a submarine appears (presumably the nuclear submarine that Cipher stole in The Fate of the Furious), and from it, a familiar face emerges as a delightful surprise. Gisele Yesher, the ex-spy/assassin, a long-time part of Dom’s crew/family, and Han’s old flame, appears to be alive after all, despite events during Fast and Furious 6 that showed her losing her life. The deadly trio will become instrumental in taking the fight back to Dante in the next installments, although Cipher’s allegiance cannot be predicted yet.
‘Fast X’ Post Credits Scene
In the post-credits scene, we see a team of tactical forces breaking into a mansion, presumably Reyes, where a similar visual set-up is arranged by Dante, who threatens one of the members of the force about exacting his revenge on him. The agent is revealed to be none other than Lucas Hobbs, the burly manhunter, who is not only a key part of the franchise but also appears during the events of Fast Five, initially opposing and later joining hands with Dom to take down Reyes’ empire. Although Dom and his crew were responsible for financially ransacking Reyes, it was Hobbs who killed the drug lord as a form of revenge for the deaths of his comrades at the hands of Reyes’ henchmen. If the elaborate revenge plot against Dom was a hint of Dante’s brutality, it would surely increase manifold when he looks to settle scores with the person responsible for his father’s death.
