F9 brought the new character of Jakob Toretto (John Cena) into the Fast and Furious franchise, but also ended up destroying the most important thing about Dominic Toretto (Vin Diesel). Cena feels like a perfect actor to join the franchise that is known for its muscle-bound stars, like Dwayne Johnson and Jason Statham. Jakob also makes for an antagonist in F9 that raises the stakes for Dom and has him confronting some dark aspects of his past. Jakob also becomes one of the many Fast and Furious villains who becomes a hero when he returns in Fast X.
The Fast and Furious franchise had become known for mixing its wild, over-the-top action sequences with storylines that seemed pulled from soap operas. This included Letty getting amnesia and working for the bad guys in Fast and Furious 6, as well as Han returning from the ᴅᴇᴀᴅ in F9. Jakob being revealed as a long-lost brother was the kind of plot twist that now makes sense in the Fast and Furious franchise, but it also completely betrayed the core belief of the franchise’s main hero.
Dom Preaches “Family” But Never Mentioned Jakob
Dom’s Outlook On Family Now Feels Tainted
Throughout the entire Fast and Furious franchise, the one defining aspect of the character of Dominic Toretto has been that he holds family as the most important thing in the world. This extends beyond his actual family, like Mia (Jordana Brewster), and includes his extended family of loved ones and friends whom he has ᴀssembled over the course of the movies. Given how much he talks about how family is the only thing that matters in the end, the fact that Dom never mentions his brother in any of the previous movies is completely out of character.
Not only is this essential to Dom as a character, but it has become the major theme of the entire franchise.
Regardless of the fact that the flashback in F9 attempts to fill in the blanks, it is quite clear that the idea of Dom having a brother was never considered before F9. In that regard, it makes sense that there would be a little bit of retconning and awkwardness by this sudden introduction. It is also not the first franchise to suddenly bring in a sibling that was never talked about before, like Dawn in Buffy the Vampire Slayer and Dru in Despicable Me.
The problem with Jakob suddenly appearing is that he is the brother of Dom, and it is hard to believe that Dom would simply cut his only brother out of his life in such a complete way. As a result, as soon as Jakob is introduced, all of Dom’s talk about family loses some of its impact. It suddenly feels as though he doesn’t believe or practice all of his preaching about family. Not only is this essential to Dom as a character, but it has become the major theme of the entire franchise.
Does F9 Do A Good Job Of Explaining Why Dom Ignored Jakob For So Long?
F9 Ruined Its Chance To Make Jakob’s Relationship With Dom Work
As much as Jakob suddenly being a character in F9 was awkward, the filmmakers clearly understood that they would need a good reason why Dom has ignored his brother all these years. Despite that being a daunting task, they did a fairly solid job with the explanation. The flashback in F9 reveals that Dom blamed Jakob for the death of their father, believing that he tampered with his car, which resulted in a crash that killed him.
It was a smart avenue to take, as the one reason Dom might ignore his family is that they betrayed family first. Jakob being responsible for killing Dom’s father is a pretty good reason for him to cut his brother out of his life completely, and the fact that Dom let Jakob live does speak to him still having love for his brother. The problem is that F9 didn’t want to make Jakob a true villain, and thus, there needed to be another reveal about what really happened. It turns out that Jakob was only doing what their father asked in his attempt to win the race.
Jakob would have worked better as a character had he actually been responsible for killing their father.
While that reveal allows Dom and Jakob to reconcile, it makes Dom look worse. Instead of being the man who reasonably disowned his brother for killing their father, he is the man who wrongfully accused his brother of a terrible crime and sent him to live life on his own as he was mourning the loss of their dad. It makes it seem like Dom’s rash judgment ruined his brother’s life, which goes against what Dom preaches about family.
Jakob would have worked better as a character had he actually been responsible for killing their father. Had that been the character he was, he could have been the best of the Fast and Furious villains. His redemption doesn’t even mean anything in the end, as Dom doesn’t really confront what he did to Jakob, and Jakob’s sacrificial death in Fast X is glossed over strangely fast, not giving Dom a chance to mourn the brother who just came back into his life. While the Fast and Furious movies still insist Dom’s all about family, it means less now.
