Every film in the Fast saga has stepped things up a notch, and that includes giving the ladies of the franchise more action and more of a voice. Jordana Brewster, who plays Dom (Vin Diesel)’s sister Mia Toretto, got to do her first major stuntwork in F9. As Brewster is an important member of the Fast family, it’s always exciting to see more of her, and Justin Lin’s Director’s Cut of F9 has her character joining the latest film much earlier in the story.
In the theatrical cut of F9, we first see Mia (Jordana Brewster) almost 40 minutes into the film. The rest of the crew has just survived a wild ride through a minefield and a disintegrating bridge experience, lost the Aries device to Jakob (John Cena), and is strategizing their next move. Dom (Vin Diesel) doesn’t appear too happy to see Mia, which is likely a combination of Letty (Michelle Rodriguez) calling Mia without informing Dom, and Dom wanting to keep Jakob’s resurfacing a secret from Mia.
Alternatively, the Director’s Cut introduces Mia just over ten minutes into the film. After Letty takes off to join the crew on their mission and Dom stays behind with baby Brian, Mia arrives at Dom’s house the next morning. Her opening line is about wanting to see her nephew more often than for “world-saving emergencies” suggesting Dom called her to look after his son, Brian, while he joins the others on the mission. It’s a heartwarming scene between Jordana Brewster and Vin Diesel who have great sibling chemistry. Dom mentions their dad and Mia asks what’s happened, but all he gives her is “something he hopes he’s wrong about.”
This additional scene packs so much emotion and context. First, we rarely get a scene with only Vin Diesel and Jordana Brewster. They’re very sweet together. Mia is very intuitive and has a beautiful connection with her brother that she notices the moment his demeanor changes and gently checks on him while asking for more information without prying. The scene also adds more weight to Dom keeping the secret that their brother has resurfaced from his sister because he speaks with her face to face days before the information gets revealed to her. The audience has not yet met Jakob (John Cena) when seeing this exchange between Dom and Mia, so when we later meet him it clicks that this is what he wasn’t ready to tell her early on in the film.
The second time we see Mia in the Director’s Cut is the first time we see her in the theatrical cut. So when watching the Director’s Cut, Mia thanking Letty for keeping her up to date is much more emotional. But it’s also worth noting what the additional scene says about Dom. In the first scene, he was not sure that Jakob was involved, he only suspected. He may have rationalized not telling Mia until he was sure. But the second scene takes place after he was sure, and it’s clear he only told his crew about Jakob because they physically saw him. It seems he had no intention of sharing this with anyone but Letty. And that begs the question of why. We know his history with his brother isn't good, and it's a lot to process emotionally alone.
There is a ton more footage included in the Director’s Cut that will have you seeing other parts of F9 with a new perspective. F9: The Fast Saga is now available to purchase on Digital, 4K UHD, Blu-ray and DVD.
