Remember back when it was rumored that Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson’s commitment to Brett Ratner’s Hercules movie might prevent him from participating in a seventh Fast & Furious movie? Yeah, that was nonsense. You can’t keep The Rock out of the F&F universe any more than you can remove R2D2 from a Star Wars sequel. He’s just part of the fabric now. In his own words, he’s "the cavalry," and he’s continuing to save the day.
Rock posted this explosive shot to his Instagram, along with the lengthy caption:
"I didn't bring the cavalry.. I AM the cavalry" ~ #HobbsTheBeast On set. 4am. High on dirty thoughts & adrenaline as I wait for my director and partner in crime, James Wan (standing deep in the background) to yell "ACTION". #FastAndFurious7 #SilverbackOfTheLaw #ThisIsHowIWalkIntoMyBedroom
This follows on the heels of a recent image of Rock’s character, Hobbs, standing in front of a demolished automobile, suggesting loads of automobile carnage on the set of the next Furious movie. So even though The Conjuring director James Wan is stepping into the franchise in place of Justin Lin, we can expect plenty of scenes like this:
Here’s my concern. The Furious franchise takes a page out of the Lethal Weapon series, meaning that it adds one or two actors with every new chapter. Remember when Chris Rock was in Lethal Weapon 4? Rock had no business being in a LW movie, when they already had Jet Li as a villain. Silly. So with Furious 7, we’re seeing new faces in Kurt Russell, Djimon Honsou, Tony Jaa and, of course, Jason Statham. We’ll also see the return of Lucas Black, who was integral to Tokyo Drift. So we’re approaching character overload. How is Wan going to find room for all of the actors who ALREADY are part of the franchise, from Vin Diesel and Paul Walker to Michelle Rodriguez?
That’s going to be Wan’s challenge. The Furious series is one that now comes with expectations. That’s what happens when you deliver a string of critical and commercial successes year after year. I have to believe that Wan and his team have a massive story in play, and that they need all of these characters in place to continue telling their evolving story. In fact, it’s long been believed that Furious 7 is actually the start of anew trilogy, that will bring the series up to part nine. Will it slow down after that? Vin only knows.
