10 Reasons Fast & Furious 9 Is A Cinematic Car Wreck
4. That Painfully Forced Emotional Backstory No-One Needed
F9 spends a lot of time going into Dom and Jakob's past and their falling out following their father's death and this couldn't have felt more forced. It really felt like a desperate attempt to recapture the emotional vibes of both Furious 7 and The Fate of the Furious.
The thing is, with both of those the emotional material was organic. Furious 7 was a tribute to Paul Walker and Letty's recovery from her amnesia was part of the story. Similarly, the story of Dom trying to save his son and also losing the mother of that child was closely tied to Fate's main action storyline, so it felt entirely earned.
Unfortunately, F9's emotional subplot is very badly-written and feels completely out-of-place in an action film like this. Also, that extended flashback sequence when Dom remembers his past during a near-death experience is not only another badly-executed scene but felt like a bizarre rip-off of the mind palace scenes from BBC's Sherlock.
Since all this feels so unorganic to the story, and since everything about the conclusion of this story (which sees the brothers reconcile) feels so unearned, there is nothing good about this emotional backstory whatsoever.