Comparison between Theatrical Version and Director's Cut (both included on the German Blu-ray / 4K UHD, also on various VOD platforms worldwide).

21 differences, incl.
* 7x alternate footage
* 2 recuts
* One digital retouch

Difference: 423.2 sec (= 7:03 min)

 
Fail 9... A franchise drunk on itself loses all its grip

For the sake of your family, you put up with things that would otherwise be difficult to tolerate or would be rejected outright. In this respect, Vin Diesel and the team of obeying writers deserve credit for the marketing feat of having lured millions of people worldwide with this central theme. Almost like a cult, the masses make a pilgrimage to the box office and have meanwhile brought the films revenues close to the billion-dollar mark - or even beyond. But in contrast to the earnings, the quality of the content of the series has declined over the years, sometimes gradually and sometimes more strikingly. With Fast 9, the "saga" has reached its lowest point for now. On the one hand, this is due to the fact that the family atmosphere is kept alive with increasingly hollow phrases and at the same time, there is no longer any recognizable footing in terms of action. While it was jokingly said years ago that the series would have to ascend into space at some point in order to increase the lunacy even more, this has now become reality. What's particularly sobering is how lovelessly it's all staged and how obvious the CGI destruction and green screen bouncing is.

In a series with nine films so far, in which mortal enemies become friends and the dead suddenly become living returnees, everything about character drawing is basically pointless anyway. Still, it's amazing how little you actually know about veteran characters. Fast 9 makes it especially blatantly clear how inconsequential each character is. The template-like pattern of many scenes is composed of dialogue in which several team members recite a sentence or two of story info and then there's a scene change to the next action interlude - no matter how gifted the performer may be per se, everyone from Kurt Russell to Charlize Theron seems completely interchangeable over time. Vin Diesel, for whom the alpha pack battle with Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson over the greater star power was obviously a lesson, has played a large part in this development. With John Cena, he also has a giant wrestler as an antagonist, but Cena has never looked paler in any of his other films. This becomes especially clear when you consider Cena's charismatic performance in The Suicide Squad. Whether the whole thing really ends with the tenth part, as announced, in view of the massive financial success, remains to be seen. In cinematic terms, the Fast & Furious series has already arrived at the car graveyard.

A director's cut without that certain drive

Since Fast Five, there has always been a longer version for home cinema. It was noticeable that this was less exciting with each subsequent part. Especially in part 5, quite a few cuts for the PG-13 rating were undone in the extended cut. In parts 6 and 7, such changes were also noted, but decreased in quantity more and more. Part 8 then had the biggest difference in runtime so far, but it only reinserted action scenes that had clearly been removed for tightening reasons and rather insignificant action trivia. Part 9 now ups the ante in this regard as well.

In advance, the Director's Cut was advertised on Collider & co primarily for its "spectacular action extensions", which director Justin Lin would have "carefully selected". More meaningful scenes with the most beloved characters were touted. That's all sugar coating. The additional snippets with the Armadillo truck in the finale are virtually not worth mentioning and serve predominantly as further examples of amazement that a film with such budget dimensions is executed at such a low level in terms of special effects. Tej and Ramsey now engage in even more verbal exchanges that are neither particularly funny nor original. The family ties between Dom, Jakob and Mia get more space, without question, but more depth does not go along with it. Last but not least, there is the 10-second guest appearance with Cardi B, which fits perfectly into the marketing concept for the target audience.

All in all: It is what it is. If you still like the franchise, you might get a little added value with the longer version. Since the Blu-ray/4K releases have both versions on board in most countries anyway, fans don't have to worry about difficult availability, as it was sometimes the case with the predecessors. You're virtually spoiled for choice here and at least you don't get to see a fundamentally different film.

Runtimes are ordered as follows: Theatrical Version / Director's Cut

10:56 / 10:55-12:12

To close the scene, Dom takes out his cell phone again only in the extended and calls Mia; "Mia, it's Dom. I need a favor."
In response, Mia stops by his place. Dom says to her that he's been thinking more about the father they share since he also has a son of his own. She wants to know what's going on and Dom makes an ominous suggestion.

Mia: "You know, I would love to see my nephew just a little bit more often than, say, world-ending emergencies and holidays. Once in a while, maybe? And how's the Buster?"
Dom: "He's good. He's really good. You know, uh, now that I'm a father...I can't stop thinking about our dad. And, uh...what life would've been like if he was alive. We'd be very different people. Don't you think?"
Mia: "Dom, what's happened?"
Dom: "Something I hope I'm wrong about."

76.7 sec (= 1:17 min)

Digital adaptation.
35:34-35:35 / 36:50-36:51

Just before an additional scene is to be discovered in the Extended, they made it easy and digitally adapted a shot. Only in the Theatrical Version does Roman already enter the frame here on the left.

No time difference

Theatrical Version	Director's Cut

Alternativ
35:35-35:37 / 36:51-37:38

The Theatrical Version has a frontal shot of Roman.

The Director's Cut offers some more banter between Ramsey and Tej instead. He tries to mock her the whole time but Ramsey knows the names of all tech things around them with ease. With a family-related question, Tej eventually manages to get something out of her. Funny.


Ramsey hesitates and Tey feels vindicated, "Right."

Director's Cut 45 sec longer



38:35 / 40:36-41:31

After Mia hugs Dom, there is an additional scene with the trio. Roman walks into a room and calls out for the other two. When they join them, lots of money is seen on the table. Tej cautions that they couldn't just steal it because it belonged to the Yugoslavs. Roman then proudly presents to him that they are American banknotes and mocks him a bit.

Roman: "Guys! Guys! Get over here. You got to come see this. Don't ever say Roman ain't look out for y'all. You get a stack. And you get a stack. And Roman gets..."
Tej: "Roman. This cash is from Yugoslavia. Yugoslavia hasn't been a country since 1992."
Roman: "What, you an expert on history now?"
Tej: "No, no, no, I'm an expert on cash."
Roman: "USD. Huh? Yeah. Professor Dumbass. I just need to find me some luggage so I can put all this in."

54.9 sec

39:01 / 41:57-42:20

There's a bit more talk about the looming threat of technology, and Roman doesn't take it too seriously.

Ramsey: "Aries can own it."
Tej: "It can weaponize anything. Someone could burn your house down with your refrigerator if they wanted to."
Roman: "Oh, so now my refrigerator's gonna kill me?"
Ramsey: "It could be made to."
Roman: "How about my George Foreman grill or foot massager?"
Ramsey: "Do you know how it feels to create something that could end the world?"
Roman: "No."
Ramsey: "Well, I do. And this will."

23.7 sec

Alternative.
42:37-42:41 / 45:56-46:33

In the Director's Cut, Dom gets out of the car and greets some old companions.

Woman: "You had another eight months."
Dom: "Good behavior."
Woman #2: "You didn't call. I would've picked you up."
Dom: "I'm here now."
Man: "Welcome home, brother."

The Theatrical Version has a different shot of the car for this to transition.

Director's Cut 32.7 sec longer.


Alternative.
42:45-42:48 / 46:37-46:38

In the Theatrical Version, the long shot a moment longer, then Jakob gets out of the car earlier.
In the Director's Cut, another shot of Dom instead.

Theatrical Version 1.3 sec longer.

Theatrical Version	Director's Cut

Alternative
42:56-43:07 / 46:47-46:58

How Jakob asks for another opponent and Dom volunteers is differently put together as a scene.

No time difference

Theatrical Version	Director's Cut

43:18 / 47:09-47:13

Jakob provokes a little more; "(You don't want to race me in Buddy's old Charger.) No, it won't even be close. My Mustang, with all the mods I put in it..."

4,5 sec

43:25 / 47:20-47:21

A shot was extended without any relevance.

0,8 sec



46:31 / 50:27-50:33

The brothers rest a bit and another shot of the girlfriend.

6 sec

49:55 / 53:57-55:16

Leticia and Mia walk the streets a little longer and get to Han's old workshop. They go around it and explain to the viewer in painstaking detail (the way it often happens in this film) the rather ridiculously constructed plot connections that are supposed to give it all a connecting sense.

Leticia: "Han's old shop. God, it looks like this place has been picked over a thousand times. Got to start somewhere."
Mia: "It doesn't make any sense. I mean, Han ends up in Tokyo and he's supposed to have something to do with the key? But police records make it sound like he was running around with a bunch of small-time crooks."
Leticia: "Don't mock it. That's how we started. Maybe Han was looking for a change of scenery after Gisele died. People mourn in different ways."
Mia: "Letty, how did Mr. Nobody get connected with Han? Right, they never... they never crossed paths unless..."
Leticia: "Gisele. She's former Mossad. Mr. Nobody's a spy. They could've run in the same circles."
Mia: "There's Mossad clearance all over the files Mr. Nobody had on Han. Mission specs going back to Mexico, which is where Gisele was working when she met Dom and Brian. Gisele's got to be the link."
Leticia: "Leave it to Mr. Nobody to confuse everyone. This place is a dead end. Let's get out of here."
Mia nimmt das Handy hervor: "I'll check in with Tej and Roman."

79,3 sec (= 1:19 min)

Recut
49:55 bzw. 52:16-55:46 / 55:16-58:51

The scene at the test station in Cologne was brought forward a bit in the DC and thus interrupts the conversation between Leticia and Mia. In the Theatrical Version, it comes shortly after the rest of the conversation.

For orientation on re-entry, the DC then has a wide shot of the Asian neighborhood first.

3.9 sec

60:21 / 65:46-65:58

Arriving at the party, Dom is greeted by a woman: guest appearance by Cardi B. Great dialogue to go with it.

Cardi: "Dominic Toretto. Tell me, why is the best fruit always forbidden?"
Dom: "You should know."
Cardi grabs her hair and walks off behind him a little earlier; "Mm."

11.3 sec

The rest of the shot is slowed down a bit in the Theatrical Version, so it runs 0.9 sec longer.


Alternative.
61:49-62:07 / 67:24-68:03

The dialogue between Jakob and Dom can be seen in alternate takes. In the Extended, it is also a bit longer and there are allusions to arguments from the earlier parts that Jakob has taken advantage of.

Jakob: "(The spy game...this is my world.) What do you think happened, Dom, every time you took somebody down, huh? Their territory just...stayed crime free? The Trans. Braga. The Shaws. Cipher. You paved the way for me. (So here's my offer.)"

Director's Cut 19,9 sec longer

Theatrical Version	Director's Cut

83:37 / 89:33-90:17

Dom is calling his son here, promising him he'll be home soon.

Dom: "Little B. Yes, it's Daddy. How you doing? Staying out of trouble? Of course not. Well, at least you were honest, and that's the most important thing. Oh, I miss you so much more. And I'm coming home soon. How's... I'll tell you what. If I'm not home by the time you count to a thousand, you tell Uncle Brian that I said you could have a second treat before dinner. It's a promise. And I always keep my promises."

44.1 sec

Alternative.
106:31-106:33 / 113:11-113:18

After Roman has said that he always eats sweets when he is nervous, there is a cut to Tej sighing in the Theatrical Version.

In the Director's Cut, he makes a fecal joke instead; "If you shart in this Fiero, I swear..."
Roman: "Really? Really, Tej?"

Director's Cut 4.9 sec longer

Theatrical Version	Director's Cut

120:53 / 127:38-127:51

After Dom lines up, the Armadillo truck crashes into another building. Lots of CGI garbage flies around and greenscreen Dom skillfully hops off to the side.

13,7 sec

Alternative / Recut
121:04-121:05 / 128:02-128:07

Again, a building collapses in the DC.
Following this, another alternate reaction shot of Dom. The Theatrical Version now recycles the shot from the entrance of the previous expansion of the DC here.

Director's Cut 3,3 sec longer

Theatrical Version	Director's Cut

121:11 / 128:13

The Armadillo rolls down the hill a little earlier.

0,8 sec

Credits
130:18-130:22 / 137:20-137:24

The title lettering introducing the credits differs.

No time difference

Theatrical Version	Director's Cut