WARNING: The following contains spoilers for F9, now in theaters.
When Deckard Shaw (Jason Statham) turned good in the Fast & Furious universe, it angered fans, who demanded justice for Han (Sun Kang). The stakeholders promised to make it happen, and it comes to fruition in F9 as the character returns from the dead to rejoin Team Toretto. However, the resurrection falls flat and in examining the moment it happened to now, it becomes clear that it was never destined to succeed.
When Mia and Letty track down Han, they bring him to their lair for Dom and the others to meet. They thought he died when Shaw crashed into his car in Tokyo Drift, causing an explosion. However, Han confirms that prior to these events, he was hired to steal the Aries weapon for Kurt Russell’s Mr. Nobody.
Han became a spy as Nobody followed him from his work with Dom’s crew and his agent, Gisele, whom Han loved and lost. As he details how he survived in F9, he reveals that while Shaw was walking off and leaving a message threatening Dom, somehow, Han snuck out before the explosion. He’s seen hiding in the shadows in the alley with Nobody, confirming that because he and Elle (the DNA key for Aries to be activated) had to remain ghosts, death was the perfect cover story.
Now, this explanation is problematic because Han should not have had enough time to escape the explosion. He could only have achieved that if he were able to teleport. While this series often defies science, the onlookers, Han’s friends and Shaw should have spotted him running off. To make it worse, it’s a severe collision, so there’s no way Han could’ve headed off that quickly, as he’d have had injuries and a possible concussion. It’s a ridiculous retcon, which may have been better had he escaped through a manhole like Nick Fury in Captain America: The Winter Soldier, or if Han had an identical twin à la The Prestige.
It feels like a move only done to patch up the creative mistake of making Shaw a good guy later on. It’s clear the series didn’t realize he and Hobbs were going to become such a blast together, and when fans railed against the injustice towards Han, they had to fix things so it didn’t seem like the character meant nothing. They should have rolled with the death, though, having Shaw apologize as part of his redemption. Maybe if they even killed him off, fans could’ve been sated, since he’s more of an anti-hero than hero.
Either way, this angle forces F9‘s drama, tension and emotion in the most unbelievable way. And the sad thing is that this backstory never could fit, as Han was not spy material in Tokyo Drift, nor was he the kind of guy who’d just abandon his team. Plus, with Han finding and protecting a young Elle, stealing money from the triad and running into gang warfare rather than laying low is completely counterintuitive to his mission.
This is simply the franchise pulling a rabbit out a hat and hoping the presence of Han distracts from the awful circumstances of his revival. They could have used other members of the Tokyo Drift gang for this arc, but they simply needed to satisfy fans for a creative error with Shaw by stretching the idea of family.
Directed by Justin Lin, F9 stars Vin Diesel, Michelle Rodriguez, Tyrese Gibson, Chris “Ludacris” Bridges, John Cena, Nathalie Emmanuel, Jordana Brewster, Sung Kang, Helen Mirren, Kurt Russell and Charlize Theron. The film is in theaters now.
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