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How Fast X Composer Hinted at Hobbs’ Surprise Return, Tied Back to Tied Back to Fast Five
"It was really cool to go back and actually do that music over again, but from the perspective of our heroes being the antagonists."
Like most scholars of the Fast Saga, composer Brian Tyler agrees that the franchise officially shifted gears — both "filmically and [musically]" — with Fast Five (now streaming on Peacock!), which set the blockbuster series down the globe-trotting road of action, espionage, and geopolitical intrigue it has been driving along ever since.
"The music and the film at that point was heads and shoulders above the other ones that I had done," Tyler, who has composed the music for nearly every Fast & Furious movie since Tokyo Drift, tells SYFY WIRE.
Fast X composer Brian Tyler on taking musical cues from Fast Five
Fast forward more than a decade later, and the composer was presented with the unique opportunity to revisit his Fast Five soundtrack on Fast X, whose opening prologue retcons the now-iconic vault heist across the streets of Rio. "You’re going back in time, kind of like a Kirusawa/Rashoman thing," Tyler adds. "You're seeing the crime from the perspective of the villains in that movie."
RELATED: Fast X Composer Brian Tyler Breaks Down Jason Momoa's "Sneaky Siren Call" Theme For Dante
The central antagonist of Fast Five was Hernan Reyes (Joaquim de Almeida), a powerful South American crime boss, from whom Dom (Vin Diesel), Brian O'Conner (the late Paul Walker), and the rest of the Toretto team stole $100 million.
Fast X reveals that Reyes had a son named Dante (played by franchise newcomer Jason Momoa), who was just out of sight the entire time and has spent the last 10 years preparing an elaborate revenge plan. He's one nasty piece of work and doesn't exactly deserve sympathy from the viewer, but there was a time — at least from Dante's POV — when he and his family were profoundly wronged.
"Now, when you watch it, you have an empathy for Dante because the Fast and Furious main characters are kind of the antagonists in that situation," Tyler says of tweaking his existing cues to reflect such a reversal. "It was really cool to go back and actually do that music over again."
It was also a chance to subtly hint at the surprise return of Luke Hobbs (Dwayne Johnson) in the film's mid-credits stringer, which lays the groundwork for a confrontation between the fan favorite character and Dante Reyes.
"At the very beginning of the movie ... it’s over black and the Universal logo comes up and everything. It's actually Hobbs’ theme for a second there," Tyler reveals. "So it's hinting at what's about to come. Hobbs was a main part of that sequence in Rio, because he's the one that kills Dante's father ... And then the last thing you hear at the end of the movie on the tag is the very theme that starts Fast X, which is from Fast Five."
RELATED: Why Fast X Composer Brian Tyler Compares Long-Running Fast Saga to Star Wars
Fast X is currently playing in theaters or available to rent/purchase on digital platforms like Vudu and Apple TV. Be sure to check back with us for regular updates on the movie's Peacock debut and physical media bonus features.
Fast 11 (aka Fast X: Part II) is scheduled to premiere in April 2025, which means we can probably expect the Hobbs spinoff to debut sometime within the next year-and-a-half. A writer and director have yet to be announced.
Relive part of the Fast Saga on Peacock with The Fast and the Furious (2001), 2 Fast 2 Furious (2003), The Fast and the Furious: Tokyo Drift (2006), Fast & Furious (2009), Fast Five (2011), and Furious 7 (2015).
