GRRRRRR! Despite her very brief appearances, Suki is one of my favorite Fast & Furious characters. She’s going to be the first in my series on the Women of Fast & Furious.
2 Fast 2 Furious
Before watching all of the movies, I thought that Fast & Furious had a reputation of objectifying women and not have good female characters. Well, they certainly do objectify women, but there are a few that are amazing, strong women that I personally would like to be more like.
Suki drove a car with an animation of herself driving a car. The animation had a “GRRRR” face, and then the cameras immediately cut to Suki making that same face. For some reason, that scene has stuck with us, and now my husband and I say GRRRRRR and make that face to each other referencing the scene.
Throughout the movie, she’s a shown to be a great racer. Since she came in third in the race in the beginning of the movie, does that make her the best street racer in LA whenever Dom and Brian are out of town? Maybe not, but I hope so!
She’s a great friend to Brian and helps them pull off one of the best twists in the whole movie. Suki’s not just standing around being cute, she’s a strong character who loves racing and doesn’t back down.
Why not Tokyo Drift?
I wish she was in Tokyo Drift. It would have been such a cool premise if she went to Tokyo (where the actress’s father was born), learned the ropes from Han, and later ran the Tokyo racing scene. But, I think the demographic of Fast & Furious fans of the time would not have related to her as much as the actual main character from Tokyo Drift.
Since she wasn’t in Tokyo Drift, nor any other Fast & Furious movie yet, I wanted to see why.
The Actress: Devon Aoki
When I looked up the actress who played Suki, I felt like everything I was reading was one huge surprise after another. The actress’s name is Devon Aoki. Immediately, I thought of Steve Aoki, but I would never have thought they were actually related. Dun dun duuuuuun! Steve Aoki is her half brother.
And her father is Rocky Aoki, the founder of Benihana. I’ve never heard of Benihana before, but when I mentioned it, my husband said that it’s a big deal and they’re all over the country.
Before being an actress, Devon was a model making waves through the 90s and early 2000s. At age 16, in 1998, she was the face of Versace.
Closing Out
Suki is just a really fun, quirky character that is easy to admire. She gets along with the guys and it’s all over them like a lot of the other female characters. She’s a great driver.
Most importantly, she’s fast, and she’s furious.
If you want to read more of my thoughts on the women of Fast & Furious, keep your eye out for new posts! And you can find other thoughts of mine here.