Let's binge the Fast & Furious movies!

Ahh yes, the Fast and Furious franchise. A franchise that went from stealing DVD players from trucks and underground street racing in Los Angeles to earning jokes about how the next film will have flying cars in space due to over the top action and the most absurd scenarios. I'm well aware of how popular these movies are, but for some reason I just never got around to them. Now I'd seen bits and pieces of some of the movies here and there so I am vaguely familiar with them, but I've never fully sat and watched all of them start to finish.

I had the first movie sitting on my list for a long time but just never got around to it. So when I logged in on Netflix one night, I saw that they had added the movies again. This time I decided to watch them rather than adding them to my list only to never touch them. My prior knowledge to this franchise consisted of: Paul Walker and Vin Diesel being besties, street racing neon colored cars, and See You Again. That was literally all I knew about the series. For this binge, I decided to only watch movies 1-7 and cap it at that because once Brian O'Conner was no longer in the picture, I was out. So, here are my quick thoughts on each movie. You can agree or disagree with me on any of these, but at the end of the day... these are MY own opinions and rankings and you are entitled to your own!

1) The Fast and the Furious

This was the one movie I remember seeing random bits from on TV when I was a kid. This is my personal favorite in the series due to the *chef's kiss* early 2000's vibes and the simple story. I loved the concept of it being about an undercover cop infiltrating the underground street racers in Los Angeles who are suspect of stealing DVD players off trucks. Gaining the trust of street racing legend, Dominic Toretto and his group while falling in love with his sister was great. It felt "wholesome" in a way, if that makes any sense? You can tell they did whatever they could with the budget they were given, and was a humble beginning to a massive blockbuster franchise. I get that it wasn't anything crazy amazing and it definitely has flaws, but I really did like this movie a lot. I also liked the cars and Brian O'Conner :)

2) 2 Fast 2 Furious

Can I just say how much I love the title of this movie? Please. This movie follows Brian O'Conner in Miami after the events of the first movie (no longer working for the LAPD) with his old friend Roman. This movie was the weakest, in my humble opinion, but I was all for the vibes of it. I love anything early 2000's/90s and this movie was that. I loved the cars and the driving and the stunts and literally the whole vibe of the movie, but just not the story itself. It felt weak in comparison to the others and I thought it fell a bit short, but still did a good job at introducing a new character. I solely enjoyed this movie for the 2000's vibes and the cars (I'm lookin at you, Nissan Skyline... and Suki's pink Honda S2000).

3) The Fast and the Furious: Tokyo Drift

I was mildly surprised by this one since I didn't have high hopes for it. I truly did not like it in the beginning since there was no Brian or Dom or Letty or Mia. It was a completely new cast that I just didn't care for. But here we get to meet Han, AKA one of my fave characters in the series. As the movie progressed, I became more invested in the story and Han's character mentoring the main character. The protagonist became more likeable as the movie went on. Definitely felt like a side quest movie that was off of the actual franchise storyline. The cameo from Vin Diesel kind of made up for it a little. I can easily say that this film had the most emphasis on the car aspect of the series. Like that really felt like the main plot of the movie: cool cars in Tokyo. This movie truly felt like a stand alone film that introduced a new character to the franchise. It was also the last movie to give off the early 2000s vibes. This movie held up and definitely impressed me by the end of it, and I ended up enjoying it so much more than I thought I would.

4) Fast and Furious

This movie was forgettable, in my opinion. I would put it on the lower end of my ranking, but it wasn't bad either. However, it does get brownie points for a solid come back with the original cast members and a good amount of action, though. I felt like this was the movie where you can see a shift in street racing to more missions/heists/espionages. Yea there are definitely street racing scenes, but the focus isn't so much on cars anymore. I get it, the main premise of the first story wasn't even fully about street racing, but what I mean is: it had more of a presence in the earlier films compared to this one and the ones after. This movie is also where I felt a shift from where the main character focus was switched from Brian O'Conner to Dom Toretto.

5) Fast Five

Another fave movie in the series for me. I genuinely like this one a lot. It was a full on heist movie set in Brazil. We got the introduction to the Rock's character. This was when the Rock was actually fine as an actor and wasn't playing the same exact role over and over again. I was okay with him in this movie playing Hobbs. So much action in this one! Running on the rooftops in the favelas, assembling a team, having a quarter mile race, test driving cars and Dom and Brian dragging a massive vault while obliterating the streets of Rio was peak bank heist entertainment. This was a solid action packed movie and I had a fun time watching it.

6) Fast & Furious 6

That super long airplane runway scene was excessive af, but that doesn't mean I didn't find it entertaining! I liked the setting of London for this one because it gave a completely different vibe than the other movies which were much "warmer" toned compared to the "colder" vibes London gave. Letty comes back and is more badass. I liked how Letty had a lot more fighting sequences, as well. Again, just another fun action movie that kept me entertained throughout.

7) Furious 7

Ladies & gents, we are ugly crying with this one. RIP pretty boy Paul Walker. This movie was just plain over the top action and fun. The espionage aspect of it was fun to watch. Seeing cars parachuting out of a plane and watching Dom and Brian literally fly through 3 high rise buildings was wild. At this point, who cares about the laws of physics and just reality in general? The way they ended this movie felt like a good way close off the series, in my opinion. I will say I was very impressed with the CGI used in the film to finish Paul Walker's remaining scenes and the use of his brothers filling in for him. Yea, there were a few scenes where you can noticeably see the CGI, but there were other times where you couldn't and this was 10 years ago. I was impressed and sad at the same time! Overall, I thought this was a good closure for the series.

Final Thoughts and Rankings:

In conclusion, I genuinely enjoyed watching the Fast and Furious movies. Even though I capped it at 7, I liked what I watched. Obviously, these were not Oscar-worthy movies, but that's why they're so good! This was pure Hollywood movie entertainment, and that's what movies are for. They don't always have to be these profoundly great works of art, just as long as they have likable characters and an engaging enough plot with some action. Movies are for entertainment and to escape reality for a bit, and these movies did just that for me.

My favorite characters in the series were Brian and Han. I loved Dom and Brian's dynamic throughout all the movies, though. I enjoyed watching Letty's and Mia's characters play out, as well as the other characters like Tej and Roman. I was surprisingly okay with the Rock's character in the franchise, too. Would I consider watching the other movies? Maybe. I just like the way it ended at the seventh movie, and feels weird watching it without Brian O'Conner. I've also only ever heard bad things about the movies after the seventh installment. This truly was a very fun binge and it's been a while since I'd done a binge watch, anyways. So, the final ranking (in terms of personal favorites) would be:

1) The Fast and the Furious

2) Fast Five

3) The Fast and the Furious: Tokyo Drift

4) Furious 7

5) Furious 6

6) Fast and Furious

7) 2 Fast 2 Furious

Wanna share your thoughts on these movies? I'd love to hear your opinions!

-- N