Dominic Toretto (Vin Diesel) has been living his life a quarter mile at a time for quite some time. Who would’ve thought that 2001’s The Fast and the Furious, pitched as Point Break with cars, would spawn a multi-billion dollar franchise spanning ten films, one of which sends Ludacris to outer space? Characters who were once street racers are now rocket scientists engage in high-stakes espionage. There’s no denying the fact that the franchise’s action sequences and multi-cultural “family” theme should be commended. But the shark has been jumped—F9 The Fast Saga suffers from franchise fatigue…it only took twenty years. Here is the Fast & Furious franchise, ranked from worst to whatever doesn’t suck too much, let’s just hope F9 doesn’t come back from space.
Cover Photo: Universal Pictures
Ranked: The Very Best Marvel Villains (As We Get to Know ‘Loki’ Star Miss Minutes)
Ranked: The Best of Taika Waititi (As He Sets Sail to Play Blackbeard In HBO Pirate Comedy Series ‘Our Flag Means Death’)
Visit the Mandatory Shop for great deals on your very own Mandatory merch.
Follow Mandatory on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram.
Fast and Furious Franchise Ranked
-
10. 'Fast & Furious' (2009)
After waiting eight years for Vin Diesel and Paul Walker to reunite onscreen, Fast & Furious was the first real follow-up to the original. It might be the first real film in Justin Lin’s ‘Fast Saga,’ introducing the franchise to a director who would helm some of its best entries. While the fourth film mashes together influential plot points, not the least of which is Letty’s dead...actually that got retconned, it’s also a complete mess. Chalk this up to bad CGI and action that is all over the place but Fast & Furious is forgettable outside of setting the stage for future installments. Every bench needs a warmer.
-
9. 'The Fate of the Furious' (2017)
The eighth film sees the franchise’s main character, Dominic Toretto fulfill Harvey Dent’s prophecy by being on screen long enough to become a villain. Except it’s as ridiculous as a Bond villain. It’s as if the franchise was so unsure of how to proceed after the loss of Paul Walker that they tried everything and nothing works; this includes suddenly making Deckard Shaw a good guy, despite him having “killed” a beloved character, just so Jason Statham can stick around. The Fate of the Furious is as unnecessary as a Charlize Theron and Vin Diesel make-out session.
-
8. 'Fast & Furious Presents: Hobbs & Shaw' (2019)
Fast & Furious Presents: Hobbs & Shaw didn’t do Vin Diesel and The Rock’s On-again/off-again relationship any favors. The first spinoff in the franchise capitalizes on the pairing of Dwayne Johnson and Jason Statham in the eighth movie by turning that brief chemistry into a full-on feature. And it’s exhausting; in short: it’s a pissing contest, which is always entertaining at first but fizzles into loud and annoying.
-
7. 'F9: The Fast Saga' (2021)
Dominic Toretto, the guy who’s all about family, doesn’t tell us John Cena is his brother until the ninth movie? Following the low-point that was The Fate of the Furious, Justin Lin returned to the franchise to helm F9...and it’s certainly better. Like it’s better but not necessarily bigger predecessors, it’s so committed to its absurdity that it’s somehow a crowdpleaser. Or at least it must be because it’s making more money than anyone expected this late in the game. Still, they sent Roman and Tej to space and none of this makes sense.
-
6. 'The Fast and the Furious: Tokyo Drift' (2006)
As a departure from the misadventures of Paul Walker’s Brian O’Connor, Tokyo Drift focuses on an army brat ala The Karate Kid moving to Japan and learning how to drift cars. Seemingly featuring nothing but a final cameo at the end connecting it to the main Fast & Furious franchise, Tokyo Drift could’ve ended it all. Instead, introducing Han, Lucas Black’s “teenage” chest hair, and a little bit of Bow Wow turned out to be crucial to the fourth, fifth, and sixth installments in the series.
-
5. '2 Fast 2 Furious' (2003)
The second installment, void of Vin Diesel, pictured the franchise’s future being a police procedural revolving around Brian O’Connor’s driving skills but somehow, with a title so bad it’s good, Paul Walker, Tyrese Gibson, and Ludacris make it work. The plot may be dull and its villain laughable but John Singleton’s direction makes the racing sequences pop arguably more than any other film.
-
4. 'Furious 7' (2014)
The seventh entry ultimately turned into a meta-textual farewell to the series’ late protagonist Paul Walker, who died tragically during filming. And it is emotionally devastating and extraordinarily well done. That farewell is framed by incredible action and the introduction of Jason Statham’s Deckard Shaw, who was an incredible villain until he wasn’t...the plot makes little sense but that didn’t get Furious 7 from being the most successful film in the franchise.
-
3. 'Fast & Furious 6' (2013)
Every time Fast & Furious brings someone back from the dead it becomes clear the writers never thought the series would be going on this long—which is exactly why Letty comes back, with amnesia, of course, in Fast & Furious 6. Following the best entry in the franchise, the sixth entry ups the ante on everything Fast Five did so well; the set pieces are epic and the family theme is underlined six times. Everything about is excessive in the best possible way.
-
2. 'The Fast and the Furious' (2001)
As previously mentioned, the original movie is a shameless rip-off of Point Break, with a young, surfer-looking cop who goes undercover with alluring extreme sports thieves, causing him to go full-on Pocahontas. However the emotion works, the high-speed chase at the end is fantastic, and, well, nostalgia.
-
1. 'Fast Five' (2011)
Not only is this the best Fast & Furious movie but one of the best action movies of all time; ending in the most absurd and energetic car chases ever put on screen. Bringing together virtually every character from the previous installments, Fast Five has a spot-on Ocean’s Eleven-esque team dynamic whose humor is actually well-timed and genuinely funny. Also, its simple plot is effective and The Rock might be the franchise’s first worthy, semi-antagonist. Everything Fast & Furious about the franchise since has been derivative of Fast Five—from the Roman and Tej dynamic to Dom’s obsession with family.
