The following contains MASSIVE SPOILERS for the Fast & Furious franchise. Because even ridiculous car heist movies have their secrets.
Fast & Furious 6 opens in theaters this weekend, but it’s preceded by 554 minutes of street races, machismo, and really weak undercover cop stories that curious moviegoers may or may not feel enticed to brush up on.
The good news is that I’ve taken the liberty of revisiting all of them for you, breaking down what’s essential and what’s best left forgotten. The bad news is I just spent 554 minutes revisiting every Fast & Furious movie. I hope those cancel out.
The Fast and the Furious (2001)
2001 was 12 years ago, when George W. Bush began his first term in office and people still knew who Uncle Kracker was, so it’s pretty damn impressive that a street racing movie starring Richard B. Riddick and the guy from Varsity Blues is still considered a major blockbuster series. The franchise’s first entry, The Fast and the Furious, focuses on LAPD officer Brian O’Conner (Paul Walker), who is tasked with an undercover mission in Los Angeles’ illegal street racing scene to weed out and arrest a gang suspected of a string of multi-million dollar hijackings. The prime suspect is racing hot shot and wanted criminal Dominic Toretto (Vin Diesel), who along with his girlfriend Letty (Michelle Rodriguez) and hothead pal Vince (Matt Schulze), lifts equipment from semi-truck drivers during high-speed chases. To gain the gang’s trust, Brian enters a street race but loses both the race and his car to Dom. Still, Brian manages to endear himself to the gang with his racing skills and bleached tips, and he begins dating Dom’s sister Mia (Jordana Brewster). When Dominic attempts another high-speed hijacking, Brian races to stop him. Vince is shot and critically wounded during the heist, forcing Brian to blow his cover and call for emergency medivac. With his identity now revealed, Brian strikes an iffy truce and allows Dom to flee the police, making himself a wanted fugitive in the process.
It’s the first one, so yeah, you should probably see it. The film’s baddie, “Little Saigon” gangster Johnny Tran (Rick Yune) provides some bloodless stakes, but the gun shoot-outs are far less compelling than the highway robberies and street races. If its theatrical trailer’s rap rock soundtrack wasn’t enough of a hint, this hasn’t aged as gracefully as Fred Durst might have hoped, but director Rob Cohen serves up plenty of quality action, top-notch stuntwork, and a solid character arc in Brian O’Conner — even in spite of Walker’s dead, cow-eyed line readings.
See it because it lays the groundwork for everything that follows, dummy.
2 Fast 2 Furious (2003)
Still on the run after letting Dom escape, Brian has started a new life in Miami, mopping up the street racing scene with the help of local race host Tej Parker (Ludacris). Unfortunately Brian’s flashy nightlife also makes for a really terrible way to hide from authorities. To negotiate a deal with the feds, Brian is forced to go undercover again as part of a federal investigation of Argentinian drug lord Carter Verone (Cole Hauser), posing for the Miami crime boss as a street racer-for-hire with the help of Brian’s childhood friend, ex-con Roman Pearce (Tyrese Gibson). Brian and Roman are assisted by U.S. Customs Agent Monica Fuentes (Eva Mendes), whom Verone loves almost as much as his flower-printed silk shirts. Fleeing federal pursuit, Verone arranges for Brian and Roman to speed his drug money to the airport, however he changes his instructions mid-transport, switching the drop point to his personal yacht, where he plans to escape with Monica and kill Roman and Brian. Of course, the two thwart his side-swipe, arresting Verone and delivering his money to the FBI — though not before secretly lifting some cash for themselves. Fist bump.
You know you’re in trouble when Ludacris is a movie’s most competent cast member. The absence of Vin Diesel reveals one very real truth: Paul Walker can’t carry anything other than a football. With relative newcomers in Gibson and Mendes, the cast of 2 Fast 2 Furious is very weak, which is only a problem when the action disappoints. And it does. Director John Singleton privileges cheesy racer banter over the driving in his sequences, and that’s only when there’s racing on screen. The sexy appeal of The Fast and Furious’ illegal street chases is washed away by Miami’s sterile sunshine and Cole Hauser’s polyester douchebaggery in a film that is apparently 2 fast 2 care about cars. Singleton obsesses over Miami street culture rather than the racing itself and while the climax’s “I’m Spartacus” reveal kinda sorta works, it’s too little too late.
Avoid this like the plague, and immediately contact local authorities. Mr. Singleton belongs in Movie Jail.
The Fast and the Furious: Tokyo Drift (2006)
The series leaps far ahead in time in its third entry, the first of what would be a four film run from Director Justin Lin. Juvenile delinquint Sean Boswell (Lucas Black) totals his car in an after-school street race and, to avoid going to jail, is sent to live with his estranged father on a Navy base in Tokyo. Japan, Sean quickly learns, is far from what he’s used to as a Yakuza boss’s nephew, Takashi (Brian Tee), controls much of the city’s underground racing scene. Takashi and Sean get off to a bumpy start when Sean makes a move on Takashi’s girlfriend Neela (Nathalie Kelley). Takashi also happens to be Tokyo’s reigning “Drift King,” the top dog in a style of street racing that requires skidding around tight parking lot corners, a far cry from the open road races of the two previous installments. After a humiliating loss, Sean learns to master the art of “drifting” with the help of classmate “Twinkie” (Bow Wow) and Han (Sung Kang), Takashi’s business partner and old friend of Dom Toretto. When Takashi discovers Han’s been lifting money from him, he pursues him in a violent street chase across the city that ends in Han’s death. Looking to avenge his friend and put an end to his beef with Takashi, Brian appeals to Takashi’s gangster uncle (the legendary Sonny Chiba) to settle matters once and for all in a drift race down a perilous mountain top course. When Takashi attempts to ram him off the mountain, Sean swerves his car, totaling Takashi’s and winning both the race and Neela’s affections. Months later, we see that Sean has become the new “Drift King,” as he is challenged to a race by Dom in a moment that links the film with its two predecessors *brain explodes*
Now this is pod racing. Even with a brand new cast, Justin Lin proves to be the solution to Singleton’s stale followup, smartly doing away with the crummy race banter and returning the focus to the cars and the action. Lin also privileges practical stunts and effects work; races feel physical and car crashes have a crunch that elevate the excitement. Lucas Black isn’t an outstanding lead, but the Yakuza make for far more interesting antagonists than 2 Fast’s silk-shirted Scarface dealio. A bumping, eclectic soundtrack combines Japanese pop artists and American hip-hop, and as ridiculous as it sounds, Lin uses drift sequences to progress character dynamics and relationships, introducing rivalries, developing a partnership and freshening up a stale romance. This isn’t required viewing, especially since its timeline won’t even align with Walker and Diesel’s until Fast 7, but Tokyo Drift is stylish with terrific action, a fresh twist and a fish out of water story that avoids cheap gags and easy racist jokes. It’s also the best entry in the franchise thus far.
Inessential but highly recommended because it’s kind of genius.
Fast & Furious (2009)
You can take the return of Vin Diesel as an acknowledgement that this series simply isn’t as good without his bald head. Feeling the need to drop three whole articles from its title, 2009’s slimmer Fast & Furious doubles back in the franchise’s timeline to five years after the first film. We find that Dom, Letty, Han and newcomers Leo and Santos are back at it, hijacking fuel tankers in the Dominican Republic. When Letty is murdered under mysterious circumstances, Dom returns to the United States where he reunites with Brian, who’s been reinstated and investigating yet another criminal sleaze bag. Suspecting Brian’s target also had a hand in his girlfriend’s murder, both Dom and Brian go undercover — yet again — posing as runners who race the drug lord’s heroin money over the Mexican border. Dom learns Letty was apparently murdered in a similar setup, one where each driver is subsequently killed to tie up any loose ends. Brian and Dom escape a similar fate, managing to take out Letty’s suspected killer and bring the drug lord into custody, but not before authorities also arrest Dom, who has remained a wanted fugitive and is “tired of running.” Quite frankly, so are we.
Fast & Furious basically takes another crack at 2 Fast, and while Lin’s superior direction and the return of Diesel beef up this entry, the story is still a dumb one. Letty’s murder mystery is awkward and never fully resolved, and Brian O’Conner repeats his old “cop-turned-outlaw” routine. Lin’s action sequences get ballsier as he transitions the series to the genre heists in Fast Five, but the fluidity comes at the cost of awful CGI and production constraints. A chase around Los Angeles where racers compete to win a spot in the drug running scheme makes excellent use of a GPS device and the city’s obstacles, but Fast & Furious never manages to maintain any momentum thereafter.
Letty is presumed dead, and Dom gets 25 to life. Watch the thrilling opening sequence, and we’re probably good here.
Fast Five (2011)
As if inviting you to skip the fourth film, Fast Five actually begins with Fast & Furious’ final minutes, where Brian and Mia lead a highway operation to crash Dom’s prison bus and free him. The three flee to Rio de Janeiro and reconnect with old pal Vince, who sets up a job lifting seized drug cars from the DEA. The gang discovers the man who hired them, Hernan Reyes, was actually interested in just one vehicle whose computer chip contains valuable information on the crime lord’s drug routes as well as the location of a $100 million cash horde. The DEA job has also alerted their presence to DSS Agent Luke Hobbs (Dwayne Johnson) and Rio officer Elena Neves (Elsa Pataky), who pursue the gang with extreme prejudice and head sweat. With the former eight-time WWE Champion hot on their trail, Dom, Brian, and Mia decide to steal Reyes’ money and flee the country. They also make a number of phone calls and enlist the help of Han, Roman, Tej, Leo, Santos as well as Gisele Yashar (Gal Gadot), a former Mossad agent who left the employ of Fast & Furious’ baddie to join the family. The gang is eventually captured by Hobbs, but before he can haul them in, his caravan is ambushed by Reyes’ men, decimating his tactical team and killing Vince. Seeking revenge, Hobbs and Elena agree to help the gang with the heist, an elaborate chain of events that culminates in a destructive car chase down the streets of Rio. Hobbs kills Reyes but opting not to capture them gives the gang a 24-hour “head start” to evade him. With Reyes’ money, Brian and a now pregnant Mia begin a new life with Dom and Elena. And then Monica Fuentes shows up and ruins everything. You believe in post-credits stingers?
As he did with Tokyo Drift, Justin Lin breathes new life into a series that had begun to spin its wheels, shifting the Fast & Furious franchise into full-on heist mode. Despite some hasty background retcons of old favorites — Ludacris apparently has experience cracking safes? — Fast Five’s “Ocean’s” vibe lends itself well to a cast of varied talents and personalities. Now on a much larger budget, Lin stages fantastic set pieces with action that always unfolds organically. The DEA train heist is among the most thrilling mainstream action sequences in the last decade and the sight of Diesel and Walker hauling a safe down the streets of Rio like a wrecking ball is equally absurd and thrilling. Dwayne Johnson’s sweaty alpha cop also makes for a welcome foil to Diesel’s tough guy act. Its human moments still aren’t its strong suit, but the Fast & Furious franchise seems to have finally realized that the relationship stuff should play second fiddle to what everyone came to see.
Watch it. And then watch it again.
Numbers don’t always equal quality, but Fast Five’s $600 million gross all but insured an inevitable sequel in this weekend’s Fast & Furious 6. By the looks of it, Justin Lin’s final contribution to the franchise maintains its shiny new action/heist groove and reunites Fast Five’s cast. With the return of Michelle Rodriguez and the additions of Gina Carano and Luke Evans’ Special Ops baddie, one wonders if the series may finally feel overstuffed on its sixth go around this weekend.
Until then, let’s all agree to simply call it Furious 6, since that sounds cooler and makes more sense anyway. Maybe we can start a reformative grass roots marketing campaign?
- Every Fast & Furious film is now available on DVD, Blu-ray, and for digital download. The morbidly curious also have the option of streaming 2 Fast 2 Furious on HitBliss for free.