I am many things…a Christian…a comedian…and absolutely obsessed with the Fast and Furious movies. I always have been! Whenever a new movie comes out, I make a point to marathon all the movies up until the newest one to “fully immerse” myself in Fast and Furious culture, before watching the newest installment.
It used to be a night before process, but with 10 movies out now, it is now quite the ordeal. As an adult, I have to carve out a lot of time to honor this tradition, as silly as it may be. In years past, this was something I did with friends. We’d make a big deal out of it, like a giant weekend Super Bowl party, except instead of watching football, we watched something that is actually entertaining.
This year I soloed my Furious Weekend Celebration. I almost chose not to, because none of my friends were available to join me and I was missing the big entertainment room I had in years past to really watch the movies in all their glory…But I am so glad I kept my tradition. It’s just a stupid and fun thing I like to do, but what’s the point of dealing with all the hardships of life if we don’t occasionally take the time to enjoy the fun and stupid things?
Some bonds are just unbreakable! Dom Toretto has his family, and I have my Fast and Furious marathon.
Since I have watched all 10 movies in less then 72 hours, I wanted to take it upon myself to rank them (from worst to best) for your reading pleasure…or at least for my writing pleasure.
This is purely my opinion and holds no weight in your life whatsoever. Thanks in advance for reading!
10. Tokyo Drift
This movie would be perfect…if we were looking for a film that is essentially “The Karate Kid” with cars in place of karate! Seriously, it is the same movie!
Let me start with the cons. I didn’t care about any of the main characters, except Hans. (which makes sense as you watch later series, as he’s the only important character from this movie) A big factor in my personal rating is the villain of each movie…and DK was just a spoiled brat, just like all the other “kids” in this movie (because they are high schoolers!) Also…why do we care about high schoolers in a Fast and Furious movie? Even for Fast and Furious, nothing in this movie was believable to me.
I will give it grace though, because my personal theory is that up until Fast 4, the writers did not plan on having the movies connect. The first three could essentially stand alone, and be just fine. (Well, maybe that’s giving this one to much to much credit)
There were some positives of this movie though. The cars were cool, and the race scenes were entertaining. The BEST scene of the movie was where DK was chasing Hans, leading to his “death”. That part where they drove through time square Tokyo and split traffic, was awesome. High school me would be remised if I didn’t also mention the love interest was smoking hot…in her appearance only, her personality and attempt of a backstory was not hot at all.
9. The Fast and Furious
I am referring to the first in the series…yes, you read that correctly. I know it started it all, and I have mad respect for it because of that…but objectively, this is the second worst of the Fast and Furious series for me, and here’s why.
This movie is a lot of fun to watch in 2023 because there are so many more movies out there in the series that flesh out these characters…but so much of that didn’t happen in the first one! Thank God for Two Fast Two Furious, otherwise none of us would really care about Brian O’conner.
Think about it…he, the main character, doesn’t win at anything in that movie. By the end, he didn’t get the girl, he became a disgraced cop, he kind of helped Dom? (By sentencing him to a lifetime on the run which caused a lot of problems that created great plots for the rest of the series) and…he lost every race he was in. As the protagonist goes, he was “meh”. And this was early enough in Paul Walker’s career that he wasn’t endearing enough to us yet for us to look the other way at his bad acting. (He wins us over in 2 for sure though!)
Also…let’s talk about Vince, one of the main heels of the movie. Sure, he was a jerk, and a womanizer, and a drunk….BUT HE WAS RIGHT! If Dom listened to his best bud Vince, none of the bad things of the movie would have happened…Vince totally got the short end of the plot on this one but does get a arc redeemer in movie 4.
The movie, if it didn’t have 9 sequels, would not have won our hearts. Does anyone to this day even know who the main criminal that the police were after? Was it Dom? Was it the other guy? They never really cleared it up.
Pros of this movie: Brian and Mia’s love story was good in this movie, even if we never had any other sequels…it set the stage for the greatest love story in the saga. And that scene where Brian tells her that he is a cop and he needs her help, that was the most interesting part of the movie. Also the races in this movie are fantastic and the cars are super cool…it absolutely set the trend for the rest of the series. Lastly, RIP Pete, the only significant character in the series that has died and stayed dead. This movie also started the bond between Brian and Dom, but make no mistake, Fast 4 is the movie that made us care about their friendship. Speaking of which…
8. Fast and Furious
This is the fourth movie, not to be confused with the first movie. I like to say that this is the first movie that the writers started to try. Honestly, many people have mistaken this as the first movie of the series (I think that is why they intentionally created a confusing name for it).
Pros, this brings us character development to all the major characters. The “death” of Letty is a fantastic jumping off point to add depth to all the main people. Brian and Dom having to work together as cop and criminal, and ultimately both becoming criminals was a wonderful plot device and created a motif that will see throughout the entire series. This movie introduced Gisele who was very formative to the series, and my younger/current self. (Phew, so hot!)
Braga was a good villain, and his main henchman (the black guy, sorry I don’t know his name) who “killed” Letty was someone who it was fun to hate.
Something about this movie that many people probably appreciate…It was the first one with a real plot, and maybe the best storyline for an individual movie. But who watches Fast and Furious for plot and storytelling?
It’s major con for me is that as far as races and big stunts go, it was slightly boring. The desert backdrop I think added to the “meh” that these action scenes created. Don’t get me wrong, they were fun to watch…but compared to the action that the rest of the movies on this list created, this one fell short.
7. F9
F9 was a very fun movie to watch, with a lot of over the top antics we have grown to love from this franchise. It even connected the characters in Tokyo Drift in a way that made me like them a lot better.
One of my favorite things about this movie is that it showed us how much the franchise lives into it’s silliness, and doesn’t take itself super seriously. For years fans and critics have been joking about Fast and Furious taking cars to space…and this movie actually did just that! In a way that “made sense” for the plot. Good job F9!
My biggest beef with this movie was that the bad guys just didn’t seem to do it for me. The plot, and their villainousness was boring and in the Fast universe, that’s worse much worse then being dumb. But, the plot was dumb too.
I love the idea of Dom having a brother who is an antagonist turned ally eventually. This storyline just didn’t cut it for me, it stepped on the toes of pre-established characterization which aside from turning Tej from car garage guy to hacking wizard, the Fast saga hadn’t done much of. Maybe if he was a half brother he had never met, and the two grew up in very different ways which created jealousy on Jacob’s end, I could believe it more.
Also Cypher’s involvement in this movie could have been done in a way that made her seem like a bigger threat. By the time she took over, I didn’t care. And she did too little at the end to really be a huge plot point. I remember when I first saw this movie and her big reveal happened thinking to myself, “Oh yeah, you’re still in this movie.”
6. 2 Fast 2 Furious
Many people would argue this movie is just slightly better then Tokyo Drift as far as Fast and Furious movies go but THEY ARE WRONG! This one was a fantastic and ridiculous movie that set the stage for some of the most “Fast and Furious type” antics that the series would later become a staple of.
This movie had a lot of positives, not the least of which was that it made Brian a likeable character. The Brian O’conner that we all know and love did not come from the first movie, but the second. Also, I do think he took an acting class or two between the movies so his performance was way better. He was likeable, he was a bad ass, and you could see him working through a lot of the struggles that maybe the first movie created. Also, his chemistry with Roman is amazing…As fun as a character as Roman is, he’s not nearly as good now that the movies don’t have Brian.
Also, Carter, in my opinion, is one of the best stand alone villains of the Fast and Furious saga. He straight up heated up a mouse in a bucket to force it to start clawing into a police officer to make sure he got his way. Dude was a psycho, but not over the top (Like later villains we will talk about) He was scary, and you love to see him lose. He hasn’t come back yet in this series, but I am holding out for a reappearance of him because it is Fast and Furious after all.
The car chase scenes, that massive car scramble, and jumping the car onto the boat is all the crazy over the top stuff we know and love from Fast and Furious…and you saw it first in Fast 2! Not to the level of the later movies, but they started the craziness and I don’t think they knew what they were doing.
2 Fast 2 Furious also had fantastic side characters that you had fun watching. Eva Mendes was a huge crush of mine back in the day, and her character was cool but now I would rather see more from the hot asain girl racer with the attitude…she should definitely come back! Carter’s two henchmen were awful, and hilarious, and you loved to watch them get bested by Brian and Roman. Lastly…this movie gave us the greatest gift of all, and that’s Roman and Tej.
5. Fast X
Before I rate the newest, I should say that since it’s part one of three, I am reserving a lot of my critique until I see where everything goes!
A lot of my hype in this movie right now is coming from the fact that it is the newest, and there is still a plot unveiling that I am unaware of.
Perhaps the best thing this movie did was make the villain of Fast 5 relevant. Reyes was such a forgettable villain for me that it impacted Fast 5’s placement on this list. That being said, I loved when they opened up Fast X by showing that Dante is his son. Part of the awesome ridiculousness of all these movies is that somehow they are connected in over the top ways.
It was nice seeing Dom as a father, and meeting B a bit in the plot. We’ve followed Dom for 20 years, it’s fun for the viewer to see how he’s doing as a dad!
Jacob’s character as a mix of badass and comic relief was good. I liked this version of Jacob so much better then the one we saw in F9…just in time for him to “die” (We’ll see)
Speaking of people that died…I don’t know if I like Gisele’s return at the end of the movie yet…the reason I liked her death, was with the exception of Pete in Fast 1 (RIP) her death was the only one that stuck, and it had huge implications on the plot…But, here she is!
Lastly, I can’t tell if I like Dante’s character as a villain yet. He has real “Joker” vibes to Batman, I mean Dom which is fun, but not if he becomes the main big bad of the entire series. If he ends up working for Cypher, I think I’ll love him being a villain. If the next 2 movies is all about him getting his revenge, it’ll get old real quick.
This movie had good action sequences, just not as good as some of the others! It definitely felt like a movie setting us up for more epic awesomeness. We’ll see where it goes from here.
4. Fast 5
I should start this review by saying that I feel like I was caught cheating on my wife by ranking Fast 5 as only number 4. For YEARS this has been my absolute favorite of the Fast series, and the one that I believe made them go from “cult famous” to “huge ridiculous hits that everyone loves, or loves to hate” That being said, when I watched it for this marathon (which is the 5th time I’ve done the marathon with Fast 5 being part of it) it didn’t have the same magic…and I think I know why.
Fast 5 is many of our favorite because of the “Avengers-like” magic it has. It was the Fast and Furious movie that brought back all the heroes. This is the first one that connected all the movies, even 2 Fast 2 Furious and Tokyo Drift. This was the one that started to make these movies feel like a series. The best scene is 100% when Dom and Brian bring in all their friends and the big reveals from all the different movies take place. It’s the “avengers assemble” moment of Fast and Furious…But now that we have seen that for the rest of the movies, it’s not as magical.
Another great part of this movie is the introduction of Hobbs. His lines are among the best in the whole series. My personal favorite, “I hope you’re wearing your Thunderwear.” He’s a ridiculous cartoon of a powerhouse character and the Rock plays him perfectly.
The action in this movie was great, but the ones higher on this list had bigger over the top action sequences which is why we watch Fast and Furious.
The big con of this movie, for me, was the villain Reyes. Don’t get me wrong, owning a whole country through your drug empire is impressive, but him as a bad guy wasn’t fun to watch. The majority of the villains in Fast and Furious have a connection with Dom, or an axe to grind with his crew. This was a rich guy, and it felt weird that Dom and his crew were going after him in the first place. I mean, they Fast and Furious explained it, but still.
Vince’s return and getting the proper ending to the character was another highlight of this movie. He finally had a family, he ended up doing the right thing, and he’s a character I hope that they keep dead…but it’s Fast and Furious, so who knows?
3. The Fate of the Furious
As far as over the top ridiculous story lines, action scenes, car chases, and good stupid fun that we have to love and expect from the Fast and Furious movies, Fast 8 brings it to max capacity. Hobbs and Shaw’s fight scene in prison, Dom’s chase scene against his whole team, and Deckard Shaw killing a plane full of people while taking care of the baby…these are just a few of the amazing scenes this movie has for us!
Also, Cypher was set up to be one of the most terrifying villains in Fast and Furious. Honestly, the last two movies have tarnished her street credit a bit. She needs to stay bad, and she needs to be revealed as the main big bad pulling all the strings and the series needs to end with Dom putting a bullet in her head… but I am afraid she is going to join the Family ,which happens in most movies like this.
This movie brought us the return of Owen Shaw briefly, and the introduction to his mum which was fun. The Shaws have been great villains in this saga, and this movie humanized them a bit which was good so they could make room for the big bad Cypher…unless she turns out not being the big bad.
Something else to appreciate about this movie was that it was the first one they did without Paul Walker. A lot of us had our doubts if it would have the same impact after such a tragedy and loss to a big part of the series, but they delivered. And that last scene where Brian’s car pulls up was touching.
2. Fast and Furious 6
Fast 6 introduced us to the villain Owen Shaw and his “Dark Avengers” I mean, “other team” Owen who was nothing but a tactician had assembled a team just as good as Dom’s, except he didn’t understand the value of “Family” which is why his team lost. Such a dumb, and yet perfect, plot for a Fast and Furious movie.
And the return of Letty in this movie was perfectly done. She was the first character brought back from the dead, I think, so it wasn’t a lame, “over the top” plot device yet.
If Fast 5 was the movie where the franchise discovered it’s brand and what it does best (over the top chase scenes and action sequences) Fast 6 was where they perfected it. THIS is the movie where we knew why we love this movie franchise, and they were giving us exactly what we wanted.
A good plot, a good villain, amazing car chases, they took down a plane with cars, cool fight scenes. As far as Fast and Furious movies goes, this was almost a perfect movie…Except, Fast 7 did it all just a bit better.
1. Furious 7
If Fast 5 was where the franchise caught it’s stride, Fast 6 was where they perfected it, Fast 7 was the movie they exceeded expectations and gave us everything we wanted and more. Furious 7 did all the same things right as Fast 6, but it had one thing that it’s predecessor did not….Deckard Shaw.
In my opinion, Deckard Shaw has been the best villain for the Fast Saga so far. Now there are “more powerful ones” but nobody was as terrifying in the moment as Deckard Shaw. In the opening scenes we see him blow up Hans (bringing us full circle with Tokyo Drift), and winning a fight against Hobbs. He was such a good fit for an antagonist. A guy who is systematically taking apart Dom’s family…he’s not bringing the crazy like Dante in Fast X is, which almost makes it a joke…no, he’s a lethal and skilled threat, that was a very even match for Dom and his team…Best antagonist in this series.
Shaw and Dom’s ending fight scene was pretty cool, but not nearly as awesome as the two fight scenes that Brian had with the random other guy Mr. “Too Slow” as I call it. Sure, a lot of it was CGI, but how fun was that scene to watch!?!
And speaking of fun, this movie definitely had some of the best car chase scenes not the least of which being when they parachuted the cars onto the bridge and saved Ramsey. Or how about when Hobbs flexed out of a cast, stole an ambulance, and used it to destroy a drone?
Also, try as they might with bringing in fun replacements like his daughter, or “Little Nobody”…Mr. Nobody is the hilarious “Nick Fury” type character that nobody asked for, but everyone wanted!
Of course the icing on the cake to this amazing movie was the ending tribute scene to Paul Walker. That’s not me crying, it’s just a byproduct of watching Furious 7…pure testosterone and manliness oozing from my eyes from all the action I just witnessed! I’m not crying…you’re crying!
Well, that’s my rankings and why I put which movie where. How would you rank them? What do you think of my opinions? What are some of your own?
Feel free to comment below, or not. I don’t really care either way. These are fun movies, and thank you for reading my opinion on my favorite series!
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