Retrospective & Review - The Fast and the Furious (2001 - 2019)

           Hey guys, Chuck here. Well, with the release of F9, the latest film of the ongoing Fast & Furious franchise, set for June 25, I decided to compile a retrospective and review of the entire Fast & Furious franchise dating back to 2001. This is a quick way to get caught up with the franchise up to this point. Just an FYI, however, I will not be taking a look at the Netflix animated series Fast & Furious Spy Racers as it deserves its own review, and the story of that series has no major impact on the movies. However, I do enjoy the series, and will probably give my thoughts on it as soon as I get caught up. 

          Okay, so 2001 gave us The Fast and the Furious, starring Vin Diesel, Paul Walker, Jordana Brewster, and Michelle Rodriguez. The movie focuses on Los Angeles police officer Brian O'Connor, who is working undercover as a street racer in order to find out who's behind a string of highway robberies before the drivers whose trucks are being broken in to take up arms to defend themselves. It's here that Brian meets and befriends Dominic Toretto, a local street racing icon and wanted felon, who is getting ready for an upcoming event out in the desert called Race Wars. Dom and his crew, which consists of Jesse, Leon, Vince, and Letty, work together, along with Brian, to assemble a broken 1994 Toyota Supra into a ten second car to compete in Race Wars, all the while Brian gets close to Dom's sister Mia, and the two start going out. 

         Meanwhile, we learn that Dom's biggest rival is a racer named Johnny Tran, who Dom tries to frame for the robberies, but it turns out that Tran is innocent, and Dom is the real culprit. After one more robbery goes wrong, ending with Vince being airlifted to a hospital for emergency care, and Brian outing his police officer status, the two have a race between the Supra and Dom's Charger, which ends with the Charger getting wrecked, and Brian handing Dom the keys to the Supra to escape. 

        This movie has been dubbed by many as "Point Break with cars," and it's not hard to see why, as it has a very similar premise as Point Break, just switch out surfing with street racing, and switch out Patrick Swayze and Keanu Reeves for Vin Diesel and Paul Walker. Now, there are some major differences as well, as the focus is not just on street racing and crime, but also friendship and family, which become the underlying themes of future entries. 

        The chemistry between Vin Diesel and Paul Walker is top notch, and I enjoyed the performances by other cast members like Ted Levine, Jordana Brewster, Rick Yune, and Michelle Rodriguez. Overall, director Rob Cohen made a very fun film, and if you haven't seen it yet, I definitely recommend it. I'm going to give The Fast and the Furious a rating of 5/5.

          Okay, so 2003 gave us 2 Fast 2 Furious, a sequel in which Paul Walker is the only major star to return. Newcomers include Tyrese Gibson, Eva Mendes, Cole Hauser, Devon Aoki, James Remar, and Ludacris. So, this movie is set mostly in Miami, where Brian, no longer a police officer after the events of the first movie, is a prominent street racer. Brian is approached by the FBI agent from the first movie, agent Bilkins, who offers him a clean slate if he agrees to help the FBI and Customs take down local crime boss Carter Verone. Brian agrees, but won't work with the assigned Customs agent, Dunn, because the guy doesn't know anything about cars. Instead, he heads to Barstow and recruits childhood friend Roman Pearce, who is offered the chance to be freed from house arrest if he helps.

        So, Brian and Roman work with Customs agent Monica Fuentes, who is undercover with Verone, and the three work together to find out his plans for bringing in millions of dollars of drug money to be laundered before leaving the country. Brian and Roman also get help from a friend of Brian's in Miami, Tej Parker, who let's the two stay at his garage for the time being. All goes as planned, Verone is arrested, Brian and Roman's records are clean, and Roman walks away with some of Verone's money. 

       So, 2 Fast 2 Furious is definitely an interesting follow up to the first movie, and I think director John Singleton did a decent job with it. The return of Paul Walker as Brian was good, and the new inclusions, like Tyrese Gibson as Roman, Ludacris as Tej, Eva Mendes as Monica Fuentes, and so forth, were all terrific. I honestly laughed my ass off with the scenes between Paul and Tyrese. These two were just that funny working together. Now, what's really neat is that Ludacris also contributed to this movie's soundtrack with the song "Act A Fool." I was in the fifth grade at the time, and this song just exploded in popularity. Heck, I think the song was more popular at the time than the actual movie, but whatever. The weight of Vin Diesel as Dom is definitely missing, but the new characters of Roman and Tej are great. Not as good as the original, but a lot of fun nonetheless. I'm giving 2 Fast 2 Furious a rating of 4/5.

         Cut to 2006, and we have The Fast and the Furious: Tokyo Drift, with new characters, a new director, essentially new everything. It's a brand new Fast & Furious movie from the ground up. Directed by Justin Lin, this entry of the Fast & Furious series introduces us to Sean Boswell, who has been in trouble with the law due to his street racing. After one street race goes too far, leading to himself and the other driver getting seriously injured, Sean is sent to live with his father in Tokyo, as his mother doesn't have any other options aside from Sean going to jail.

         So, Sean adjusts to life in Tokyo, and befriends another American at his school, Twinkie. Twinkie introduces Sean to Tokyo's preferred form of racing: drift racing. Sean is challenged by the local top dog of drifting: Takashi aka D.K. (short for Drift King). Sean loses the race, and upon returning home gets chewed out by his father, who had made "no racing" a major rule. The next day, Sean is approached by Han, who let Sean race his car the night before, who has Sean start to work for him, and even improve his drifting skills. As Sean's skills improve, he gets close with another classmate, Neela, who leaves D.K. for Sean because of D.K.'s intolerance towards Sean. D.K.'s uncle, who heads up a major Yakuza family, is upset by his nephew's behavior, and tells him to fix the issues with Han. 

           Han, Sean, and co. eventually end up in a major chase through the streets of Tokyo, where Han ends up in a wreck with a white Mercedes and dies (we'll cover this a little later), and Sean decides to make it right with one last race one-on-one against D.K, whose uncle agrees to it, with the loser leaving Tokyo for good. Using a car that Sean's father was fixing up, Sean races D.K. on a mountain, where it is said that the first drifters honed the craft (this is actually true, by the way.). Sean wins the race, and is crowned the new D.K. Some time later, Sean is challenged to a race by an old friend of Han's: Dominic Toretto, ending the movie. 

         This movie is easily the weakest entry in the Fast & Furious franchise. First off, aside from a last minute cameo by Vin Diesel, none of the actors from the first two movies return. Some of the new performers, like Sung Kang as Han, Brian Tee as D.K, Natalie Kelley as Neela, and Bow Wow as Twinkie are good, and even Japanese acting legend Sonny Chiba is a welcome addition, but Lucas Blacks Sean is not a particularly strong protagonist. Don't get me wrong, Lucas has improved as an actor over the years (heck, I personally want him to be in the Marvel Cinematic Universe as the ion-powered superhero Wonder Man), but his early lack of talent shows here. 

      The only thing that elevates this movie is it's attention to detail when it comes to drift racing. They did get the history of drifting getting its start in the mountains of Japan right. Other than that, it's not my favorite of the series. Now, I was originally going to give this movie a zero, but that seems too harsh, even for my standards. So, I'm going to be generous and give The Fast and the Furious: Tokyo Drift a rating of 1.5/5. 

        Okay, so here's where the timeline gets confusing. In 2009, we got Fast & Furious, the fourth entry of the series, which sees the returns of all four lead actors from the original film: Vin Diesel, Paul Walker, Jordana Brewster, and Michelle Rodriguez. Directed once again by Justin Lin, this entry is actually set between the events of 2 Fast 2 Furious and The Fast and the Furious: Tokyo Drift, as evident by the appearance of Sung Kang as Han, who was part of Dom's crew before he went to Tokyo. 

        The movie starts in the Dominican Republic, as Dom, Letty, Han, Leo, and Santos steal fuel tankers from a tanker truck on the highway. After the mostly-successful heist, Letty decides to go back to the U.S, as she can't keep running. Weeks pass by, and we see that Brian is now an FBI agent, and is working to bring in crime boss Arturo Braga. News comes in that Letty is dead, which prompts Dom to return to the U.S. with a plan to get back at the one responsible for Letty's death. Both Dom and Brian reunite with Mia, and meet each other again as well, and the two work together to find Braga and bring him in. Dom and Brian are set up in a street race by Gisele Yashar, who works for Braga, and the two are picked up to drive for Braga. We also learn that Letty was working with Brian to clean Dom's record so Dom could come home, and got killed by Braga's main henchman Fenix Calderon. Dom kills Fenix, Braga is arrested, and the courts decide that Dom's actions, though commendable, aren't enough to get out of going to prison for his long list of crimes over the years. En route to prison, Brian, Mia, Leo, and Santos all work together to get Dom out. 

      The biggest takeaway from this movie was also it's main draw: the main stars from the original film return for this one. Vin Diesel and Paul Walker are a welcome return to the franchise, and it's great to see Jordana Brewster and Michelle Rodriguez back as well. Newcomers like Laz Alonso, John Ortiz, Shea Whigham, and Gal Gadot (before she was Wonder Woman, by the way) are all terrific here as well. And, I'll say that Justin Lin has improved as a director here as well. If Tokyo Drift was the test drive, this movie was the start of the real deal. An improvement over Tokyo Drift, but not quite as good as the first two, I'm going to give Fast & Furious a rating of 3/5. 

        2011 is where the series got a massive supercharge with Fast Five. Once again set before the events of Tokyo Drift, this entry was directed once again by Justin Lin, and sees the returns of Vin Diesel, Paul Walker, Jordana Brewster, Tyrese Gibson, Ludacris, Sung Kang, Gal Gadot, and introduces Elsa Pataky as Elena and Dwayne Johnson as DSS agent Luke Hobbs. 

       So, after Mia and Brian break Dom out of a prison bus, the three are now on the run in Brazil, where they reunite with Vince, who has a family of his own now. Vince sets up a job stealing seized cars from a train, and one of the cars is meant for local crime boss Hernan Reyes. Reyes has a lot of cash spread all across Rio de Janeiro, and Dom and Brian decide to steal it. Dom and Brian call in Roman, Tej, Gisele, Han,  Leo, and Santos to help with the heist, but also must contend with DSS agent Luke Hobbs, who is in Rio to arrest both Dom and Brian. Hobbs decides to work with a local law enforcement officer, Elena, as she's the only one not on Reyes' payroll.

        So, the race is on, and Dom and Brian work with their crew to get Reyes' money, Hobbs and Elena are after not only Dom and Brian, but Reyes as well, and Dom and Hobbs decide to work together to stop Reyes and kill him. They succeed, especially after a kickass scene of them driving a massive safe through the streets of Rio. Hobbs gives them a head start, but asks them to leave the safe. The safe turns out to be empty, and the safe with the cash is at the warehouse with the rest of Dom and Brian's crew. They all go their separate ways, with Roman and Tej enjoying their wealth, Han and Gisele traveling together as a couple, and Brian getting ready to become a father. Yep, Mia's having a baby, and Brian is the father. Dom and Brian have one more race, just to prove once and for all who's the better driver between the two of them. 

         Fast Five has been hailed as one of the best of the franchise. And I have to agree, I do think that this movie did help to establish that, yes people do care about these movies, and we do want to see these characters interact with each other. Surprisingly, I recently learned that the character of Hobbs was meant for actor Tommy Lee Jones, but was reworked to fit Dwayne Johnson aka The Rock, after Vin Diesel read a post on Facebook about a fan wanting to see Vin Diesel and The Rock on screen together. And I think that was a good call, as The Rock's charisma and energy just adds a dynamic to Hobbs that wouldn't work with any other actor. Elsa Pataky, whose only other noteworthy film role was in Snakes on a Plane, was great in this movie as well in the role of Elena. She definitely adds a dynamic that keeps Hobbs grounded and more believable. The rest of the cast, Vin Diesel, Paul Walker, Jordana Brewster, Tyrese Gibson, Ludacris, Sung Kang, and Gal Gadot are terrific once again, and it's great to see the character of Vince return from the first movie. The setting of Rio de Janeiro was a welcome setting, and it definitely adds something different to the movie. I'm going to give Fast Five a rating of 4.75/5. 

        Okay, so we have what, at the time, was Justin Lin's last directorial effort for the series, Fast & Furious 6, which sees the returns of Vin Diesel, Paul Walker, Jordana Brewster, Tyrese Gibson, Ludacris, Sung Kang, Gal Gadot, Elsa Pataky, and Dwayne Johnson, as well as the return of Michelle Rodriguez, and the introduction of newcomers Luke Evans, Gina Carano, Joe Taslim, and a host of others. 

        Once again set before the events of Tokyo Drift, this movie introduces a crack team of high-performance drivers, led by Owen Shaw, who have committed various crimes across Europe. DSS agent Luke Hobbs, along with his new partner Riley Hicks, investigate the team and learns that one of the members is the previously-assumed dead Letty. So, Hobbs goes to recruit Dom and his crew, needing their skills for this particular job, and giving Dom a chance to bring Letty home. So, the whole gang is back: Dom, Brian, Roman, Tej, Gisele, and Han, and they all work together to bring down Shaw. Brian heads back to the U.S. to meet with Braga, who's been in prison, for information on Shaw. It turns out that Fenix didn't kill Letty, and she was left with no memory of Dom or her life before meeting Shaw. 

      We also learn that Hicks was working with Shaw the whole time, and in a climactic scene involving an airplane, Hicks and Gisele are killed, Shaw is severely injured to the point of being hospitalized, and Dom's crew get to go home with clean records, with Dom and Letty getting back together, despite her memory loss. Some time after the last big meal gathering, Han ends up in Tokyo, where we see that his fatal accident was deliberately caused, but we'll get to that in a minute. 

         Fast & Furious 6 definitely keeps the momentum going from Fast Five. All the returning players are terrific here, and newcomers like Luke Evans as Owen Shaw and Gina Carano as Hicks are all terrific. I also liked the minor appearances of Shea Whigham and John Ortiz. The stunts are fantastic, and the racing scenes are thoroughly enjoyable. Justin Lin definitely departed the series on a higher both than when he jumped on with Tokyo Drift. Same as with Fast Five, Fast & Furious 6 gets a rating of 4.75/5. 

        Alright, so now we're at 2015's Furious 7, with a new director in James Wan. Several returning players, including Vin Diesel, Paul Walker, Jordana Brewster, Michelle Rodriguez, Tyrese Gibson, Ludacris, Lucas Black, Elsa Pataky, and Dwayne Johnson, with newcomers including Djimon Honsou, Nathalie Emmanuel, Ronda Rousey, John Brotherton, Kurt Russell, and Jason Statham. Sadly, this film marked the final appearance of Paul Walker as Brian, as Paul sadly passed away in a tragic automobile accident midway through production on the film. Paul's brothers, Caleb and Cody, generously stepped in to fill Paul's shoes and finish the movie, and it was a hell of a send off to a great performer. 

             So, this movie introduces us to Deckard Shaw, older brother of Owen Shaw, who is out for revenge against Dom and his crew for what happened to Owen. Shaw first attacks Hobbs, putting the DSS agent in the hospital with his arm in a cast, and then heads to Tokyo and causes Han's fatal accident from Tokyo Drift. So, we're finally caught up with Tokyo Drift in the timeline of these movies, thank God. Anyway, Dom heads to Tokyo, where after his race with Sean, he gets Han's personal affects and takes them back to the U.S. At Han's funeral, Dom spots Shaw, and chases after him. During their faceoff, black ops agents show up, and Dom is greeted by a government agent named Mr. Nobody, who offers Dom a chance to find Shaw. 

      So, Mr. Nobody tells Dom about a hacktavist named Ramsey, who has created a device called God's Eye. Ramsey, however, is being hunted by warlord Mose Jakande. Mr. Nobody tells Dom if he can rescue Ramsey and recover God's Eye, he can use it to find Shaw. So, God's Eye is a program that uses voice print, among other things, to locate an individual anywhere on Earth. It's pretty cool. So, Dom, Brian, Letty, Roman, and Tej work together to save Ramsey from Jakande, and avoid attacks by Shaw, and Ramsey reveals that she sent God's Eye to a friend of her's in Abu Dhabi. Dom and co, along with Ramsey, head to Abu Dhabi, and we learn two things: first, the drive containing God's Eye is in a local prince's prized car, and second, both Roman and Tej are attracted to Ramsey. Yep, that's a thing. 

        Anyway, so Dom and Brian get the car, Letty fights the prince's main guard, and God's Eye is recovered. Dom uses it to find Shaw, who has now teamed up with Jakande, and they take God's Eye. Don and co decide that there's only one place for this fight: where the journey began, on the streets of Los Angeles. Ramsey manages to recover God's Eye, and Hobbs kills Jakande, all while Dom fights Shaw nearly to the death. Both men live, however, and Letty reveals that she remembers everything, even the fact that she and Dom are married. Shaw goes to prison, and Dom, Letty, Roman and Tej decide that Brian belongs with Mia and their two children. The movie ends with a series of clips of Brian from previous films, Brian and Dom driving off in two separate fire, and the words "For Paul."

          Furious 7 was easily my personal favorite of the franchise, and marks the first time seeing any of these movies in theaters. Yep, that's right, Furious 7 was the first film of the series I saw on the big screen. I like the new additions of Jason Statham as Deckard Shaw, Nathalie Emmanuel as Ramsey, and Kurt Russell as Mr. Nobody. Djimon Honsou was terrific as Jakande, and appearances by John Brotherton, best known as Matt on Fuller House, and appearances by the likes of Ronda Rousey and Iggy Azalea are really nice. I'm glad that it was this movie that made it so the timeline could advance past the events of Tokyo Drift, so everything going forward is set after the events of that movie, as well as this movie. For a send-off to Paul Walker, this film was excellent, and everyone in it was fantastic. James Wan, who prior to this was known for horror films, did an excellent job directing this movie, and I am giving Furious 7 a rating of 5/5. 

         Now we're at the eighth film of the series, The Fate of the Furious, released in 2017, and directed by F. Gary Gray. Mostly returning players, including Vin Diesel, Michelle Rodriguez, Tyrese Gibson, Ludacris, Nathalie Emmanuel, Elsa Pataky, Dwayne Johnson, and Kurt Russell, with newcomers including Charlize Theron, Scott Eastwood, Kristofer Hivju, and Helen Mirren. So, we open with Dom and Letty in Havana, where Dom bails out his cousin from a local loan shark named Raldo by racing the "Cuban mile" against Raldo. Dom strips down his cousin's jalopy, hooks up a can of laughing gas, or "Cuban NOS" as Letty calls it, and wins the race, destroying the jalopy in the process. Dom lets Raldo keep his car, as earning Raldo's respect is good enough, and Dom gives his Impala to his cousin, whose jalopy was "too slow for a Toretto, anyway." Dom is later approached by a woman named Cipher, who coerces Dom into working for her, but we'll get to that in a minute. 

        Hobbs, meanwhile, is coaching his daughter's soccer team, and is approached about a job recovering an EMP device in Berlin, for which Hobbs recruits Dom and his crew, of which Ramsey is now part of. The device is recovered, but Dom goes rogue, stealing the device for Cipher, and Hobbs ends up in prison. Hobbs is approached by Mr. Nobody, and his new protege Eric Reisner aka Little Nobody, who offer him a way out of prison, but Hobbs refuses, and is placed in a cell across from Deckard Shaw. On her personal plane, Cipher, along with her main henchman Connor Rhodes, gives Dom another assignment: recover a nuclear football from the Russian Minister of Defense, who will be in New York. The revelation of Cipher's leverage over Dom is Elena and her child, of whom Dom is the father. Yep, Elena and Dom had a baby, but Elena couldn't tell him after he learned Letty was alive. 

        Mr. Nobody breaks both Hobbs and Shaw out of prison, and recruits them both, along with Ramsey, Letty, Roman, and Tej in finding Dom and Cipher. Using God's Eye, they track Dom and Cipher to the facility that Mr. Nobody and the others were located. Dom and Cipher deactivate God's Eye and take it, heading to New York to get the nuclear football. It is in New York that Dom meets with Magdalene Shaw, mother of Deckard and Owen, asking for her help in getting Deckard the means to find Cipher's plane. Despite the nuclear football being recovered, Cipher is still upset by Dom's faltering loyalty, and kills Elena. 

       So, Mr. Nobody reveals that Cipher, who has had ties with both Owen Shaw and Mose Jakande, having recruited both of them in the past, is now heading to an abandoned Russian military base, where she aims to get her hands on a Russian nuclear submarine. Letty, Hobbs, and the rest of Dom's crew head to Russia, along with Little Nobody, to stop Cipher, while Deckard and Owen fly up to Cipher's plane to rescue Dom's son. Both plans are successful, and Dom kills Rhodes for what happened to Elena. All ends well, except for the fact that Cipher gets away. Dom reunites with Letty, Hobbs decides to take some time away from his job and spend more time with his daughter, and Deckard brings Dom's son back to him safely. Dom then introduces his son to the crew with three words that made me tear up a little in the theater: "Everyone, meet Brian." 

      Okay, so The Fate of the Furious continued the momentum built on since Fast Five, and I really liked seeing both Owen and Deckard Shaw as good guys this time around. Also, introducing  their mother, Magdalene Shaw, was a stroke of genius, and what luck that Universal was able to get the legendary Helen Mirren for such a great role. Kristofer Hivju and Charlize Theron we're great as Rhodes and Cipher, and I really enjoyed Scott Eastwood as Little Nobody. Vin Diesel, Michelle Rodriguez, and the rest were all terrific as well, the stunts we're great, and I think F. Gary Gray did a great job as director of this movie. Much like Furious 7, I'm giving The Fate of the Furious a rating of 5/5.

         The next film of the series is a spin-off titled Hobbs & Shaw, which is directed by Deadpool 2 director David Leitch, and stars Dwayne Johnson, Jason Statham, Idris Elba, Vanessa Kirby, Eiza Gonzalez, and Helen Mirren, with appearances by Roman Reigns, Cliff Curtis, Kevin Hart, and Ryan Reynolds.

       So, the movie introduces us to Hattie, who is the daughter of Magdalene Shaw, making Hattie the sister of Deckard and Owen. Hattie injects herself with a biological weapon, a supervirus called "Snowflake," before the mysterious syndicate Eteon, and their cybernetic enforcer Brixton Lore, can get ahold of it. So, the British and American governments recruit Luke Hobbs and Deckard Shaw to recover "Snowflake" before it's released and causes an unstoppable plague. 

        The rest of the movie is a race to extract the "Snowflake" from Hattie's blood, stop Brixton, and save the world. The final face-off between Hobbs, Shaw, and Brixton is in Samoa, where Hobbs reunites with his mother and brothers, who help in the fight against Brixton and Eteon. Brixton is defeated, the leader of Eteon warns that he'll be back, Hattie and Deckard break their mother out of prison, and Hobbs introduces his daughter to the rest of the Hobbs family in Samoa. 

         Okay, while I feel that this movie doesn't do much to further the main arc with Dom and his crew, heck they don't even get mentioned, I do enjoy the dynamic between Hobbs and Shaw. Dwayne Johnson and Jason Statham work really well together, and their constant banter is hilarious. Vanessa Kirby is great in this movie as Hattie, and I loved seeing the return of Helen Mirren as Magdalene Shaw. Okay, let's break down the Shaw family: There's Helen Mirren as Magdalene, the mother, Jason Statham and Luke Evans as the two brothers Deckard and Owen, and finally Vanessa Kirby as the sister Hattie. I'm calling it, Timothy Dalton has got to be the Shaw father in this series. I mean, it just makes sense. 

        The expansion of the Hobbs family was nice as well, with Dwayne Johnson's actual cousin, Roman Reigns, as part of it. Idris Elba is cool as the villain, and Eiza Gonzalez was terrific as well. But for crying out loud, did we really need to have Kevin Hart and Ryan Reynolds in this movie? Don't we see those two enough as it is at this point? But whatever, they're both funny in this, so it's fine. Fine on its own, but not as good as the last two movies, I'm giving Hobbs & Shaw a rating of 4.5/5.

        That'll wrap up my retrospective on the Fast & Furious series. Stay tuned for June 25, when F9 hits theaters. This is Chuck signing off, and I'll see you guys next time.