‘Fast and Furious’ is one of the most successful sagas of our time, and in this ranking we reveal which are its best filmsor more importantly: our favorites, because this list is as subjectively self-aware as the franchise it talks about.
What started as a motorized ‘They Call Him Bodhi’ in the early 2000s has ended up becoming a series of big-budget blockbusters that looks directly at franchises like ‘Mission Impossible’ without ever losing its own personality. And it’s not easy. Your spine? The family. Dominic Toretto’s Favorite Word (Vin Diesel) and the concept that still a group of heroes and heroines of disparate abilities who fight to prevent the world from falling apart.
“It’s not just a movie, it’s a madman’s dream, a celebration of the self-conscious blockbuster that takes itself ridiculously seriously, despite everything. while allowing all the licenses that would be censored in a board meeting with some shame”, we pointed out in our review of ‘Fast & Furious X’, the last (but not definitive) chapter on these tuning heroes.
From the first films with the now deceased Paul Walker to the aforementioned ‘Fast & Furious X’, going through the first ‘spin-off’ of the franchise, ‘Hobbs & Shaw’ (starring Dwayne Johnson’s agent Hobbs and the dangerous Jason Statham’s Deckard Shaw who came to save the furniture after the fight between The Rock and Vin Diesel), this list covers everything that the saga has offered us so far. There have been more than twenty years of persecutions, illegal races, impossible rescues, mass shootings, cars that destroy helicopters, safes that destroy roads, deaths that really weren’t, somersaults between the tallest buildings in Abu Dhabi… And we fell short! What these action movies always offer us is the adrenaline that we are looking for, the one that lives up to its name, and that will continue to be shown in the next (and last) movies of the franchise, closer to the Marvel universe than to the best movies. about robbers and grand thefts.
To celebrate his legacy, we look back to see which are the best (and worst) films in the saga, one of the longest-lived and most successful in recent cinema. We do it based on our own experiences, but in an exercise of unparalleled emotional transparency, we include in each one his note according to IMDb usersa data source where hundreds of thousands of opinions from viewers come together will help us capture a more general opinion on the acceptance or rejection of each of these deliveries. Do you agree with the result? Did you expect that number 1?
eleven
Full Throttle: Tokyo Race (2006)
Position in the series: 3
Note on IMDb: 6.0
The elephant in the room. In a saga dominated by the story of Toretto, Letty, Brian and the other members of the family, the creators decided to get out of the schemes in this third installment of the saga and travel to Tokyo to see that racing is also there. of cars. And the ‘drifting’. However, with a protagonist without any charisma, a ‘Karate Kid’ story without much originality and an action that didn’t quite start, this film ended up being considered the black sheep of the saga. Although, everything is said, for some it is one of those undervalued films that one day we will have to claim. At the moment, IMDb users leave it well down in the ranking and we, delivered, agree.
Position in the series: 2
Note on IMDb:5.9
In last position we find a hasty sequel that left Vin Diesel by the wayside (big mistake) and wanted to repeat the unexpected success that the first installment had. Too rushed and few ideas. The result is an adventure that finds a good comic ally in Tyrese Gibson, and in his ‘buddy movie’ dynamics with Paul Walker the best of his assets. But there it all ended a bit, you will not see it among the best movies that mix action and comedy. Weak plots and little hectic action. Rightly positioned here as one of the worst in the series.
9
Fast & Furious: Even Faster (2009)
Position in the series: 4
Note on IMDb: 6.5
In this fourth installment, things began to change in ‘Fast and Furious’. The bump in the third installment, which moved away from the original characters and divided fans between defenders and ‘haters’, gave way to a return to the origins. Literally: this film jumps back in the timeline of the saga (something we will understand later, although we can already imagine it when we see Han alive after his death on the streets of Tokyo) to reconnect with what made Han great. the first movies. Or, at least, what made so many people around the world fall in love with them. The result was not magnificent, but enough to continue creating interest in a story that continued to mutate and improve every day to end up being among the 100 best movie sagas in the history of cinema.
8
Fast & Furious: Hobbs & Shaw (2019)
Position in the series: Spin-off (chronologically, 9)
Note on IMDb: 6.5
We will have to wait to see where the fans put it after a while (the film has just been released in theaters), but it seems that a few days have been enough to place it among the best films in the saga. We are not surprised: this first ‘spin-off’ focuses on the love-hate relationship (more hate than love) between two of the public’s favorite characters, Luke Hobbs (Dwayne Johnson) and Deckard Shaw (Jason Statham). His fest of insults is irresistible.
7
Fast & Furious 8 (2017)
Position in the series:8
Note on IMDb: 6.6
With Hobbs and Shaw on the side of the Toretto family, and a villain to match in the figure of Cipher (Charlize Theron), this film was a good installment in the saga, which has understood that each new film has to be more spectacular. Faster, furious. Plus everything. This is it, but nevertheless, it falls far from the Top of this ranking according to IMDb users. Perhaps because arriving after the great reception of the seventh was a difficult task, or perhaps because wanting more and more sometimes gives more negative results than positive ones. Still, it’s an admirable action movie and, with the villain’s input, made Charlize Theron and Michelle Rodriguez’s brutal fight on the set of ‘Fast & Furious X’ possible.
6
Fast & Furious 9 (2021)
Position in the series:9
Note on IMDb:5.2
It seems that the ninth installment of ‘Fast & Furious’ has not convinced IMDb users, who relegate it to the last position on the list. Amazing? A lot, but it is likely that time will end up moving her up in this ranking. Directed by Justin Lin, it re-explores the idea of family with Dominic Toretto and without Agent Hobbs. The villainous hacker played by Charlize Theron returns and John Cena joins the cast, an essential star that you cannot miss in ‘The Peacemaker’, one of the best series on HBO Max.
Position in the series: 1
Note on IMDb: 6.8
Oh, what times those. Who would have imagined in those early years of the 21st century that this film of tuned-up cars, muscular men and scantily clad women was going to become one of the longest running and most profitable sagas in the film industry? The first installment is left with a curious position in the middle of the ranking, because, although it was the one that started it all, it is not the best. His car version of “They Call Him Bodhi” promised, but it didn’t wow critics with the same forcefulness that the new films in the franchise have.
4
Fast & Furious X (2023)
Position in the series:10
Note on IMDb: 6.4
‘Fast & Furious X’ recovers one of the most mythical songs in the history of reggaeton and, for that alone, it already deserves a good position. In addition, the director has not avoided the nonsense epic condition of the bombastic of its direct predecessors, but there is more cohesion between acts that, between flying cars and soap opera resurrections, makes us glimpse something similar to a plot, approaching the trilogy more accurate within this collection, the one that comes next.
3
Fast & Furious 5 (2011)
Position in the series: 5
Note on IMDb:7.3
Although the thing is at odds with ‘Fast & Furious 7’ (according to the Rotten Tomatoes notes, that should be the first), there is no doubt that this fifth installment marked a before and after for the successful saga. The cars began to be a secondary complement and Dwayne Johnson entered into action with the character of Luke Hobbs, without which the Toretto family would be unthinkable today. Plus, all that fast-paced action through the favelas of Rio de Janeiro couldn’t be more incredible. It is a well deserved first place.
2
Fast & Furious 6 (2013)
Position in the series:6
Note on IMDb:7.0
The sixth installment of the franchise continued the good forms of the fifth, turning the obsession with cars from the first installments into a testosteronic mix between ‘Mission Impossible’ and ‘Ocean’s Eleven’. In this we experience a reunion as surprising as it is longed for by the fans: the return of Letty (Michelle Rodríguez), whom we believed to be dead since the end of the fourth installment. Well, it turns out that she now works for Owen Shaw (Luke Evans), the new adversary for the Toretto family, who will find himself on new and dangerous missions in this installment.
1
Fast & Furious 7 (2015)
Position in the series:7
Note on IMDb:7.1
Undoubtedly this film, the only one directed by James Wan (responsible for the universe of The Warren Files), has reserved a place among the best in the saga, and, by the way, among the most emotional. The untimely death of Paul Walker in a car accident in 2013 shook the foundations of the saga, and led to a heartfelt tribute at the end of this seventh film to the sound of ‘See you again’ by Wiz Khalifa and Charlie Puth. But beyond the most sentimental parts outside of fiction, this film is important in the franchise because of the entry of another totem of modern action cinema, Jason Statham, and because we will never forget how they jumped with their cars between the skyscrapers of Abu Dabi.
Mireia Mullor
Mireia is an expert in film and series at FOTOGRAMAS magazine, where she writes about all kinds of movie releases and series on Netflix, HBO Max, and more.
Ricardo Rosado
Son of Spielberg, acolyte of Lynch and lookalikes of Shinji Ikari.
