Starting from humble beginning with 2001’s The Fast and the Furious, the Fast Saga has since grown from a silly street racing movie to globe-trotting vehicular extravaganza that never seems to run out of mileage. With Fast X hurtling imminently towards cinemas near you, it’s time to look back at the storied history of this high-octane franchise and see how all 10 movies stack up against each other.
#10 The Fast and the Furious: Tokyo Drift (2006)
The third installment in the Fast Saga is probably better qualified as a spinoff. Featuring neither franchise stars Paul Walker and Vin Diesel, the movie took the action to Tokyo for a rather banal rehash of the first film. But star Lucas Black is no match for Walker and Diesel, who’s even outshone by Sung Kang’s supporting performance as Han. The lackluster acting and boring script made this a bust, but at least it introduced Han and director Justin Lin to the franchise, where he would go on to redefine the latter sequels as legit critical and commercial juggernauts.
#9 2 Fast 2 Furious (2003)
Behind the scene tiff led to the temporary exit of Vin Diesel from the franchise. Without him, Paul Walker’s Brian just couldn’t bring the same level of kinetic energy that made the first one spark. The film still delivered thrilling race sequences, but when they weren’t behind the wheels, things just ground to a halt. Still living for the more personalized race car designs though!
#8 F9 The Fast Saga (2021)
After a legitimately inspired run that began with 2011’s Fast Five, the saga finally reached its almost, kinda “jumping the shark” point. F9 was the filmmakers running out of grounds to cover and decided that space was the way to go, literally. The result was a big budget smash that lavished on spectacle, but quickly ran out of interesting things to say. Also, how many times can people die and come back to life with some shoddy explanations? It starts feeling like MCU here, and not in a good way!
#7 The Fate of the Furious (2017)
Further proving that the beating heart of the franchise was the chemistry between Brian and Dom, the first movie after Paul Walker’s untimely demise just felt off. The crew – scratch that – family, was still giving their all to carry on without him, but it just strained to provide reasons to keep going now. The introduction of supervillain cyber terrorist Cypher (Charlize Theron) gave the franchise a superhero-level threat but like the old adage said: bigger isn’t always better.
#6 The Fast and the Furious (2001)
The beginning of it all. The movie, if watched today, will feel like a whole different universe than Fast Saga’s current trajectory. It was a much smaller movie, set in LA’s seedy underbelly where the biggest stake was: how will Brian’s LAPD undercover cop bust out Dom Toretto’s small-time carjacking crew? The cars were old muscles patched up in shabby garages instead of shiny, high-tech rides, the crime involved electronic goods instead of weapons of mass destruction, and the stars, well, they were virtually unknown then. Still, it definitely struck up a nerve with a whole generation: the $38 million-budgeted movie ended up with a $200 million plus worldwide haul, giving rise to a long-running franchise and making bald sexy again.
#5 Hobbs & Shaw (2019)
By now we all know that Dwayne Johnson’s spat with Diesel led to his exit from the main saga, but we got one last ride with him in the entertaining but uneven Hobbs & Shaw. The meandering pacing felt cloying especially in the second half, but Johnson and Jason Statham’s villain-turned-grudging ally Deckard Shaw cut the perfect macho, action heroes as their battle of muscles and wits kept things entertaining all the way through.
#4 Fast & Furious (2009)
After Tokyo Drift’s poor performance, the franchise came back to its roots, reuniting Walker and Diesel on the same screen. Giving the long-maligned franchise a new leash in life, this is the sequel that laid the groundwork for the kind of jetsetting action that it is known today.
#3 Furious 7 (2015)
Combining a diverse cast, ridiculously over the top stakes, and a heartfelt emotional center, the Fast Saga reached a pinnacle of the best it could offer with this installment.
#2 Fast & Furious 6 (2013)
Riding high off the triumph of Fast Five, FF6 continued the hot streak with an ever-expanding motley crew tackling even wilder mission. Impressively, it never lost sight of what mattered most: family.
#1 Fast Five (2011)
Sleek, well written and endlessly thrilling, this installment changed the trajectory of the franchise forever. Fast Five turned the racing film into a heist film proper. Making excellent use of its Rio setting, it traversed the colorful city on a daring mission for freedom against the series’ most formidable foe ever: franchise first-timer Luke Hobbs, played by Dwayne Johnson.
