Poll: Rank the Furiouses

With an eighth movie speeding into theaters this weekend and a collective box office gross of close to $4 billion, the ‘Fast and Furious’ series is one of Hollywood’s biggest movie franchises. In this week’s poll, it’s time to rank the films. Which is the fastest and/or the most furious?

Which is Your Favorite 'Fast and Furious' Movie?

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When the original ‘The Fast and the Furious’ was released back in 2001, I doubt that anyone – not even star Vin Diesel – could have foreseen the powerhouse franchise it would launch. The movie did respectably well at the box office, but was dismissed by critics and was largely forgettable. Diesel sat out the first sequel entirely, leaving costar Paul Walker in the driver’s seat. For the third entry, the studio dropped Walker and tried to reboot the series in a new setting with a new cast, but begged Diesel to make a brief cameo at the end linking the movies together. Neither the second nor third picture was exactly a smash hit, but Universal was determined to keep trying.

The fourth movie, simply called ‘Fast & Furious’, brought back both Diesel and Walker, and finally kicked the franchise into gear. From that point forward, each new movie has grossed more than the last, culminating in the astounding $1.5 billion haul for 2015’s ‘Furious 7’. Was that monster success inflated by the curiosity factor surrounding star Paul Walker’s tragic death? Can this summer’s ‘The Fate of the Furious’ top it? We’ll find out soon enough.

The rapid ascent of this franchise has largely mystified me. I haven’t had much interest in any of the movies. I’ve only seen the first, which was pretty lame, and ‘Tokyo Drift’, which was only marginally better. Admittedly, neither of these is generally considered the best of the franchise. Most fans seem to rate ‘Fast Five’ as their favorite, but I can’t imagine sitting through five movies waiting to be entertained.

29 comments

  1. NJScorpio

    Easily my Fast Five, as I love the Rio setting and the Hobbes vs Torretto stuff. I also like the music and car sequences the most, though it might not have my favorite cars in it from the series.

  2. I saw the first 2 and thought they were pretty easy to forget. Years later I was told they got better. I finally made it all the way through Tokyo Drift and really liked the Han character. I was bummed at the end. I got into 4 and was very confused, but they finally explained. It was better, but not great. Then came FIVE. This is the movie that really made it all worth it and made F&F one of my favorite guilty pleasures. Of course they are beyond dumb, but that’s part of the charm. You root for these scofflaws even though you shouldn’t. We eventually fall in love with this ragtag band of goofballs.

  3. EM

    I voted “…never seen any…”, but I did recently experience the partially-onscreen F&F show that’s invaded the tram tour at Universal Studios in California. There’s some street battle (with the tram rocking) that’s visceral if nonsensical…and then there‘s outright cheesiness, such as the dance party (which the audience can’t actually join) and the cameos which certainly didn’t mean much to someone who hasn’t seen the films (you mean, the movies actually have characters?!?). The King Kong sequence on the same tour was better, though I miss the earlier King Kong with the mechanical ape.

  4. Warner

    The movies are silly but that’s the fun thing about them. There are not any other movies out there like these now. Hollywood does not make car movies now like they did in the 70s (“Gone in 60 seconds” as an example) and the Daniel Craig James Bond movies took a more serious tone. Thus, with the exception of the new Mad Max (which also did well in the box office) there are no other movies to scratch that turbo charged need for silly action with cars! 🙂

    • NJScorpio

      For me, the most similar series is the ‘Resident Evil’ movies. Not that it is a series of car movies, but a consistently fun-yet-cheesy series for the fans.

      • Thulsadoom

        The RE movies are a good point. They’re my equivalent of the F&F movies. Lots of cars driving around doesn’t particularly thrill me, but the OTT silliness of the RE movies is something I always find fun. 🙂 They’re definitely a guilty pleasure (Though I was disappointed at the absurd ‘fast’ editing of the latest, which was otherwise one of the better REs!).

        • NJScorpio

          What I find funny is, year wise, the pattern of releases has been very close. RE didn’t get the quality bump that Justin Lin brought to the FF series. I kinda wish they’d merge series, like Alien VS Predator…just for fun.

          Anyway, I threw this together…

          The Fast and the Furious (2001) 53% – Resident Evil (2002) 34%

          2 Fast2 Furious (2003) 36% – Resident Evil: Apocalypse (2004) 21%

          The Fast and the Furious: Tokyo Drift (2006) 37% – Resident Evil: Extinction (2007) 22%

          Fast Five (2011) 77% – Resident Evil: Afterlife (2010) 23%

          Fast & Furious 6 (2013) 69%- Resident Evil: Retribution (2012) 31%

          Furious 7 (2015) 79% – Resident Evil: The Final Chapter (2016) 33%

    • Pedram

      I would say that Need for Speed was car movie right up the F&F alley (kind of like Smokey & the Bandit meeds F&F). Sure, it’s a few years old, but I think it’s still relevant. I just wish they’d give it a sequel since I enjoyed the first one.

  5. Chris B

    I’ve only seen the first two and part 6. The second was was awful and the 6th was decent. I really liked the first one though, I think the timing had a lot to do with it TBH. I was 20 years old and really into cars at the time so it was right up my alley. I’m blown away that the franchise has become this popular though. I can’t be bothered to watch any of the newer ones as my tastes have changed a lot over the years but hey, if people enjoy them and have a good time at the movies then what the hell right?

  6. Csm101

    Fast Five is pretty good. I’ve picked up six and seven on Black Friday sales and they’re ok for home theater candy. I’m not a big fan of this franchise but there’s some entertainment value to be had. I’ll probably pick up this new one on Black Friday as well.

  7. Elizabeth

    I had zero interest in these movies for the longest time. Then Amazon had a collection of the first 4 (or maybe 5) movies on sale for what camd out to like $5 per movie. So I blind purchased the bundle and found myself really enjoying them. Yes they’re all pretty ridiculous but that’s part of the fun. And most of the characters are incredibly likable even if they are criminals. I think the whole family aspect is what really sells it all.

    I’m looking forward to finding out why Dom apparently turns on the rest of the family but I’m guessing it was to protect Brian and Mia’s kids. Or as a way to get to Shaw’s brother and finally avenge Han’s murder.

  8. Deaditelord

    I checked none of them but technically I’ve seen about 30 minutes of the first movie. That’s it. CGI car porn doesn’t do it for me 🙂

    Seriously though, I’m amazed the series has lasted this long. At some point I’ll sit down and rent one of the later films, but haven’t found the time yet.

  9. Guy

    Ones I genuinely like: Fast Five, The Fast and the Furious, Tokyo Drift
    The sort of okay time-waster entries: 2 Fast 2 Furious, Fast & Furious
    Shark jumpers that exceed my suspension of disbelief limits: Fast & Furious 6, Furious 7, The Fate of the Furious (the title alone)

    Everybody’s threshold is different and I don’t begrudge anyone having a good time with the direction the franchise has headed, but Fast Five was the perfect amount of mindless fun. 6 and 7 (and 8 if the trailers are to be believed) have become too mindless to be enjoyable for me. Amnesia, endless runways, Dom lifting cars off the ground, spy agencies, remote controlled car tsunamis and submarines are a bit much for this particular fan of the early street racing entries.

  10. Robert Hutchinson

    How is point break tied into this poll and you forgot Better Luck Tomorrow which is the first movie from Justin Lin that introduces the character Han played by Sung Kang. The Fast movies are just macho, eye candy, gear headed popcorn movies. They are aren’t the best, they have all kinds of plot holes but are entertaining to a huge demographic, obliviously.They sound great on a good surround system too. Watch a couple again with a clean slate, crank up your system, the low end, grab a cocktail and go for it!

  11. Thulsadoom

    I like Vin Diesel, and the F&F movies are silly fun for those who like them, but they’re so bad, I’ve only seen the first and the seventh all the way through (Hey, the trailers made 7 look fun, and we gave it a go… It did provide a lot of entertainment as we laughed our heads off and kept pausing every few minutes to joke about how nonsensical and stupid it was).

    The best thing about the F&F movies? They keep Vin solvent, so he can do more interesting projects in-between, like hopefully another Riddick. I also (unlike most) really enjoyed The Last Witch Hunter. 🙂 If he can keep making more of the good fun stuff between F&F movies because of the F&F movies, I’m all for them. 😉

    • Pedram

      I think his success in F&F also lead to not only a third Riddick movie being made, but also a fourth to wrap up the series on Furia (I’m guessing). I commend them just for that. Even though I thought Riddick 3 was sub par, I still hold out hope for part 4 redeeming the series. Hey, it happened with Fast 5.

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