The title of this article is not a joke. When I was given the idea to write this article, I genuinely could not believe they were still making Fast and Furious movies. In all honesty I don’t understand where the franchise is going narrative wise.

It all began as this wholesome movie about a group of friends and family who bonded through the experience of illegal street racing and their fondness for street cars. That was the narrative for the first two movies… What happened? Somehow a group of illegal street races and mechanics became world-class criminals and wanted fugitives. There is jumping the shark to place your narrative in a more interesting place, for example, how in Avengers: Infinity War half of the beloved Avengers were placed in space. That choice made sense in the grand scheme of the overall Avengers narrative. After all, it was a superhero movie. However, the Fast and Furious universe is told they are jumping the shark by critics with their narrative. They see this is a challenge, however not a metaphorical challenge. They view jumping the shark as a mediocre stunt compared to most of their outrageous stunts which use the most horrendous CGI available ruining great actors’ careers by placing them in these explosion fests.

Growing up, I was a WWF fan (now known as the WWE). I idolised The Rock – he was a real-life superhero. However, when I see The Rock in films like Fast and Furious, I can’t help but cringe and think, “goodness where did my childhood go?” This man will place himself in horrible acting roles just to cut a paycheck. Believe it or not, The Rock’s acting was better in fake wrestling than it is in a billion-dollar movie franchise.

This article will break down the Fast and Furious films, as well as the new addition which I have recently seen, Fast and Furious Hobbs & Shaw. The article will ask the question, are they getting worse? I’ll save you time and just answer that question with a gigantic yes. However, I’ll draw back your interest with an unsure, I don’t know…

At the end of the day the Fast and Furious is a multibillion-dollar franchise. However, there is the argument that just because something is successful does not mean it’s good.

Nevertheless, the love for the franchise by hardcore fans has dampened. With many close friends of mine admitting that they only watch each new instalment from the Fast and Furious franchise because they hope that the next instalment will be as good as the first two Fast and Furious films.

The story begins with The Fast and the Furious. The first film introduces the audience to central characters Brian, Dom and Letty with several other characters who have more critical roles in later films. The first film was about solely street racing and incorporated the use of street cars such as Honda Civics, Mitsubishi Eclipses, Mazda RX7s and the iconic Toyota Supra.

The second instalment cleverly titled 2 Fast 2 Furious introduces Roman and sees him team up with Brian to work undercover for the US Customs Service. Exciting stuff. The film incorporates elements of street racing and the use of iconic cars such as Brian’s Nissan Skyline GTR and Mitsubishi Lancer Evolution. These two entries into the franchise remain true to the Fast and Furious name and have a place in the heart of true fans.

The Fast and the Furious: Tokyo Drift sees the introduction of Sean, Twinkie, and fan favourite, Han. This entry is about drifting. Specifically  horrible looking CGI drifting.

The next film is Fast and Furious, not to be confused with the first film which has ‘the’ in the title. This film is where the explosion fest begins, with Dom using NOS to explode his car and several others to create a distraction. The film is about Dom getting revenge for the death of his girlfriend with the help of Brian.

The explosion fest continues with Fast Five introducing The Rock to the cast and the literal madness continues. The film see’s the main cast break Dom out of a prison transportation vehicle with their cars….then sees the main cast rob a train to steal three cars. Following this they attempt to steal 100 million dollars in cash from a criminal.

Fast and Furious 6 sees The Rock’s character for some reason going to a bunch of street racers and robbers for help taking down a dangerous mercenary as if the US government doesn’t have an army. Yeah… so that happens.

Furious 7 sees the film aim to tie up lose ends to give Paul Walker’s character Brian an appropriate send off due to the real-life death of the actor. I’ll give them that, the Fast and Furious franchise really knew how to say goodbye to a beloved character. Nevertheless, the premise was insane seeing the main cast escaping death from the mercenary from the previous film.

The Fate of the Furious goes into insane territory, seeing Dom coerced into going against his friends and family for no reason whatsoever.

The best of the worst is finally here. Fast and Furious: Hobbs and Shaw has The Rock and Jason Statham fighting against a virus of some sort while being forced to go up against a genetically enhanced terrorist. How are you not entertained by this insanity?

The plot is full of holes, but these plot holes can be forgiven by the amazing explosion sequences. Just kidding – the explosions are a CGI mess. Like most of the film, every redeeming scene is just a CGI blunder. The film was two hours and 15 minutes long, but it seems as though the director and writers wanted at least 10 hours of run time to fit in more explosions and not so witty banter between the central characters.

All in all, the franchise is enjoyable to watch. Ironically, of course. However, if someone argues with you that the films are their favourite films on the planet…run.

Featured image source: Pocket-lint