Given that the 10th installment lands next year, it’s incredible to think that many people thought the Fast & Furious goose was cooked after third chapter Tokyo Drift ended up scoring the lowest box office and some of the worst reviews of the opening trio.
Besides a Vin Diesel cameo right at the very end, there wasn’t much in the way of connective tissue either, but hopefully the person that decided the best way to move forward was to look back got a healthy raise, seeing as 2009’s Fast & Furious set the stage for what the franchise would ultimately become.
Vin Diesel, Paul Walker, Michelle Rodriguez, and Jordana Brewster were brought back, the focus shifted away from cars and street racing towards broader and ever-so-slightly preposterous action sequences, and the end result was the top-grossing Fast & Furious flick yet. If it wasn’t for part four, then Fast Five wouldn’t have been able to kick off the chain of events that ultimately led the family all the way beyond the stars and into outer space.
Of course, we can gloss over the fact it’s the lowest-rated Fast Saga feature on Rotten Tomatoes, simply because it was a pivotal moment for the property. A dozen years later and it can still draw ’em in on streaming, too, with Justin Lin’s second stint behind the camera having entered the Prime Video Top 10 rankings in eight countries over the weekend, as per FlixPatrol.
Getting dumber was the smartest thing the Fast franchise ever did, which is every bit as oxymoronic as it sounds, but those box office billions definitely don’t lie.