Five films later and I am beginning to wonder whether there could possibly be any more ideas for another The Fast and the Furious film. I went to the cinema to watch the most recent film, Fast Five, and was seriously disappointed with the outcome. I thought to myself that this must be the end for the franchise, but no — recently Vin Diesel announced the possibility of two more films.
Diesel has said that the franchise could reach seven films, as script writers are writing to produce two sequels to Fast Five. Diesel, Paul Walker and Dwayne Johnson are raking it in after the last film made £391 million in cinemas globally earlier on this year, despite the disappointing and somewhat repetitive storyline.
Director Justin Lin had hinted at the possibility of a sixth film, and this rumour was confirmed when Diesel spoke to The Hollywood Reporter stating that, due to the success of the last film and the broadening of scope, he did not feel they could not fit everything in to one last film, so instead they are going to write two more films to ensure good quality.
It seems people are still venturing out to see the films, but is seven films somewhat excessive? Harry Potter had eight films and was extremely successful, but it did have a set of books to back it up. Can The Fast and the Furious remain as popular, or is it time to call it a day?
Fast Five is available on Blu-ray and DVD from Universal Pictures.
5 Comments
I thought the Fast and the Furious franchise was a big pile of shit until the fifth one, which I absolutely loved. It had a terrible plot but anyone who goes to watch a film like this for the plot is going for completely the wrong reasons. With Fast Five, the franchise finally embraced what it always has been – a big, ridiculous and brainless compilation of action sequences with something barely resembling a plot stringing them together – and was all the better for it. Up until the fifth one, the franchise took itself far too seriously and suffered as a result, but if the tone of the sixth and seventh films are anything like the fifth, I say bring it on.
I always hated The Fast and the Furious, it’s always been a pile of horseshit IMO.
Yeah, the first four are awful but the fifth one is just ludicrously good fun. The final car chase, ridiculous as it is, is one of the best action sequences I’ve ever seen.
My love for it could have something to do with the fact that it was the first film I went to see after handing in my dissertation, and watching something without having to use my brain whatsoever was an absolute godsend after a year’s worth of analysing the Coen brothers to death.
I just don’t think 7 films is the direction this franchise should go. If people believed the fifth film was the best leave it at that and end on a high. It’s the same with final destination! How many more weird ways to die can this franchise come up with…I’m getting slightly bored of the teenagers who cheat death who are then chased by death until they die. Send on a high and leave it at that.
Looking at what has been said, of course they are overly promoting many aspects that we couldn’t care less about… but I am actually looking forward to at least a sequel.
Reason? Well, they have changed the flavour of this franchise, as this is the first time that one of these films received a fresh rating on Rotten Tomatoes with many reviews stating it to be the best of the lot (including my positive review of Fast Five for this very magazine, located here: http://content.theedgesusu.co.uk/film/2011/06/08/the-fast-and-the-furious-5-rio-heist/#hide) and even hitting Time Magazine’s Top 10 of the Year.
What they have done in the latest one is a literal reinvention and brings a fresher take in the film series. This film series started off as a mediore rip off of Point Break, but with this film, they break out of boring clichés into something new. Out was the car chases that repeatedly bored every progressive film, deciding a heist film would be better instead. Characters were always stale and hokey, they decided to bring in Dwayne Johnson, a cinematic charisma machine, steals the film consistently and adds vitality to the ensemble. Finally, there were competent and thrilling action sequences that laugh at the fact of seriousness of the other films, something that the series never attempted before.
If they decide to capitalise on these great elements, bring on the next one! I mean, they cannot go as wrong as Tokyo Drift (surprised to find Justin Lin directed this one as well), can they?
Oh, and the box office being the biggest of the series helps as well.