Fast X

Most franchises run out of gas as they churn out more sequels, but in the case of Fast & Furious, the movies have grown more ambitious and a bit more ridiculous with each installment, so let's take a look back at this most unlikely of franchises and rank its 11 entries.

<b>11. 2 Fast 2 Furious (2003)</b><br><br> Coming off the surprise success of 2001’s The Fast and the Furious, a sequel was a no-brainer. Unfortunately, the decision to move forward without Vin Diesel on the marquee also demonstrated a serious lack of brains. Though Paul Walker returned and Tyrese Gibson did yeoman’s work as Walker’s new muscley sidekick, the edgy magic of the original cast was hard to recreate, even with Eva Mendes and the always appealing Ludacris added to the mix.

<b>10. Fast X (2023)</b><br><br> The beginning of the end brings with it a lot of baggage. Fast X had a lot of setting up to do, while also needing to follow through on what came before. So there was all that, while shuffling directors halfway through production. So it’s easy to call Fast X messy, but somehow it still came out fun, mostly thanks to Jason Momoa who bursts into the Fast franchise in a blaze of glory, quickly rising to the top of the Best Villains list. Thankfully, at least one (or maybe two) more movies will feature Momoa’s Dante as the lead villain, as he attempts to make Dom and his family suffer. Unfortunately, Fast X itself suffers from perhaps the most aggregious error a Fast movie can make: It has no truly iconic action set piece.

<b>9. F9 (2021)</b><br><br> F9 may have welcomed back director Justin Lin after sitting out The Fate of the Furious and Hobbs & Shaw, but that wasn’t quite enough to recapture the series’ waning magic in its ninth main installment. F9 puts Dom and his family on the defensive as they face a dual threat in the form of Charlize Theron’s Cipher and John Cena as Dom’s long-lost brother, Jakob Toretto, a plot twist that strains the series’ already convoluted family mythology. Cena is disappointingly flat as the vindictive younger Toretto, and even the copious flashback scenes do little to flesh out that sibling rivalry. On the plus side, this sequel is bigger and more bombastic than ever, including finally delivering on the promise of sending our musclebound heroes into space. It’s also hard to complain about the return of Sung Kang’s Han, even if that’s another convoluted addition to the series’ soap operatic storyline. Entertaining though it is, F9 raises the question of whether The Fast and the Furious should have called it quits by now.

<b>8. Fast & Furious Presents: Hobbs & Shaw (2019)</b><br><br> By the time the Fast & Furious franchise started fiddling with nuclear subs and jumping cars between skyscrapers, testing how a bionically-enhanced supervillain would fit into the world seemed like a no-brainer. Benefitting from the constant one-upmanship of Dwayne Johnson and Jason Statham, Hobbs and Shaw is a buddy action movie featuring buddies who absolutely hate each other, and similarities to the Fast movies largely end with that crackling dynamic between the actors. It's a bizarre outlier within the franchise, but on its own merits, Hobbs and Shaw is a breezy quipfest and required viewing if you liked Johnson and Statham's chemistry in Furious 7 and Fate of the Furious.

<b>7. Fast & Furious (2009)</b><br><br> The fourth film’s streamlined title can be seen as a symbol of its return to the series’ roots. Once again the plot centers on vehicle-based heists. Instead of skimping on the characters we came to love in the first film, this one features the triumphant return of Walker, Diesel, Michelle Rodriguez (at least for a little while), and Jordana Brewster. Bonus points for traveling backward in time, as this entry (like the next two films to be released) actually takes place before the events of the third film, Tokyo Drift.