On June 22, 2001, the world was introduced to The Fast and the Furious. Like any film, no one expected just how big the series would get once it hit theaters, but The Fast and the Furious franchise defined a new era of action. Whether good or bad, it set off a chain of real life imitating art, with drag racing being linked to The Fast and the Furious franchise. More importantly, the series introduced a world that’s never been explored all too much before. There’s been action films featuring fast cars, but never has there been a franchise that really took a nose dive into such a culture of drag race.
The franchise would continue to evolve with each entry, though The Fast and the Furious: Tokyo Drift same the clear decline of the series. Fast & Furious saw the return of Dom Toretto and the original cast, but Fast Five is what put the franchise back on the map. In fact, it did more than just put the franchise on the map, but it made it a global phenomenon that continues on to this very day. Though the brand isn’t as strong as it used to be, Fast Five is a defining achievement that stands the test of time.
How Fast Five Redefined The Action Genre
Fast cars are nothing new in the media. Typically in the action genre, it’s a staple to have a fast car, but films have never pushed that boundary by them be the focal point of a series. The gaming industry was very big on though; Gran Turismo, Mario Kart Midnight Club, and Need for Speed has been around long before Fast and the Furious existed. Games based on vehicle felt perfect for that medium because of all of the insane stunts that you can do.
Imitating all of the crazy stunts in video games would cost a pretty penny in Hollywood, which is likely a reason there’s not many films in this sub-genre. The Fast and the Furious introduced the world into drag racing, but Fast Five showcased an impressive evolution beyond just racing cars. The franchise originally veered away from that angle in Fast & Furious, but Fast Five managed to smoothly use the action to bring all of your video game fantasies to life.
The amazing thing is that the film still manages to be grounded. Sure, it’s impossible that a car can carry a massive steel safe around any street, but Vin Diesel and Justin Lin managed to capture that balance without taking audience out of the experience. It felt like we were watching a video game, but in real life. Fast Five successfully combined these two elements in a way that no other racing film has managed to achieve.
It Helps That The Characters Are Fun To Watch
The theme for the franchise has always been about family; and as cheesy as that sounds, it’s a big reason why it’s been able to resonate with audiences nationwide. The symbolism of love and relationship is the backbone of EVERY culture, not matter the state, city, or country. Fast Five doesn’t just focus on fast cars and crazy stunts, it gives the human characters some dimension that allows fans to connect to the series even more. In turn, this actually ups the stakes, since we as an audience care about Dom Toretto, we don’t want him to die, so the insane sequences because so thrilling because of the nail biting action.
That’s one of the issues currently plaguing the series. The latter films have gone so big and gotten so over-the-top in their stunts that it feels like Dom and his “family” are superheroes. Even when the series kills off a main character, they magically return a couple of films later. The action is stale now because the believability has gone out of the window. But the characters here never felt impervious to death.
There’s still a layer of invincibility since some stunts require such a suspension of disbelief, but Fast Five set the perfect balance on how to write and pen characters without going overboard. I’m not saying that Dom or anyone else will be remembered in the history of cinema Vito Corleone or Marty McFly, but they’re a big reason that Fast Five is such an engaging watch.
No Other Franchise Has Been Able To Recapture The Magic Of Fast Five
Need for Speed tried to bring the video games to life but to no avail. Death Race came before The Fast and the Furious and has never reached the highs levels of pop culture that the series did. Speed Racer was a divisive flops amongst audiences. Even the latter Fast movies have lost what make Fast Five so great. The Fast saga is a genre in it’s own class at this point.
A series that’s too expensive for studios to try and copy, and when they was some competition, it usually fell flat on it’s fast. The Fast franchise hit it’s peak with Furious 7 as it was the perfect end to the series. However, that level wouldn’t have been reached had Fast Five not set the tone for what’s to come. Though the series has become a shell of what it was previously, there’s no denying the impact that Fast Five had on the action genre as a whole.
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