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The latest film in the Fast and Furious movie franchise is here! So, how does F9 stack up against the earlier movies? We rank them to find out.
F9 Has Hit Theaters! So How Is It?
It was delayed for over a year, but we can finally see F9 in theaters. The latest movie in the Fast and Furious franchise promised new heights, new cars, and new characters throughout its many trailers over the past couple of years. While F9 kept its promises as far as we can tell, the question still remains, is it a good movie?
Truthfully, it depends on who you ask. For those who haven’t watched any of the Fast and Furious movies, F9 isn’t a movie for those looking to experience a quick action flick. There are too many drawn out scenes of dialog between characters reminiscing about the past, while character reveals and references will leave some viewers confused about what they missed in previous films.
Fans who have kept up with the franchise over the past 20 years will enjoy the scenes looking back at Dom’s past, the return of Han, and some call backs to past films. However, even the fans will have some gripes with F9. First off, physics were thrown out of the window. High powered electromagnets that affected only certain metals pertinent to the plot, a truck that slowly flipped over itself and slid on its back for about 2 miles, that same truck self-righting with an explosion before almost going off a roadside cliff, and of course there’s the whole Pontiac Fiero blasting off into space.
Speaking of that Fiero, why’d they have to make the returning cast from Tokyo Drift a bunch of rocket scientist goofballs? As a fan of that film (I know I’m of a minority here) I was pretty hyped to see Sean, Twinkie, and even Earl return to the franchise when I first saw the trailer, but they were portrayed as more of a joke with a shoehorned in purpose. Did Dom beat Sean so bad in their offscreen drift race that he had to find an entirely different lifestyle? Who knows, but it’d be nice if they re-explored those characters alongside Han in a more car centric space for following movies.
And then there’s the cars of F9. It was great to finally see the car sequences featuring the Dodge Charger 500, Toyota Supra, and that Charger vs Mustang bit in the jungle. Although, I kind of wish they approached these cars like they had in previous Fast and Furious movies. The main cars of F9 just kind of appear. No vehicle heists or purchases and no garage tuning sequences, you’re just led to accept that the car is there and ready. Plus, there’s only one quick street race in a flashback scene. That flashback did have a nice little toss in for eagle eyed viewers though. You can see a younger version Dom’s hometown crew from The Fast and The Furious.
F9 takes the Fast and Furious movies further into the sci-fi/spy flick realm and has been drifting away from the street racing world it built its foundation on. I wouldn’t be surprised if the next couple Fast and Furious movies see a crossover with the Transformer movies at this point. If you’ve been a fan since the beginning, you’ll still enjoy this film as it goes deeper into Dom’s origins and helps setup the future of the franchise. For the rest of you, be prepared to sit back and catch up on the previous films if you’re dead set on watching this one.
Ranking the Fast and Furious Movies
Now that we’ve given our take on F9, how does it compare with the rest of the Fast and Furious movies? There are now nine movies in total (Hobbs & Shaw doesn’t count here) and we’ve ordered them from worst to first. Not to say that last place is a terrible movie, but one of them has to land there. Let’s see if F9 had what it takes to climb the ranks or if it hit the NOS a little too early like a “buster”.
9. The Fate of the Furious
Starting at the tail end of the Fast and Furious movies ranking is the eighth film in the franchise, The Fate of the Furious. While Furious 7 brought the movies to an end as best it could, The Fate of the Furious forces the crew out of retirement and opens a whole new can of worms. We’re introduced to the super villain, hacker known as Cipher who has kidnapped Dom’s old love interest that apparently had a child while they were separated. Dom’s whole credo about family gets turned on its head and is forced to work for the bad guys. The movie culminates with a race against a nuclear submarine and in the end feels like a setup for the Hobbs & Shaw spin off film that the main series just has to run with now.
8. Fast & Furious 6
Alright, after being “dead” since the fourth movie in the franchise, Letty is back with amnesia and working with an international heist crew for Fast & Furious 6. Dom leaves his new love interest from the previous film and brings the family back together to help get Letty back. The film has Dom and his family (plus Hobbs) pitted against their off-brand version doppelgangers. Fast and Furious 6 also features the notorious world’s longest runway, where an Alfa Romeo Giulietta, Dodge Charger, Land Rover Range Rover, and a military Land Rover are able to pull down a military grade cargo plane.
7. F9
Yep, F9 couldn’t even break the top 5 in my book. I was glad to see Han brought back to life, but the manner in which they did it made the flashback to Tokyo Drift even more convoluted. It was already edited to placed Shaw there for a hit job, but now being chased by D.K. and having Shaw attack him was all a part of some master plan by Mr. Nobody. Anyways, while the flashbacks to Dom and Jakob’s past were helpful to craft an origin story, the rest of the film felt too drawn out and the action sequences have become way more outlandish than previous films. Don’t get me started on the Pontiac Fiero in outer space.
6. Furious 7
Furious 7 tried its best to continue without the Fast and Furious movies’ biggest star, while also paying homage to the late Paul Walker. The film sees Deckard Shaw going after Dom and his family in an act of revenge for his brother from the previous film. And he starts with Han in Tokyo. The crew has to find a new character, Ramsey, and get some special technology so that they can find and stop Shaw. There are tons of great car scenes in this movie and it ends nicely with Dom in his Charger and Brian in his Supra before splitting off from one another.
5. 2 Fast 2 Furious
The early films have critics divided, but I’ve put 2 Fast 2 Furious at the fifth position. Brian escapes his past from the first film and goes on to be a street racer in Miami. That is, until his undercover life comes back to haunt him and he’s put back in the field alongside his old friend Roman. Another Fast and Furious staple character, Tej, is introduced in this film as well, albeit a little less tech savvy here. High speed street races, cool tuners, NOS powered ejector seats, and a Chevy Camaro launching itself onto a yacht to save the day, what more could you want?
4. Fast & Furious
The fourth Fast and Furious film comes in at the fourth spot. Dom makes his way back to Los Angeles after he catches word that Letty was killed. He and Brian race their way into a cartel smuggling group and find themselves speeding through secret tunnels, evading danger, and getting revenge for Letty. The villain twist could be seen coming a mile away, but it was an otherwise enjoyable movie. Plus, we got to see Brian in the seat of a Nissan Skyline GT-R again as he raced against Dom’s pure muscle Chevy Chevelle.
3. The Fast and the Furious: Tokyo Drift
I might get crucified for putting The Fast and The Furious: Tokyo Drift at the number three spot, but it’s personally one of my favorites. It’s a separate story to any of the previous films and can stand alone as a fun street racing movie. We’re introduced to a new cast, in a new world, with a new type of race. Sean is shipped to Tokyo and thrown into a world of drift cars and Yakuza. This is also the film where we first meet Han, while also losing him within that same plot. Somehow this movie slots in between Fast & Furious 6 and Furious 7 in the timeline, so I guess that explains the streaming video quality of the flip phones in Tokyo Drift.
2. Fast Five
Fast Five brings the family to Brazil where they get tied up in a train hijack gone wrong and wanted by a man who owns all of Rio de Janeiro through illegal means. This is one of my favorite heist films and it brings all of the prior movies together. Roman and Tej from 2 Fast 2 Furious, Han from Tokyo Drift, Gisele from Fast & Furious, and even Vince, Leo, Santos, and Mia join the mix. The whole family is together for the largest job of their lives. Of course, this task isn’t so easy with Hobbs breathing down their necks. Fast Five is full of action, full of cool cars, and it sets up the Fast and Furious family we know today.
1. The Fast and the Furious
At number one is the movie that started it all. The Fast and the Furious has become a classic, even with how cheesy it was at times. Some of the most beloved cars from the entire franchise are from this film, like Brian’s Toyota Supra and Dom’s Dodge Charger. This movie set the stage for all of the movies on this list. Sure, they were just stealing DVD players, but that has evolved into bank heists and saving the world. This movie didn’t just spark a franchise though, it sparked a culture of car enthusiasts. Even if you haven’t watched any other movies past The Fast and the Furious, this movie in some way made an impact on your relationship with cars.
