The Fast & Furious movie series has been revving up for two decades now, but the well-oiled machine is about to go back into the garage permanently. In just a little over a year, The Fast & the Furious 11 will be released in theaters, and be the final “main” entry in the franchise. Sadly, it might struggle to bring things to an appropriate close, especially since the best curtain call for the car-based heist movies already happened a few entries back.
Furious 7 was easily one of the best Fast & Furious movies, and it also presented the best way to end things. This was partially due to the real-life tragedy surrounding it, but everything about the film brought the story to a logical close. Since then, the series hasn’t been the same, and it’s hard to see how the final film will be nearly as satisfying as seeing Dom and Brian racing off into the sunset.
Furious 7 Was the Best Way to End The Fast & the Furious
Released in 2015, Furious 7 was the seventh theatrical entry in the Fast & the Furious series. Building upon the increased momentum of the previous two Fast & Furious movies, this film was the ultimate culmination of what the brand had become. Along with vehicle-based chases and racing, there was an increased focus on epic action and special effects sequences, many of which still involved cars. Things had definitely morphed full throttle into an action movie franchise, and Furious 7 had the best kind of spectacle.
The most notable of these scenes involved a Lykan HyperSport driving through the Etihad Towers, with this being still regarded as one of the best stunts in any Fast Saga movie. It wasn’t just the special effects that made the movie such a treat, as there was also the strong emotional element that made it into a narrative crescendo. The crux of the story for Furious 7 bids farewell to Paul Walker’s Brian O’Conner, with this being his final appearance in the series. This was mainly due to the fact that Paul Walker died tragically during production of the movie, with his brothers Caleb and Cody Walker used as stand-ins to complete filming for certain scenes.
Vin Diesel made a big promise to the residents of Los Angeles.
In the movie, Brian wonders if he can ever get used to domesticated suburban life while going on what becomes his last major adventure with Dom Toretto and the crew. This culminates in a now iconic ending, with Dom and Brian having one final lap before parting ways. When added to the real-life tragedy, it cemented Brian and Dom into two of movie pop culture’s biggest icons. In many ways, the series could easily have ended here instead of having new entries made. Unfortunately, that wasn’t the route taken, and it resulted in the series losing a lot of its former luster.
The Fast & Furious Series Has Stalled Creatively
Recent Sequels Have Run the Movies Into the Ground
Furious 7 might have been the best place to end the Fast Saga, but it was far from the end of the series. Two years later, Fate of the Furious continued the franchise, though some felt that it was a notable downturn in quality. That was definitely the case with Fast 9, which most audiences see as a major letdown and likely responsible for sullying the brand’s image in the eyes of certain markets, namely China. The spinoff movie Fast & Furious Presents: Hobbs & Shaw was moderately received and did well at the box office, but even that along with Fast X didn’t truly revive interest in the series.
Again, a lot of the issues in Fast 9 seemingly solidified some viewers’ issues with the movies as a whole, namely the increasing reliance on inane stunts that themselves became increasingly cartoonish. The worst example would be the infamous “car swing” scene or the sequence in which a car ends up in outer space. These outlandish aspects showcased to many that the brand was past its prime and now jumping the shark (or rather, driving over it) with reckless abandon. Worst of all, there were several plot threads in these movies that fall flat because Brian has been written out of the series.