EJ
Fast & Furious Franchise
So, I have a strange fandom timeline with the Fast & Furious movies. I was in high school back when the original came out in 2001 and I was pleasantly surprised by how much I enjoyed it (even if I felt that it was a lot like Point Break). Then, as I graduated high school, I went through somewhat of a short-lived (Thank God) film snob phase where I dismissed it as “commercial nonsense,” which made no sense cause I still ate up some Hollywood blockbusters. It’s just that I started discovering indie films more. I turned up my nose at the release of 2 Fast 2 Furious and Tokyo Drift entries. By the time the fourth one came out, I thought the stars were so desperate that they returned to the franchise for one last hurrah.
Then, Fast Five came out. Admittedly, even as just a casual wrestling fan when the WWF Attitude Era reigned, I was a fan of The Rock. He transcended wrestling and I enjoyed his Saturday Night Live appearances along with his blossoming film career. I thought he would be the true successor to Schwarzenegger and Stallone and that excited me. When he signed onto Fast Five and I saw it was more of a heist movie, I became intrigued. To my surprise, Fast Five would be A LOT of fun to me and I would become an unapologetic fan. For my money, Fast Five, Fast & Furious 6 and Furious 7 is an immensely fun action trilogy. I grew to love the characters and now I say I’m a fan of the franchise.
Burning out?
After Furious 7 and the tragedy that left the series without Paul Walker, I still enjoyed parts of The Fate of the Furious and F9, but it did feel like something was missing. Perhaps Walker was the secret sauce, but with the eighth and ninth entries, it seemed as if the filmmakers couldn’t quite reach the right balance of fun and absurdity along with the melodrama (even with Justin Lin returning for F9). When they finally went to space in F9, it wasn’t as fun as the joke people were making when they said, “They’ll probably go to space next!” I believe the consensus for the joke was that it’d be more Mario Kart-like — by having a crazy chase scene on some sort of space roadway. However, Lin taking on that challenge would have him bite more than he could chew, cause they had to try so hard to justify its existence and it ultimately became a bizarre, dull sequence.
By the time Fast X rolled around, Lin’s departure and Louis Leterrier’s entrance had the franchise come back down to Earth (pun intended). As much as the vehicular carnage remained consistent throughout the previous entries, Fast X managed to bring some of the magic back. Plus, Jason Momoa’s villain was a breath of fresh air with such a flamboyant personality shaking things up.
Fast Forever
Fast X would end on a cliffhanger and recently, it was revealed that the next entry will be released in 2028. What was originally titled Fast X – Part 2 is now changed to Fast Forever, which falls in line with the series’ tradition of not having title continuity. Fast Forever will have to pick up after Fast X‘s cliffhanger, despite filming five years apart. Additionally, they teased the return of both Dwayne Johnson and Gal Gadot. As outrageous as the franchise is, can this final entry stick the landing?
Admirably, Vin Diesel is one who delivers on what he hears from fans. They wanted Dwayne Johnson to play an opposer in Fast Five, so they got him for Fast Five. They wanted Michelle Rodriguez back, so they brought her back in Fast & Furious 6. They wanted Jordana Brewster back, so they brought her back in F9. However, Diesel also looks like he’s trying to have his cake and eat it too by bringing Han back after a “#JusticeForHan” campaign (which I don’t think it necessarily meant to bring him back, just acknowledge how they made friends with his killer, played by Jason Statham, and have him face some sort of redemption or closure on that issue).
And now they’ve brought Gal Gadot back and it’s almost like a joke now. The cast of the last movie was already jam-packed with supporting additions like Brie Larson and Alan Ritchson. And you’re taking away any dramatic stakes by bringing back supposedly dead characters. John Cena’s character allegedly faced a devastating end in the last one, but it feels cheap now with this precedent. The real-life burn with all of this is that the ONE person that the fans would truly want back is Paul Walker, which can’t happen.
This brings us to Vin wanting to bring Brian O’Conner back for Fast Forever, which is understandable in a way, but also a damn slippery slope. Walker’s brothers were able to help fill in any gaps that needed to be filled in Furious 7. Now, they’re manifesting completely new scenes and will likely not recast the part. There will be an unsettling aspect of a character returning without the actor, but made to look like the actor through difficult and expensive means. It has the potential to come off as creepy and hollow, rather than heartfelt and beautiful. And it’s more likely than ever that AI will be used for it.
Diesel also has been teasing to fans that he aims to appease the car racing enthusiasts by taking the franchise back to its roots. Again, this is admirable. However, we left off with Jason Momoa’s character hellbent on revenge and mass destruction. The characters are practically agents of the government and have been involved in international espionage for over a decade. It’s not impossible, but whittling down an action spectacular that has caused Avengers-level city chaos back to street racing will take some creativity in execution. Can Fast Forever stick the landing? Can it nail the appropriate celebration and closure of the entire series? We’ll just have to see. Ride or die.
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Source:
JoBlo
