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10 Harsh Realities Of Watching Fast Five After 12 Years & 5 More Sequels

Summary
Roman’s comedic antics have become tiresome and he has become a burden to Dom’s team. His character needs to either dial back his freakouts or sit out future adventures.
Ending Dom’s story believably will be challenging because his rebellious and thrill-seeking nature makes it difficult for him to settle into a quiet domestic life.
Dwayne Johnson’s Luke Hobbs has been instrumental in the franchise’s popularity, injecting fresh blood and a sense of semi-believability to the action scenes. The absence of his charismatic presence in the main series is noticeable.

Fast Five is a very significant movie in the Fast & Furious franchise, but 12 years after its release, it highlights some major issues the series has encountered. Released in 2011, Fast Five follows Dominic Toretto (Vin Diesel) and Brian O’Connor (Paul Walker) as they lead their family of street racers on a heist in Rio de Janeiro. In addition to facing the city’s criminal underworld, Dom and co. must also contend with another enemy in the form of pursuing DSS agent Luke Hobbs (Dwayne Johnson).
Directed by Justin Lin, Fast Five would leapfrog the Fast & Furious franchise to become a genuine action movie titan. However, despite the new life granted to the series by the grear impact of Fast Five, it also brings to light areas where the Fast Saga has taken some wrong turns since. These are just some of the brutal truths that come with revisiting Fast Five.
RELATED: Fast Five Is The Avengers Movie Vin Diesel Has Been Trying To Replicate For 12 Years

10 Roman No Longer Fits In Dom’s Team

Roman having a drink in Fast and Furious

As the Fast Saga itself has evolved, so has its ensemble of characters. However, one person who has taken several steps in the wrong direction has been Roman Pearce (Tyrese Gibson). First introduced in 2 Fast 2 Furious with the same no-nonsense attitude as Dom, Roman would become the comic relief of the Fast & Furious series in Fast Five. However, the Fast Saga has since taken Roman’s comedic antics much too far.
Instead of delivering one-liners in the midst of car chases and stunts, Roman regularly goes into an over-the-top panic in the Fast Saga’s increasingly outlandish action scenes, and his screaming in terror in such situations has been as tiresome as it is predictable. It also makes Roman much more of a burden to Dom’s team. Future installments of the Fast Saga need Roman to either dial his freakouts back or sit out future adventures with Dom and co.

9 Ending Dom’s Story Will Be Hard To Do Believably

Vin Diesel as Dom in Fast X

Dominic Toretto is clearly built for his rebellious lifestyle. Indeed, since Fast Five, the Fast Saga has shown the franchise’s adventures to be a central part of who Dominic Toretto is as a person. That means that a definitive ending for the Fast & Furious series will be that much harder to execute believably due to Dom’s predilection for adventure.
Since Fast & Furious 6, each Fast & Furious movie has opened with Dom settling into some degree of retirement, only for a new mission to call him to action once again. While this is often due to Dom’s devotion to his family, it also shows that Dom is an innate thrill seeker even after becoming a father. Creating a scenario where Dominic Toretto would believably settle into a quiet domestic life for good is going to be as great a challenge for the Fast Saga as finding ways to one-up F9’s space travel.

8 The Rock Is Instrumental To The Franchise’s Popularity

Dwayne Johnson as Hobbs holding a gun in Fast & Furious franchise

In its first four installments, the Fast Saga was a blip on the action movie radar at best. Fast Five would take the franchise to the new heights, partly by elevating its action far beyond the stakes of street racing, while Dwayne Johnson’s Luke Hobbs would also inject some fresh blood into the Fast Saga. As it turns out, The Rock is one of the most crucial pillars of the Fast & Furious franchise.
Since Furious 7, the Fast Saga has gone more overboard than ever; while The Rock’s Hobbs gave it a sense of semi-believability with his more grounded (by Fast & Furious standards) stunts and fight scenes. With Hobbs absent entirely from F9 and only appearing in an end-credit cameo in Fast X, both films would fly off the rails to a ridiculous degree. With Johnson’s charismatic screen presence also missing from the main series, while being on full display in the spin-off Fast & Furious Presents: Hobbs & Shaw, it has become clear just how much he adds to the Fast Saga.

7 The Theme Of Family Has Been Overplayed

The Fast and the Furious family BBQ at the end of F9.

If the Fast & Furious franchise could be boiled down to a single word, it would, of course, be “family”. Right from the beginning of the series in The Fast & the Furious, Dom has built a tight group of fellow street racers and outlaws like himself, with their familial bond being unbreakable. Fast Five would be where the franchise’s family theme would be really solidified with Dom and co.’s heist, but since then, the concept has gradually lost much of its power.
To be sure, Fast & Furious 6 and Furious 7 would use the family concept well. However, much of the cast has come and gone in subsequent Fast & Furious movies, with Dom’s family usually somewhat broken up. Moreover, a quote about family in a Fast & Furious movie has become as predictable as Uncle Ben admonishing Spider-Man about the importance of responsibility, indicating just how over-reliant the Fast Saga has been on the idea.
RELATED: Fast Five’s Most Important Fast & Furious Legacy Is Not What You Think

6 The Fast Saga Missed Its Perfect Ending (But Still Could’ve Continued After It)

Vin diesel Fast X paul walker fast and furious 7

The tragic death of Paul Walker in 2013 would occur in the middle of production on 2015’s Furious 7, and director James Wan would reconfigure the movie to serve as a farewell to both Walker himself and Brian O’Connor. Furious 7’s final scene is perhaps the most emotional of the whole Fast & Furious series, with Dom and Brian going on one last street race and Brian riding off into the sunset. In hindsight, this moment would also have been the perfect time to conclude the Fast Saga.
However, that is not to say that franchise could not have continued in a different fashion, specifically with a slightly reworked approach to Hobbs & Shaw. With Furious 7 having established the pair’s rivalry, Hobbs & Shaw could have easily transitioned the franchise into a new phase with spin-offs taking center stage. In this way, the Fast & Furious franchise could have had its cake and eaten it too with a definitively concluded main series and a new one picking up after it.

5 The Fast Saga Needs To Have Real Stunts

Fast Five bus chase pic

The Fast & Furious franchise would begin with street racing, but Fast Five would bring a dramatic boost of energy to the action sequences of the series. Fast Five would be packed with fight scenes, chases, and car stunts galore, a major factor in the movie becoming such a breakout hit. Fast & Furious 6, Furious 7, and Hobbs & Shaw would follow the same action movie template to great results, but the later films of the franchise have gone a different path.
With the essence of the Fast Saga’s action being all about escalation, each Fast & Furious movie has aggressively strived to outdo its predecessor. However, that also called upon The Fate of the Furious, F9, and Fast X to become far more reliant on CGI and camera trickery than the style of authentic action that would make Fast Five such a hit. With Fast Five’s vault heist among the best action sequences of modern times, it exemplifies the need for high-octane stunts in any Fast & Furious movie.

4 The Fast Saga Only Has Two Great Villains

Dante standing in an alley in Fast X.

For as endearing a cast of heroes as the Fast Saga has, the franchise has not been nearly as successful in creating memorable villains. Charlize Theron’s Cipher has become a recurring foe for Dom and his family since The Fate of the Furious, but she has also largely been a manipulator with her henchmen doing most of her dirty work. In all, the Fast Saga has only managed to deliver two villains as memorable as its heroes, namely Idris Elba’s Brixton Lore and Jason Momoa’s Dante Reyes.
With Lore a cybernetically enhanced terrorist and Reyes the vengeful son of Fast Five’s villain Hernan Reyes (Joaquim de Almeida), both combine brains, brawn, and automotive skills to be versatile threats to Dom and his family. Even better, Elba and Momoa fully understand the value of camp in a villain performance, with both chewing every bit of scenery in sight in Hobbs & Shaw and Fast X. In all, Elba and Momoa’s villain performances bring to light one of the few Fast Saga issues that not even Fast Five itself would be immune to.

3 Dom & Co. Work Best As Anti-Heroes

Vin Diesel's Dom confronts Dwayne Johnson's Hobbs in Fast Five

The Fast Saga would begin with Dom and his family stealing DVD players and gradually working their way up to bigger heists. Fast Five would show them at their peak as outlaws on the run from the unstoppable Hobbs. Since Fast Five, Dom and co. have evolved into a kind of government special ops team for off-the-books missions, but this highlights their real effectiveness as anti-heroes.
Dom and his family have committed a laundry list of crimes, with their strong bond forming because they of the risk inherent to their lifestyle. While danger is no less present in the most recent Fast & Furious movies, Dom and co. have also taken on a degree of moral purity that feels completely out of left field for them. Fast Five shows just how much the underground grit Dom and his Fast family began with is essential to who they are.
RELATED: Fast & Furious Original Fast 5 Plan Would’ve Killed The Franchise

2 Dom Has Become Too All-Powerful

Fast X Dominic toretto Stunts

Aptly described as the Alpha of the family by Ramsey (Nathalie Emmanuel) in Furious 7, Dom has been leader of his family’s operations since day one. Dom’s reputation as a formidable street racer and a man skilled in a street fight are both well deserved and on full display in Fast Five. Since then, however, Dom has become one step removed from Superman in terms of power and invincibility.
F9 and Fast X would both show Dom as a hero capable of getting out of just about any situation unharmed, the latter culminating with Dom driving his car down the face of a dam to escape an explosion. A big part of why Fast Five would resonate would be in how much Dom’s strengths were counterbalanced by the stakes of the situation and his rivalry with Hobbs. Unfortunately, the superhero-like tone the Fast Saga has taken on highlights the biggest conundrum of all that it has run into.

1 There Are No Longer Any Stakes

Fast and Furious 9 Tej and Roman in space car

Fast Five would start the Fast & Furious series on its new trajectory where the action scenes and stunts are always bigger, bolder, and more incredible. As a byproduct, each movie has also become more and more absurd. F9 and Fast X would push the Fast Saga to a level where physics and logic matter about as much to the franchise as they do in a Road Runner cartoon, with the once charming ridiculousness of the Fast & Furious franchise becoming more and more of a burden to it.
Additionally, the Fast & Furious franchise has also made clear with F9 and Fast X that the death of anyone in Dom’s family can and probably will be reversed, as seen in the casual returns of Han Lue (Sung Kang) and Gisele Yashar (Gal Gadot). All of this has taken any sense of stakes completely out of the equation in the Fast Saga. Meanwhile, Fast Five’s exhilarating heist story is a reminder of just how important believable stakes will always be in an action movie franchise.

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Fast & Furious 11 Needs Hobbs Vs. Dom (To End The Rock & Vin Diesel’s Feud)

Summary

Fast and Furious 11 needs to feature an epic fight between The Rock and Vin Diesel to resolve the real-life feud and bring closure to their characters’ relationship. The clash between Dom and Hobbs in Fast Five was a game-changer, and revisiting that epic confrontation in Fast 11 would elevate the action and add nostalgia. A showdown between Dom and Hobbs in Fast 11 could serve as a decisive moment of reconciliation, reaffirming the underlying themes of family and unity in the franchise.

Now that Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson has returned to the Fast Saga, Fast and Furious 11 needs to include an epic fight between Johnson and Vin Diesel. In the high-octane world of the Fast and Furious franchise, the thrill of fast cars and heart-stopping action has always been amplified by the magnetic on-screen chemistry between its stars. However, a real-life feud between The Rock and Vin Diesel has been brewing since 2016. Director Louis Leterrier achieved the impossible by bringing The Rock back into the fold. Now, he must find a way to reunite Luke Hobbs and Dominic Toretto on-screen.

Ever since Fate of the Furious, the void left by The Rock’s absence has grown more conspicuous. The actor’s feud with Vin Diesel has cast a shadow over the franchise, making it increasingly difficult for the writers and directors to craft a cohesive narrative. As Fast Saga fans await the next installment, all eyes are on Leterrier to weave a compelling story that not only showcases jaw-dropping action but also offers a chance for Hobbs and Dom to partake in an epic showdown.

Hobbs & Dom Fighting In Fast & Furious 11 Would Bring Their Arc Full Circle
Vin Diesel's Dom confronts Dwayne Johnson's Hobbs in Fast Five

Fast X and Fast and Furious 11 act as sequels to Fast Five in many ways, so it makes perfect sense for the upcoming installment to build on the fight scene between Dom and Hobbs from Fast Five. The clash between the two powerhouse characters left an indelible mark on fans. Revisiting that epic confrontation could elevate the adrenaline-fueled action and add a layer of nostalgia to Fast and Furious 11. Now that Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson has had a change of heart and returned to the Fast Saga, the anticipation for a rematch between his and Vin Diesel’s characters has reached a fever pitch.

Dom and Hobbs’ showdown in Fast Five was a game-changer for the franchise, propelling it to new heights with its intensity and raw energy. Given the unresolved tension between the two stars in real life, a meticulously crafted fight scene in Fast 11 has the potential to invigorate the climax of the series and provide a cathartic experience for the actors and fans alike. As Fast 11 may be the final chapter in the Fast and Furious universe, all eyes are on this anticipated clash. Hopefully, a brotherly fight will be the defining moment that brings harmony back to the Fast Saga family.

The Rock & Vin Diesel Can Put Their Feud To Rest On Screen
Hobbs holding on to Dom in Fast and Furious 5

Vin Diesel and The Rock’s personal history adds a layer of complexity to any potential fight between their characters in Fast and Furious 11. Given their real-life feud, it’s unlikely either actor would be portrayed as the clear winner or loser. Moreover, from a storytelling perspective, it would be counterproductive to have Dom excessively harm or kill Hobbs or vice versa. However, as the series approaches its potential end, a showdown between Dom and Hobbs could serve as a decisive moment of reconciliation. After all, throughout the Fast and Furious films, audiences have witnessed a recurring pattern of men engaging in physical conflicts before eventually forming unbreakable bonds.

For instance, Fast and Furious sees Dom and Brian’s tumultuous relationship evolve into a deep brotherly connection after a series of knock-down, drag-out fights. This same sort of understanding between Dom and Hobbs would reaffirm the underlying themes of reconciliation and family that have contributed to the franchise’s enduring popularity. By embracing the notion that they are, in a sense, brothers, Dom and Hobbs could mend their on-screen relationship and deliver a broader message of unity. This would ultimately give fans a satisfying conclusion to their relationship in Fast and Furious 11.

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Vin Diesel Posts Paul Walker Tribute On 10th Anniversary Of His Death

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Vin Diesel shares a touching tribute to Paul Walker 10 years after the actor’s tragic death on November 30, 2013. Diesel expresses that “more smiles manage to break through the tears” as years pass because he knows his bond with Walker will be stronger than ever when they eventually reunite. Walker’s character, Brian O’Connor, remains alive in the world of Fast and Furious, and Diesel has previously teased that the franchise won’t end without a proper farewell to Brian and Walker.

Fast and Furious star Vin Diesel takes to social media to share a touching tribute to Paul Walker, 10 years after the actor’s death. First released in 2001, the debut installment in the long-running Fast and Furious franchise introduces Diesel as Dominic Toretto and Walker as Brian O’Connor. Both characters would return for a number of sequels, but Walker tragically passed away on November 30, 2013, during the production of Furious 7.

Now, on the 10th anniversary of Walker’s passing, Diesel has shared a touching tribute post on Instagram to honor his late Fast and Furious costar. Check out the actor’s emotional post below:

Accompanying an image of Walker with one of his daughters, Diesel reminisces about an important lesson learned from the late actor and how his legacy still lives on today. Diesel’s full caption is included below:

I was listening to a song this morning…‘That Lucky Old Sun’… thought of you, racing around Heaven all day. Hahaha…
The family of the Mourning, feels like it has grown since a decade ago… feel’s like that experience of losing someone is far too common today. Leaving more and more of us in search for meaning, trying to make sense of this complex existence…
Oh, I have finally understood what you use to do with the phone, “phone Fasting”… you had the insight to turn off your phone for long stretches of time. I started this year to do just that. You used to say, Vin and I can go years without talking, and our brotherhood will always be stronger than we left it, the ones who truly love you will always be there.
Amen to that.
This is one of my favorite images ever taken… You knew how proud I was when my daughter, the Alpha Angel, your niece would play the piano… well last night she was playing Moonlight Sonata… it took me back to the night before she was born. Me and you were working late… you were telling me that the best moment in life would be witnessing my child being born. That priceless smile you had when I told you the next day that I had cut the umbilical cord…
The next song she started playing on the piano is by an artist you would have loved, named Billie Eilish, ‘What was I made for’… when she started to play, the other angels all came and joined her at the piano and they started singing… wow…emotions… angels, I know you were listening.
After ten years… I know these days of beautiful remembrance will be filled with tears. But as time rolls on, with each year that passes… more smiles manage to break through the tears. Cause I know, when I see you again… our brotherhood will be stronger than we left it.
Miss you.

Will Brian Be Seen Again In Fast & Furious?
Furious 7 Reveals How Paul Walker’s Character Can Return
CGI Paul Walker in Furious 7.

Walker’s death in November 2013 came with a great deal of sadness, but it also created problems for the Furious 7 production, which was about halfway done. It was ultimately decided that Walker’s remaining scenes would be completed with a digital recreation of the actor, with his two brothers, Cody and Caleb Walker, serving as body doubles. Although Walker may have passed away, Brian remains alive and well within the world of the films, though he has not been seen in the flesh since Furious 7’s emotional ending.

The closet audiences have come to seeing Brian again (outside of the flashbacks featured in Fast X) is at the end of F9: The Fast Saga, when the character’s iconic Nissan Skyline pulls up at Dom’s house. This summer’s Fast X supposedly sets up the conclusion of the franchise in an 11th and potentially 12th installment (in addition to the announced Dwayne Johnson Luke Hobbs spinoff movie), and it’s very likely that the final movie will see Brian return in some capacity.

Diesel has also essentially teased as much, telling Total Film (via GamesRadar) earlier this year: “I couldn’t imagine this saga ending without truly saying goodbye to Brian O’Conner.” It’s unclear if this will mean a substantial digital recreation of the actor for extended portions of the film or a quick cameo at the very end, but it seems like audiences haven’t seen the last of Brian just yet. Even in death, Walker remains a key pillar of Fast and Furious, and it’s fitting that the final film will feature another heartfelt goodbye to further honor the late actor.

Source: Vin Diesel/ Instagram

Fast and Furious 11 temp poster

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All 4 Fast & Furious Heroes Who Stayed Dead (& Which One Is Most Likely To Return)

Summary

Fast & Furious franchise is known for bringing back dead characters, but there are a few heroes who have remained dead. Jack Toretto, Dom’s father, died in a racing accident and his death should not be undone in the franchise. Jesse, a member of Dom’s crew, was killed in a drive-by shooting, while Vince was killed during an ambush. Elena, Dom’s love interest, was killed by the villain Cipher.

The Fast & Furious franchise has brought many characters back from the dead, but a handful of its heroes have remained killed off after their demise. The Fast Saga has taken its characters on a wild ride from street racing to the most outlandish adventures possible. The running theme of the Fast & Furious franchise has long been family, with Dominic Toretto (Vin Diesel) building quite a large family indeed over the course of the Fast Saga’s run.

On top of its embrace of ridiculous, superhuman feats as a staple of its action scenes, the Fast & Furious movies are also well known for bringing back seemingly dead characters for more missions. The returns of Sung Kang’s Han in F9 and Gal Gadot’s Gisele Yashar in Fast X would be especially noteworthy in emphasizing the notion that no Fast & Furious death is irreversible. However, that is not entirely true, as there have been a few Fast & Furious heroes who have died and never come back.

RELATED: 10 Fast & Furious Characters Who Must Return In New Hobbs Spinoff

4 Jack Toretto
An image of Jack Toretto driving a car in F9

Jack Toretto (J.D. Pardo) is the father of Dom, Mia (Jordana Brewster), and Jakob Toretto (John Cena), and is first seen in a flashback to 1989 in F9. Jack is a highly skilled race car driver who instilled that talent in his children, with Dom and Jakob being part of his racing pit crew. However, Jack’s racing career took a tragic turn when his car malfunctioned and crashed, killing him. Dom later beat his father’s racing opponent, Kenny Linder (Jim Parrack), almost to death with a wrench, believing him responsible for his father’s demise.

This tragedy also led to Dom and Jakob falling out, with Dom later coming to believe that Jakob set up their father’s death since he was the last one to work on his car. However, Jack was intentionally attempting to throw the race in order to get his family out of debt. He had asked Jakob to help tinker with his car so that it would fail, with Jack’s death being unintentional on both their parts. While his return has been theorized by fans, of all the characters killed off in Fast & Furious, Jack Toretto’s death should never be retconned.

3 Jesse
Jesse in The Fast and the Furious pic

One of the early members of Dom’s family in the original The Fast and the Furious, Jesse (Chad Lindberg) was the brains of Dom’s crew in his enterprise of stealing DVD players. Jesse went on the run after losing a street race to Dom’s rival, Johnny Tran (Rick Yune), having bet his MK3 Volkswagen Jetta in the race. Jesse was later killed outside of Dom’s house when Johnny Tran and his associate Lance Nguyen (Reggie Lee) arrived and performed a drive-by shooting. Dom and Brian O’Conner (Paul Walker) then chased down Johnny Tran and Lance Nguyen to avenge their fallen friend.

2 Vince
fast and furious 5 vince

Vince (Matt Schulze) was another member of Dom’s crew in The Fast & the Furious, and he was badly injured during a truck heist in that first movie. After his recovery, Vince fled to Rio de Janeiro where he later reunited with Dom and family in Fast Five. Despite Vince having settled down with a wife and a baby son, he agreed to join Dom’s daring heist of Rio’s most feared crime boss Hernan Reyes (Joaquim de Almeida). Unfortunately, Vince was killed during an ambush by Reyes’s team. After successfully pulling off the heist, Dom left Vince’s intended share of the money with his wife and son.

1 Elena
Elena Neves walks with her gun drawn by a car

Elena Neves (Elsa Pataky) worked alongside Luke Hobbs (Dwayne Johnson) in apprehending Dom and his crew in Fast Five. She and Dom gradually developed feelings for each other, however, and departed for Spain with Dom at the end of the movie. After Dom learned that his wife Letty Ortiz (Michelle Rodriguez) was still alive despite her apparent death in Fast & Furious, Dom and Elena had an amicable split, only for it to later be revealed that Elena is the mother of Dom’s son in The Fate of the Furious.

RELATED: How (& Where) To Watch The Fast & Furious Movies In Order By Release Date & Chronologically

After Elena was killed by the villainous Cipher (Charlize Theron), Dom and Letty raised the boy together, with the two naming him Brian after Brian O’Conner. Meanwhile, Dom later met Elena’s sister Isabel (Daniela Melchior), who joined Dom’s crew in Fast X. While Elena remains deceased as of Fast X, the arrival of her sister Isabel and Fast & Furious’s habit of not truly killing off characters makes her the most likely thought-to-be-dead hero to potentially return as the franchise speeds towards its finale.

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