Connect with us

Uncategorized

10 Unpopular Opinions About Fast Five, According To Reddit

As the Fast & Furious series ramps up for its ninth release, it’s incredible to see how different F9 is from the very original movie. The Fast and the Furious was a grounded crime drama, whereas F9 is seemingly a huge blockbuster space odyssey. But how it got to that point is fascinating, as it was all thanks to Fast Five – a movie that was more transitional than anything, but still arguably the most entertaining film in the franchise.

RELATED: Every Fast & The Furious Movie, Ranked By Letterboxd
Fast Five sits dead in the middle of all of the releases, and it’s the one that was the biggest leaps in the narrative, ultimately changing the series forever. But it didn’t get to that point without having some ludicrous behind-the-scenes facts.

It Was Actually Filmed In Puerto Rico, Not Rio de Janeiro

Hobbs shoots a machine gun in Fast Five

Despite the movie having an alternate title of Rio Heist and being based in the location, Fast Five wasn’t actually shot in Rio de Janeiro. It was originally planned to be shot there so that it was as realistic as possible, but the Puerto Rican government offered the studio tax incentives that were impossible to turn down. So instead of Rio, Puerto Rico is what audiences can see in the movie and is what represented Rio de Janeiro. It was also seen to save the studio more than $11 million.

It Was Influenced By The Italian Job

A Mini Cooper jumps over a ramp in The Italian Job

The whole of Fast Five builds up to the ultimate heist, which sees Brian and Dom drag a bank vault through Rio with muscle cars. So it’s hardly surprising that the movie was influenced by one of the greatest and most fun heist movies of all time.
RELATED: Fast & Furious: 10 Characters That Deserve Their Own Spin-Off Movie
The Italian Job follows a group of British conmen, who steal bars of gold from Italy using three Mini Coopers. But The Italian Job wasn’t the only heist movie that the studio was influenced by. Justin Lin also found inspiration in The French Connection and The Bourne Identity too, and it was the implementation of car chases in those movies that the director found fascinating.

Tyrese Gibson Thought The Movie Wouldn’t Make Sense

Roman visits Tej at his garage in Fast Five

In a behind-the-scenes interview promoting the movie, Tyrese Gibson admitted that he didn’t think that the movie would make any sense. He questioned how all of the returning characters could be brought together in a way that’s both satisfying and logical. And though Fast Five isn’t the most complex movie in the world and audiences are very much along for the ride, writer Chris Morgan did a great job of pulling in characters from the previous four movies, many of whom didn’t actually know each other, in such a gratifying way.

Hobbs Was Written For Tommy Lee Jones

Hobbs enters Rio for the first time in Fast Five

Being one of the best characters introduced after the first movie, Hobbs was part of what made Fast Five feel so fresh compared to the street racing movies that had gotten a little stale. The character is played Dwayne Johnson, who is so charismatic and steals the show whenever he appears. But the character was originally going to be much different, almost the exact opposite, in fact.
The role was originally written for Tommy Lee Jones, and it would have been a wildly different movie, given how stoic and serious the actor is. He doesn’t stand for any funny business, as he called Jim Carrey a “buffoon” on the set of Batman Forever, so it’s unlikely that he would have been a good fit for the Fast & Furious series. However, it would have been hilarious to hear Jones spit out one of Hobbs’ iconic lines.

Diesel And Johnson’s Contracts

Dom and Hobbs in Fast Five

The on-set tension between Vin Diesel and Dwayne Johnson has been very well documented, as they don’t seem to get on all that much and constantly accuse each other of being late to set. But it all started with Fast Five and their contracts, as both alpha males’ contracts say that neither one of them can lose a fight. It goes so far that it’s reported that there are producers on set counting their punches. And it’s the reason why they never properly fought in the movie.

Paul Walker Did All Of His Own Stunts

Paul Walker and Vin Diesel attached to wires behind the scenes of Fast Five

The stunts and action sequences might not be as authentic as Mission: Impossible, as the whole Fast & Furious series takes some major liberties with CGI, but there are still some seriously impressive stunt work in Fast Five. Most of the actual stunts come when Brian O’Connor is jumping from trains and onto a speeding car, leaping over rooftops in Rio.
RELATED: 10 Plot Holes From The Fast And Furious Movies That Make No Sense Whatsoever
Just like he did in 2 Fast 2 Furious, the late great Paul Walker did all of his own stunts, working closely with his stunt double to perfect them. And at one point, Walker jumped 30 feet from a building onto a safety mat.

The Shift From Street Racing Was A Very Conscious Decision

Brian and Dom drag a vault through Rio in Fast Five

With the first few movies being all about street racing, as the original was based on a magazine article about underground racing in L.A. called Racer X, the series has since distanced itself from that niche. Fast Five was the first in the series to almost entirely forgo street racing, and that was apparently a conscious decision made by the producers.
They were worried that there was a ceiling on how far the novelty could be taken and that there would be diminishing returns. There is still street racing in the movies, but there’s usually just one race arbitrarily forced into the narrative just to appease fans of the older movies.

Michelle Rodriguez Didn’t Know About The Twist Ending

Monica leans over Hobbs’ desk in Fast Five

Though Michelle Rodriguez was a main character in The Fast and the Furious and the fourth movie, she wasn’t in Fast Five after she was killed off in Fast & Furious. However, in the Fast & Furious series, nobody ever stays dead, as Han has even returned in F9 after fans literally saw the car that he was in explode in Tokyo Drift.
And in a mid-credits scene in Fast Five, it’s revealed that Letty is actually alive. According to Rodriguez, she didn’t actually know that her character was still alive until she actually saw the film as an audience member. And it’s a good job that she did return, as the only F&F staple missing from Fast Five is Letty constantly screaming “Dom!” at the top of her lungs.

It Was Inspired By Golden Girls

Split image of Brian and Dom in Fast Five and The Golden Girls

Along with classic 60s heist movies, director Justin Lin found inspiration in other places, and one of those was The Golden Girls. Being a big fan of the sitcom about senior citizens when he was growing up, Lin cited the show as what influenced him to bring back the characters from previous movies.
The director noted that he figured out that the NBC shows The Golden Girls, Empty Nest, and Nurses all shared the same universe after the shows all featured the same hurricane over the same weekend. And though Fast & Furious isn’t quite the shared universe that the MCU is, it’s definitely getting there.
NEXT: The Fast & The Furious 10 Actors You Forgot Were In The Hit Franchise

Click to comment

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Uncategorized

Fast & Furious 11 Release Delay & Filming Start Date Confirmed By Director

Summary

Fast and Furious 11
is facing a release date delay to Summer 2026 due to strikes, with director Louis Leterrier confirming the sequel will not be hitting its April 4, 2025 date.
Leterrier also confirms that filming starts in Fall 2025 after finishing a horror movie in September.
The final installment in the
Fast Saga
reunites Vin Diesel’s Dominic Toretto for one last ride, while also leaving the door open for other spinoffs.

After facing multiple delays due to the 2023 SAG-AFTRA and Writers Guild of America strikes, Fast and Furious 11 is seeing its release date delayed. The next installment in the Vin Diesel-fronted franchise is expected to be the last mainline sequel, while development continues on the Dwayne Johnson-led spinoff Hobbs & Reyes, a mysterious standalone movie penned by Fast X’s Zach Dean and a potential female-led spinoff. While a filming start date was never confirmed, Universal had previously set the movie for an April 2025 release date.

During a recent interview with Collider at a CCXP MX panel, Louis Leterrier was asked for an update on Fast and Furious 11. The director went on to confirm that the final mainline installment in the action franchise will no longer be making its April 4, 2025 release date, instead now aiming for a Summer 2026 release window with the filming start date being set for this fall. Check out what Leterrier said below:

It’s happening. It’s happening very, very soon. I’m able to shoot a little horror movie this summer. I’m finishing my horror movie on September 15th, and I start Fast on September 16th.

Will Fast 11’s Multiple Delays Help Or Hurt The Sequel?

Much like the tenth film before it, Fast and Furious 11 has faced a few behind-the-scenes hardships in its road to getting off the ground, namely the delays stemming from the 2023 strikes. While the latest movie seems to have retained its core creative team in comparison to the shift in directors from franchise vet Justin Lin to Leterrier on Fast X after reported creative differences between the former and Diesel, this change didn’t seem to help much with the continued downward trend recent sequels have seen from critics. Check out how the franchise’s Rotten Tomatoes scores compare below:

Title RT Critical Score RT Audience Score The Fast and the Furious 54% 74% 2 Fast 2 Furious 37% 50% The Fast and the Furious: Tokyo Drift 37% 69% Fast & Furious 28% 67% Fast Five 78% 83% Fast & Furious 6 71% 84% Furious 7 81% 82% The Fate of the Furious 67% 72% Fast & Furious Presents: Hobbs & Shaw 67% 88% F9: The Fast Saga 59% 82% Fast X 56% 84%

Even looking outside the Fast and Furious franchise, many movie sequels have found themselves hurt by various delays, be they from creative changes, general release shifts or other factors. The action genre in particular is one in which lengthier development periods can lead to diminishing returns, be it A Good Day to Die Hard, Rambo: Last Blood or Diesel’s own xXx: The Return of Xander Cage. While Fast and Furious 11 may only be getting pushed back by a year, the delay is nonetheless a concern that the final installment could find itself in trouble.

Dom Toretto (Vin Diesel) looking angry with Letty (Michelle Rodriguez) looking unimpressed in Fast & Furious

Related 10 Most Exciting Things To Expect From Fast 11 Fast & Furious 11 will pull all the strings to become bigger than the previous installments, and here is why the film is worth being excited about.

On the other hand, the longer wait for Fast and Furious 11 to close out the mainline series of movies could actually prove beneficial for the sequel. Though Leterrier may be busy with another project in the lead-up to filming the next installment, writers Oren Uziel and Christina Hodson should now have more than enough time to really look back at the script and ensure it learns from the critical missteps of recent installments to deliver a satisfying conclusion to the Dominic Toretto saga.

Source: Collider

Fast and Furious 11 temp poster Fast and Furious 11 Fast and Furious 11 is the final movie in the Fast Saga. It reunites Vin Diesel’s Dominic Toretto with the rest of the cast for one last ride. However, the franchise is open for spinoff films like Hobbs & Shaw afterward.Director Louis Leterrier Release Date April 4, 2025 Distributor(s) Universal Pictures Writers Christina Hodson , Oren Uziel

Continue Reading

Uncategorized

Vin Diesel Already Has His Perfect Fast & Furious Replacement Franchise With 51-Year-Old Remake

Summary

Vin Diesel’s dominance in Fast & Furious is ending, but Kojak could kick off a new action franchise for him.
Kojak’s reboot faces an uncertain future, but its similarity to Fast & Furious makes it a worthy project for Diesel.
Diesel’s potential shift from criminal racer to cop signifies a fresh start in a possible Fast & Furious-like series.

Vin Diesel’s days of playing Dominic Toretto are numbered, but the actor has already found his perfect Fast & Furious replacement. Diesel found a major breakout role in the early 2000s thanks to participating in The Fast and the Furious. The original 2001 street racing crime movie became the springboard for a sprawling franchise that has lasted for over two decades. The success of the Fast & Furious movies transformed Vin Diesel’s career, turning him into an even bigger star, especially in the action movie genre. But, Fast & Furious 11 is planned as the final chapter for him and the franchise.

The Fast & Furious franchise’s end will put Vin Diesel in an unfamiliar position of not having a major franchise to lean back on. This presents the actor with various options, such as changing the course of his career to pursue non-franchise roles. However, the more likely outcome is that Diesel will attempt to find a new IP that can replace Fast & Furious. He has had trouble in that regard recently, with franchises like xXx or Riddick running cold and Bloodshot and The Last Witch Hunter failing to launch franchises. There is another option for Diesel, though.

2:03 Vin Diesel as Dominic Toretto from The Fast & Furious Franchise

Related Vin Diesel May Have Spoiled Fast & Furious 11’s Ending With $2.7 Billion Movie Comparison Dom’s death happening in Fast & Furious 11 may have been spoiled already, with Vin Diesel comparing the upcoming movie to another big franchise.

Kojak Can Be Vin Diesel’s New Action Crime Franchise After Fast & Furious
Diesel Has Been Developing The Reboot Since 2015

The impending conclusion of the Fast & Furious franchise means it is finally time for Vin Diesel’s Kojak reboot to get off the ground. The project was announced back in 2015 with Diesel re-teaming with Universal Pictures, the studio behind Fast & Furious, to develop a movie based on Kojak. The original TV series starred Telly Savalas as Theo Kokaj and ran for three seasons after debuting in 1973. The series revolves around Kojak, a New York detective known for being willing to go beyond the law and a love for cars and lollipops, and follows him as he investigates different cases.

Kojak was rebooted in 2005 as a TV show starring Ving Rhames, but it only ran for six episodes

Development on Vin Diesel’s Kojak movie has not been very active in the nine years since it was announced. However, it still maintains the base similarities to Fast & Furious, which makes the project a worthwhile endeavor for Diesel in terms of finding a new action franchise. He would now have another big action series about cars and crime, essentially making Kojak into a newer version of Fast & Furious. The irony here is that Diesel takes on the role of a cop after playing criminal racer Dominic Toretto.

Vin Diesel’s Involvement Can Morph Kojak Into A Major Action Franchise
Kojak Could Be A Fast & Furious Clone
Telly Savalas talking on the phone in Kojak

Looking at the original TV show, Kojak might not necessarily project to be a major blockbuster action franchise akin to Fast & Furious. The TV series was relatively grounded and small due to the nature of its production. However, the fact that Diesel and Universal pinpointed this property as something they wanted to revive together is telling. The announcement of Kojak’s reboot came months after Furious 7 debuted in theaters and took the franchise to new heights at the box office and in terms of how ridiculously big the action and story could get.

It’s sometimes difficult to remember that Fast & Furious started off with a story about DVD thieves who were also street racers before Diesel helped turn it into something much bigger. With that experience and success already behind him, it would be understandable if a similar path was envisioned for Kojak. The series could then morph into a Fast & Furious clone, one that gives Vin Diesel a new franchise to headline and Universal a “fresh” action franchise to grow.

Continue Reading

Uncategorized

The Rock’s WWE Run Means Fast & Furious 11 Must Make 1 Major Hobbs Change

Summary

Hobbs from Fast & Furious 11 needs a gritty edge like The Rock’s WWE character to keep the franchise fresh and exciting.
The Rock’s time away from the Fast & Furious universe provides the perfect reason for Hobbs to return with a personal vendetta and a more savage attitude.
While Hobbs shouldn’t become a full-fledged villain in Fast & Furious 11, adding some edginess and dirty tricks could make his character more intriguing and dynamic.

Fast & Furious 11 must make one major Hobbs change after The Rock’s incredible WWE run. Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson’s WWE return surpassed his recent movies, with the actor creating some of the best work of his career. Having returned to a thunderous reception, The Rock was able to flip the crowd’s reception by becoming a heel and playing a major part in WrestleMania’s main events. The Rock hasn’t played a villain on screen for years, as even his depiction of Black Adam lent more into the character’s anti-hero side, which made his wrestling run all the more refreshing.

While his wrestling character may not perfectly translate into the Fast & Furious universe, there is one aspect of The Rock’s WWE run that the franchise should attempt to implement. After debuting in Fast Five, The Rock’s best Fast & Furious scenes helped contribute to the movie series becoming so popular, with Luke Hobbs becoming an instrumental part of the story. He was even given his own spinoff alongside Deckard Shaw (Jason Statham) and is set to get a solo movie in the future. Despite this, Hobbs would still benefit from adding one key aspect of The Rock’s WWE run.

The Rock’s WWE Run Proves Fast & Furious 11 Needs To Give Hobbs More Of An Edge
Fast & Furious Would Benefit From Hobbs Adopting Some Of The Rock’s WWE Tendancies
Dwayne The Rock Johnson in Black Adam, WWE, and Hobbs and Shaw

Given how electrifying The Rock’s recent WWE run was, there is no doubt Fast & Furious 11 needs to give Hobbs more of an edge. Although the character has had his more serious moments, like most of the Fast & Furious cast, Hobbs tends to mix action with comedy. Hobbs and Shaw are supposed to be two of the more stoic heroes, yet they are constantly at each other’s throats and cracking jokes to help maintain the franchise’s lighthearted core. However, giving Hobbs a grittier side would help the character thrive upon his return.

The Rock’s Fast & Furious return may redeem Fast X’s box office, but the character needs to come back stronger than ever. By allowing him to be more ruthless, he can still maintain some elements of comedy but also become more interesting in the process. Johnson proved that despite being a detestable heel, he was still as hilarious as ever during his recent WWE tenure. This proves that he can maintain Fast & Furious’ tone and humorous style while being more layered; therefore, Hobbs adopting some of The Rock’s WWE characteristics could make him even more entertaining.

Fast & Furious Already Has A Reason For Hobbs To Be More Savage
Hobbs Has Been Away From The Franchise For Several Years

Making a major change to Hobbs’ character could be tough to explain, but Fast & Furious 11 already has a great reason to make him more savage. His four-year absence from the franchise gives him a perfect excuse to come back with a vengeance and potentially have a personal attachment to Fast & Furious 11’s villains. Hobbs’ time away from the main story could be explained through a connection to Fast X’s secondary villain, Aimes. Aimes’ villain twist in Fast X was well executed and suggests he’ll be around for the sequel, which is the perfect reason to bring back Hobbs.

Having a more personal story with one of the villains could allow Hobbs to continue his great quips and one-liners, but it would also give him more of an edge.

Fast X never explained why he’s back, but having a personal vendetta against Aimes could be an intriguing reason. Given Dom and Dante are the focal point of the franchise’s conclusion, Hobbs returning to take down Aimes would avoid overshadowing the main story while still giving him an interesting role. Having a personal story with one of the villains could allow Hobbs to continue his great quips and one-liners, while also giving him more of an edge. This provides The Rock with the perfect reason to implement some of his heel traits while still portraying a morally good hero.

2:34 Image 147 Related Predicting The Ending Of All 13 Fast & Furious Characters In Fast 11 The Fast Saga is set to conclude with Fast & Furious 11 – or Fast X 2 – but how will Dom Toretto and his family’s stories come to a definitive end?

Why Fast & Furious Can’t Bring The Rock Back As A Villain
Hobbs Already Appeared As An Antagonist In Fast Five
A custom image featuring Dwayne Johnson as Luke Hobbs in the Fast and Furious movies Custom image by Debanjana Chowdhury

Although The Rock’s villainous tendencies worked well in the WWE, Fast & Furious can’t bring him back as an antagonist. Johnson already played the main villain of Fast Five, as Hobbs was originally an enemy of Dom and his crew before becoming an ally. Hobbs’ role in Fast Five was one of his best, but despite being the main antagonist, he always had a level of integrity. Dropping all of this to make him a villain in the final movie would be completely unnecessary, especially as the franchise needs him to remain a hero for his spinoff.

Fast & Furious 11 may end the main story, but The Rock will be part of the franchise beyond this, and altering his character so drastically wouldn’t make any sense. Instead, adding some extra edge to his character would have the same effect and would avoid stealing the thunder from Dante and Aimes. Although Fast & Furious 11 shouldn’t make him a villain, the film can still allow Hobbs to play dirty and pull some cheap tricks in order to show a grittier side, while letting him taunt his enemies when he inevitably helps save the day.

Fast & Furious 11
is scheduled to be released in theaters on April 4, 2025.

Fast and Furious 11 temp poster Fast and Furious 11 Fast and Furious 11 is the final movie in the Fast Saga. It reunites Vin Diesel’s Dominic Toretto with the rest of the cast for one last ride. However, the franchise is open for spinoff films like Hobbs & Shaw afterward.Director Louis Leterrier Release Date April 4, 2025 Distributor(s) Universal Pictures Writers Christina Hodson , Oren Uziel

Continue Reading

Trending

Copyright © 2023 Fffighters