Fast Month - The Fate of the Furious

F8? Fate? Pun title. Man, this franchise is old.

We arrive at what’s currently the final movie in this franchise, the Fate of the Furious. Released in 2017, the movie was successful, though not as successful as 7. You could that down to the publicity boost the last movie got from the death of Paul Walker, Universal was not expecting to replicate its success, though it still broke the $1bn mark, not bad for a franchise that barely broke even when it started.

It did dip slightly critically though, dropping to a 66% rotten tomatoes rating with an average 6.1/10 and 6.7/10 on IMDb.

So, is it worth the hype, here are my thoughts.

Fast Month - Furious 7

Well, this is movie where this Franchise entered the big leagues, this movie made over $1bn at the world-wide box office, and got critical acclaim of 80% on Rotten Tomatoes, with an average of 6.7/10, the highest the series has ever gotten and a decent 7.2/10 on IMDb, only slightly below 5.

Compounding everything is the unfortunate death of Paul Walker. He died (rather ironically) in a car crash. Most of the filming had been completed, all they did is re-do the ending, with digital effects houses super-imposing Walker’s face over the body of one of his brothers. We’ll talk about how they ended it later. But here are my thoughts on how the movie stands as a whole.

Fast Month - Fast and Furious 6

Fast and Furious 6 showed the success of Fast 5 was not an accident, making $788m at the box office, with a budget of $160m; it wasn’t quite as big a critical hit, though it still holds a respectable 69% on Rotten Tomatoes, with an average 6.2/10 with an IMDb rating of 7.1. But is it on the right path, or were the peaks reached in the last movie? Let’s take a look

Fast Month - Fast Five

We're through the preliminary stages here, this is where this franchise began to make the big bucks. The budget was increased to $125m but the sweet reward was earning over $600m at the box office, and this wouldn’t be the heights of this franchise’s success. And it’s the first to gain a more positive critical buzz with a 77% rating on Rotten Tomatoes (average 6.4/10) and a 7.3 rating on IMDb. What caused this sudden turnaround, let’s take a closer look.

Fast Month - 2 Fast 2 Furious

Well, the first movie was a hit, so a sequel was inevitable, and because they love puns, 2 Fast 2 Furious, this is Fast Month

There is technically a short film between the events of the first and second movies. It’s entirely skippable so we’ll be skipping over it. 2 Fast 2 Furious was released in 2003, and is the only movie in the Franchise not to star Vin Diesel, he was busy working on xXx, which sounds like a low-rent porno. I’ve never actually seen xXx. Also, the Chronicals of Riddick, which lost money at the box office so… great choice there.

The budget was increased, this time at around $76m, the box office was also increased, but only to $236m, far from the juggernaut it would become later on. The sequel was not critically acclaimed with a 37% rating on Rotten Tomatoes with an average 4.7/10 and 5.9 on IMDb, with 2 razzie nominations for worst remake/sequel and worst excuse for a movie (all concept/no content). But here are my thoughts.