15 Things I Learned Rewatching All Fast & Furious Movies In Order

Summary

The Fast and Furious franchise started with stand-alone stories but evolved into a successful, action-packed series.
The Fast Saga changed a lot over the years.
Despite some timeline confusion and character retcons, the franchise has remained popular and consistent.

Rewatching all the Fast and Furious movies in release order reveals a lot about the Fast Saga, including where it all changed, and why the timeline is so confusing. The Fast and Furious movies have made for one of the most successful franchises in Hollywood history, having grossed over $7 billion at the box office with 11 movies. This includes the main 10 installments of the Fast Saga and Hobbs and Shaw. The series will now continue with the upcoming Fast & Furious 11.

Some Fast and Furious films have aged surprisingly well, whereas others remain disappointing additions to the saga. It is impossible to rewatch Fast and Furious without noticing how much the franchise changed after the first film, with Dom going from stealing DVDs to helping save the world. Fast and Furious tried a lot of things and course-corrected a few times before eventually becoming a stable, successful franchise.

Fast Saga Movies	Rotten Tomatoes Score (%)	Worldwide Box Office
Fast X	56	$714,567,285
F9: The Fast Saga	59	$719,360,068
Fast & Furious Presents: Hobbes and Shaw	67	$760,732,926
The Fate of the Furious	67	$1,235,534,014
Furious 7	81	$1,511,986,364
Fast and Furious 6	71	$789,300,444
Fast Five	78	$629,975,898
Fast & Furious	28	$359,347,833
The Fast and the Furious: Tokyo Drift	37	$157,794,205
2 Fast 2 Furious	37	$236,410,607
The Fast and the Furious	54	$206,458,372

15 The Fast And The Furious Did Not Need A Sequel

Fast And Furious Didn’t Need To Be A Franchise

The Fast and the Furious is one of those movies that did not need a sequel regardless of how well it did financially. While Walker and Diesel were shaping up to be major stars, The Fast and the Furious would have worked just fine as a standalone story about the birth of a friendship in difficult circumstances. Brian and Dom getting ready for their final race after learning how to trust each other was a perfect ending for the movie, which told a self-contained story with a clear beginning, middle, and end. Brian had made his choice, and so had Dom.

14 Tyrese’s Roman Pearce Was Supposed To Be Dom’s Replacement

Roman Was Brian’s New Best Friend In 2 Fast 2 Furious

2 Fast 2 Furious was nowhere near as good as the first movie, but it gives us Tyrese Gibson’s Roman Pearce. Arguably the funniest character in the franchise, Roman changed a lot after his first appearance in the 2003 movie. 2 Fast 2 Furious introduces Roman as an obvious substitute for Dominic Toretto, who was not in the film. With Diesel choosing not to return for the sequel, 2 Fast 2 Furious tried to emulate the buddy cop dynamic of the first film by pairing Brian with a brand-new character. That said, Roman was different enough from Dom.

Related Fast & Furious: What Happened To Suki After 2 Fast 2 Furious

Devon Aoki only played Suki in 2 Fast 2 Furious before disappearing from the franchise. Why didn’t the actress ever reprise the role since 2003?

13 Tokyo Drift Didn’t Even Need To Be A Fast & Furious Movie

Tokyo Drift Stands On Its Own

Tokyo Drift flopped at the box office but has since become somewhat of a cult classic among fans of the franchise, especially because it is reminiscent of an era where Fast and Furious was not an action blockbuster series. Still, Tokyo Drift did not even need to be a Fast and Furious movie. Apart from the Dominic Toretto cameo, which was only there for commercial reasons, Tokyo Drift is a truly standalone film that would only be incorporated into the “main” Fast and Furious timeline years later. It is one of the most rewatchable Fast and Furious movies.

12 Fast & Furious’ Timeline Confusion Is Hilarious In Hindsight

It Was All Because Of Han (& It Was Worth It)

Fast and Furious’ timeline is infamously known for being very confusing. However, in hindsight, it is hilarious how a relatively simple series of action films turned out to have such a confusing chronology. It all traces back to the decision to bring back Sung Kang’s Han in Fast & Furious (2009) after the character died in Tokyo Drift. What was supposed to be just a small cameo that would bring Dom’s cameo in the third film full circle became the start of a series of retcons meant to justify why Han kept returning despite being “dead.” Funnily enough, Han was alive.

11 Fast & Furious Was Never Really About Cars (Even When It Was)

The Franchise Was Always An Action-Packed Crime Series

For years, people have debated when Fast and Furious stopped being about cars. Having watched all the movies recently, I feel confident to say that the Fast Saga was never really about cars. Even the first couple of films, which did not have the massive budgets of recent installments, focused more on the action and crime aspects of the story than on the cars or the street racing scene. Brian and Dom love cars and everything about them, but from the very first movie, Fast and Furious was already dealing with heists and undercover missions. They only increased the scale.

Related Jason Statham & The Rock’s Fast & Furious Returns Make Hobbs & Shaw 2’s Status Even Stranger

The bizarre lack of Hobbs & Shaw 2 is made even stranger by Dwayne Johnson and Jason Statham returning to the flagship Fast & Furious franchise.

10 Dom Became A Superhero Between The First And Fourth Movies

Dominic Toretto Became A More Cartoonish Character

Fast and Furious may have always been an action franchise, but I cannot deny that things changed very drastically from The Fast and the Furious to Fast & Furious (2009). This is particularly true for Dominic Toretto, who gained superpowers between movies. Dom was though, a scary guy in the first film, but everything about him seemed plausible. From the fourth film onward, however, Dom had no problem catching an engine with one hand or driving through fire. Diesel’s portrayal of Dom also changes with time, going from the layered character from 2001 to a slightly more cartoonish version of him.

9 The Rock Really Changed Fast & Furious Forever

Fast Five Set The Bar High For The Saga

Whether Dwayne Johnson saved Fast and Furious is open for debate, but the fact is that The Rock did change the saga forever. Luke Hobbs was the first villain in the Fast Saga that felt like an actual threat to Toretto and his family. Hobbs was not a crime boss orchestrating things from the shadows or a street racing rival but rather a trained federal agent who could keep with Dom both in terms of tactics and strength. The scene in which Hobbs chased Dom through the favelas of Rio was unlike anything Fast and Furious had ever done.

A new Hobbs spinoff movie was announced shortly after the release of
Fast X
.

8 Fast & Furious Strangely Became One Of Hollywood’s Best Action Franchises

Fast And Furious Has Been Very Consistent

Fast and Furious has a lot of problems, but the saga has been fascinatingly consistent for the most part. Whereas a lot of IP-based franchises failed to replicate the success of the Marvel Cinematic Universe, Fast and Furious found its corner of the blockbuster market early on and made the most of it. Each film felt like a natural progression from the previous one in terms of scale and budget, which was often reflected in their box office returns. Although I do miss the simpler times of the saga, most Fast and Furious films are a lot of fun.

7 Fast & Furious Had A Villain Problem Until Jason Momoa’s Dante

Most Fast & Furious Villain Were Either Killed Or Redeemed

Fast and Furious had great villains before Dante, especially Dwayne Johnson’s Hobbs and Jason Statham’s Shaw. The problem is that most of them were either killed off or redeemed within the next movie. It got to a point in which we could tell exactly what the next villain was going to be like and how their story was going to end. Fast and Furious’ villains were also not very different from each other – serious, grumpy people who for some reason needed to take down Toretto and his family. Momoa’s Dante Reyes was very unique, and, presumably, won’t be redeemed.

6 The Justice For Han Campaign Was Justified

The Fate Of The Furious Insulted Han

I still don’t understand how Dominic Toretto could welcome Deckard Shaw into his family’s barbecue after what he did to Han. Yes, Han was not dead after all, but that was a retcon. For all intents and purposes, Han had been killed by Shaw. Even though Statham’s character saved Toretto’s son, The Fate of the Furious asks us to ignore Han for a while. This is why the “Justice for Han” campaign was justified. A fan-favorite character, Han ended up returning after all in F9. He will also reunite with Gisele soon given she returned in Fast X.

5 Mr. Nobody Is Basically A Human Plot Device In Fast & Furious

Mr. Nobody Helps The Story Progress

Mr. Nobody is the personification of how much Fast and Furious changed. The scale of the films increased to the point that they needed to have a character who could give Dom and his team clearance to take part in international missions that dealt with the fate of the world. From highly advanced computer programs that could hack the world to nukes, everything was now a job for Dominic Toretto. Mr. Nobody works as a plot device, helping the story go from point A to point B thanks to his connections. The same applies to his associates.

4 Only A Few Characters Stay Dead In Fast & Furious

Most Major Deaths Were Retconned

The fact that almost no one stays dead in Fast and Furious makes the ones that do even more tragic in hindsight. For example, Vince did not have the same luck as Letty or Han. Likewise, Elena had one of the most explicit deaths in Fast and Furious and cannot ever return. Fast and Furious’ death problem started with Letty’s return in Fast Five’s post-credits scene but continued in F9 with Han and in Fast X with Gisele. I’m assuming Jakob Toretto will not return in Fast & Furious11, especially because Gisele’s comeback is already a big one.

3 F9’s Jakob Toretto Story Is Really Hard To Buy

Jakob’s Story Doesn’t Make Sense

John Cena was a great addition to the Fast and Furious family, but Jakob Toretto’s story is still hard to buy. Fast and Furious needed a replacement for Hobbs following Diesel and Johnson’s public feud, but Jakob’s story was too big of a retcon. F9 wanted us to believe that neither Dom nor Mia had completely ignored their brother for years when the entire saga had been about family. The timeline for Dominic Toretto’s backstory does not quite work either, and everything becomes more confusing than it needs to be because of the addition of this character.

2 Dominic Toretto Doesn’t Even Say “Family” That Much

Fast And Furious’ Family Became A Meme

Dominic Toretto’s obsession with family in Fast and Furious became a meme, but the fact is he does not really say the word that much. Fast and Furious’ “family” meme really has more to do with how Dom’s actions are all tied to his one goal – to protect his family and keep them safe. There is not much to Dom’s character other than his appreciation for his family, particularly in later movies. Some family moments in Fast and Furious do feel heartwarming and emotional, whereas others do not so much. Either way, the word “family” will define the franchise forever.

1 Paul Walker’s Brian Was The Heart Of The Fast & Furious Movies

Fast & Furious Is Not The Same Without Brian

Rewatching Fast and Furious after Paul Walker’s death is always bittersweet. Brian was the heart and soul of the films, with his friendship with Dom setting the narrative for the franchise. The first two Fast and Furious films are told from Brian’s perspective, after which the family only grows but Walker’s character remains important. Furious 7’s ending scene is as emotional today as it was in 2015. Fast and Furious has so far handled Brian’s absence well, although it’s becoming increasingly difficult for the story to justify why he doesn’t come to the rescue whenever his family is in trouble

Fast & Furious

The Fast & Furious franchise revs through the adrenaline-fueled lives of Dominic Toretto and his crew of street racers turned global heroes. From the neon-lit streets of Los Angeles to the bustling cities and remote outposts worldwide, they take on high-stakes heists, espionage, and the underground world of street racing. Bound by loyalty and driven by the need for speed, they confront mercenaries, corrupt officials, and personal vendettas all in the name of their found family.

Movie(s) The Fast And The Furious , 2 Fast 2 Furious , The Fast and the Furious: Tokyo Drift , Fast & Furious , Fast Five , Fast and Furious 6 , Furious 7 , The Fate of the Furious , Hobbs and Shaw , F9: The Fast Saga , Fast X , Hobbs and Shaw 2 , Fast X: Part 2 (2026) First Film The Fast And The Furious Cast Vin Diesel , Paul Walker , Michelle Rodriguez , Tyrese Gibson , Eva Mendes , Lucas Black , Sung Kang , Bow Wow , Jordana Brewster , Dwayne Johnson , Jason Statham , Charlize Theron , Idris Elba , John Cena Character(s) Dominic Toretto , Brian O’Conner , Letty Ortiz , Roman Pearce , Monica Fuentes , Sean Boswell , Han Lue , Twinkie , Mia Toretto , Luke Hobbs , Deckard Shaw , Cipher , Brixton Lore , Jakob Toretto Video Game(s) The Fast and the Furious (2004) , The Fast and the Furious (2006) , Fast & Furious: SuperCars , Fast & Furious: Showdown , Forza Horizon 2 Presents Fast & Furious , Fast & Furious Crossroads Expand