I love The Fast and Furious movies. I don’t know if it is the cars, the action, or the racing that intrigues me about these movies, but I am severely addicted to them.

That doesn’t mean that they are all good by any stretch of the imagination. From the first to the newest fourth installment of The Fast and The Furious, the series has had some ups and downs. I would like to say that they were all incredible, but sadly that’s not the case. There are several reasons, which I will get into shortly, that I think lead to this.

So, in an effort to put weed out the good from the bad, or the fast from the furious (sorry), I have put together a little listing of The Fast and Furious ranked in order from sheer crap to cinematic greatness.

Fast and Furious Movies In Order

4. Fast and Furious: Tokyo Drift is at the bottom of the list. I really didn’t like this one.

Here’s my take on sequels before we really get into this. If you’re going to do a sequel, or even several sequels, then at least have some of the characters come back. Tokyo Drift does none of that. The bring about new characters, with a different storyline from the original, and it falls flat of the mark set by the first. This film stars Lucas Black as Sean Boswell, and was suppose to be the Paul Walker replacement to the series. I’m glad that didn’t work out.

Set in Tokyo, which was alright, the movie is about a teen rebel who gets into trouble in the states and has to be sent to this father living in Tokyo. There, of course, he can’t stay out of trouble and ends up racing (drifting) in the streets while taking on a rival in the process.

The only think I really liked about this movie was the race at the very beginning. It was fast and had some great action sequences.

3. 2 Fast 2 Furious is the second out of the franchise and would rank as an ok production. At least they brought back Paul Walker as Brian O’Connor, the now full time racer/car mechanic brought back into police work to stay out of jail. Along the way he brings in a childhood friend, who went to jail because of O’Connor, Roman Pearce, played by Tyrese Gibson.

It’s much better than the third one, but as far as sequels go, it didn’t match up to the original. This one was sort of “watered down”. I say that because it wasn’t as edgy as the first. It was fast, just not furious.

The main plot of the story is for Brian and Roman to work together in an undercover effort to bring down Miami’s biggest crime lord, Carter Verone (played brilliantly by Cole Hauser). The are enlisting as drivers for Verone to run his errands as fast as possible. Along the way the receive help from Verone’s girlfriend/undercover agent, Monica Fuentes (Eva Mendes), while fighting off some other would-be drivers.

The action was alright. There isn’t much racing, except for in the beginning. The majority of the car driving is running away from cops and Verone’s thugs.

2 Fast 2 Furious was a decent attempt and think, overall it was a good movie.

2. Fast and Furious 4 is the latest movie in the series. Just being released, it is the freshest one and actually brings us back to the originality of the movie. While it was a different story line than the previous it reunites the major cast members in a action fest for car nuts. You can see my review of the movie here.

Dom, Brian, Mia, and Letty are all back again. This is the chemistry that the previous movies have been missing and I am glad that was brought back again. While there are a couple of twists in this movie (I won’t let them out), it is a solid Fast and Furious movie which towers over the two above.

As I said, it brings back the originality of the movie. It isn’t as edgy as the first, but it doesn’t have the flamboyancy as the second and third movies. They seemed like they just wanted to capitalize on the success of the first without paying much attention to cast, plot, or originality. This one brings that back.

I was very happy with the movie experience and think that if they had all taken this course (being true to the original) that the series would be much bigger.

1. The Fast and the Furious is the original. The jumping off point for the series to follow. This is the film that captured the essence, and the spirit, of what Fast and Furious is all about. There is a rawness about it that wasn’t touched in any of the sequels.

The cast put together for this movie is what leads to that rawness. Vin Diesel as the infamous Dom Toretto is a perfect fit. He doesn’t just act the part. He is the part. When you think of The Fast and the Furious the first thing you think of is one of two things; racing and Vin Diesel. Paul Walker does a good job as the undercover cop who infiltrates this subculture of street racing. Michelle Rodriguez as Letty is completely mesmerizing, while Jordana Brewster as Mia Toretto gives a fair performance also. You gotta love the little gang that Dom has with him though. Jesse (Chad Lindberg), Leon (Johnny Strong), and Vince (Matt Schulz) are a perfect collection of sidekicks to Dom’s lead.

But, really the main point of the movie is the racing, car chases, and action sequences. And we get a lot of it. From the street racing, racing in the desert, running through the highway, and an amazing death defying drag race between Brian and Dom… it was all riveting.

The original gets my vote for best, but that doesn’t mean it didn’t have any flaws. But, I think that for a movie like this, the flaws can be overlooked. It is a trendsetter, it takes chances, and introduced us to a whole sub culture within our own society.

Take it for what it is.

The original The Fast and the Furious reigns supreme as the best of the series.

Thoughts?

I finally got a chance to get a look at Fast and Furious 4 the other night and am quite happy with the whole movie experience.

While it’s not the best of the series, it does bring the series back to the originality of what the first one introduced audiences to. With the first in the series we were introduced to Dom Toretto, Mia Toretto, Letty, and Agent Brian O’Connor. It was a feast for the eyes and for the action oriented movie lover. There were cars, suspense, racing, edge, explosions, and a thrilling ending.

The second and third had some of that, but not a lot of it. They definitely didn’t have the edge of the first one. With Fast and Furious 4 that was brought back. Sort of. While this is the first movie to reunite the original cast of Vin Diesel, Paul Walker, Jordana Brewster, and Michele Rodriguez, it fell a little short of the excitement of the first. There were some dull spots where you just wanted the movie to get to the cars.

This movie picks up with Dom and Letty in the Domincan Republic continuing their smuggling and hijacking ways. However, Dom leaves because the heat is getting a little close. This is where the first twist is introduced in the movie. (Yes, this is something new to the series. The others didn’t have any type of plot twists. What you saw is what you got.) Through the course of circumstances Dom and Brian are brought back together in order to drive for a drug smuggler that the FBI has been trying to capture.

Wherein there is another little “what the….!” moment thrown in there too that could possibly ruin the entire thing.

The plot was pretty good for a Fast/Furious movie. Of course, not much of one is really needed if the action and the cars are appealing. And they were. Dom’s original Dodge Charger is back (which I would pick over any import any day!) and so is the fast and furious action associated with street racing.

I did like how the majority of the story focused on the original cast. There isn’t that many new people in the story, and those just compliment the story line. The relationship, or lack thereof, between Dom and Brian is really stretched through this movie and I think played itself out pretty good.

The acting was appropriate for this type of movie. I feel Vin Diesel does a great job bringing back Dom and he looked very, very intimidating. Paul Walker tried to be the cool guy while missing the mark just a little. He came off as a little fake, and starchy at times. But, if you weren’t trying to analyze the movie, and just experienced it for what it is, it’s a pretty good movie.

While estimates are good for the initial weekend (over $70 million in box office receipts), I’m hoping that the movie doesn’t lose steam like Watchmen did.

Fast and Furious 4 was a fun, entertaining movie that I think captured the essence and originality of the first. Definitely a movie worth watching.