Few franchises rival those of the Marvel and Star Wars universes, but one American-made, high-octane-fueled action flick franchise changed Hollywood forever: The Fast and the Furious.
Want to see Vin Diesel, Paul Walker, Michelle Rodriguez and Dwayne Johnson (also known as “The Rock”) speed around Miami, annihilate other racers and defeat drug lords? Well, look no further than this action franchise that gave a whole new meaning to “expensive set pieces.”
The Fast Saga is about as American as you can get (although it has no political agenda). It’s just a bunch of adrenaline junkies learning about the true meaning of family while blowing stuff up.
The Fast & Furious movies began in 2001 and have continued through 2022. A double-decade franchise like that is older than anything modern that Marvel has done, at least so far. The movies follow street-racing fanatics Dominic Toretto and Brian O’Conner. After the death of Walker, who played Brian, before the release of Furious 7, the series revived itself for another saga of box office domination.
A new addition to the franchise is expected in 2023, titled Fast X. With countless movies spanning an immense amount of lore, it may be good to have a guide through the ways to watch these fantastic films in order.
The best and only way to watch these movies is in chronological order. This franchise is fairly easy to watch from the beginning since the release dates of the films match the actual chronological order of their events; however, there is one movie that throws things off a bit, and it’s The Fast and the Furious: Tokyo Drift. Although it’s the third film that was released to theaters, the storyline is supposed to take place right after Fast & Furious 6.
Here’s a list of all the Fast & Furious movies in chronological order:
With 11 movies and counting, you must take care to watch them in this order. You don’t want to miss a second of any of these movies. Let’s give a quick summary of each movie in this beloved franchise.
The Fast and the Furious (2001)
The first film stars Diesel as a heist man and Walker as an undercover cop. Things get wild when Diesel’s character Dom asks Paul’s character Brian to join his crew for a heist. Jordana Brewster (as Mia) and Rick Yune also star in the movie that started it all.
2 Fast 2 Furious (2003)
In 2003, we saw only Paul Walker revive his role, and new actors Tyrese Gibson (Roman) and Ludacris (Tej) join the cast. Vin Diesel does not appear in the second film at all. Brian does some more undercover work alongside Roman Pearce to stop a criminal.
Fast & Furious (2009)
The titles steadily get more confusing, just so you know, but it was at this point that Universal decided to rewind things and bring back the OGs. Vin and Paul return, and Michelle Rodriguez makes her debut. Of note, Gal Gadot also appears. Brian joined the FBI and helped Dom find Letty Ortiz’s murderer.
Fast Five (2011)
All the regulars come back for this film, and Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson shows up as Luke Hobbs. There is an evident shift in extremity in this film as Brian is now a criminal, and they go for another heist. The Rock figures he might as well join the team too.
Fast & Furious 6 (2013)
Once again, everyone returns, and we see some family dynamics start to unfold between our favorite characters. Luke Evans comes on the scene as the villain Owen Shaw, and (spoiler alert!) we find out Letty was alive the whole time. Finally, there is a post-credits scene with Deckard Shaw (played by Jason Statham) teasing the seventh movie.
The Fast and the Furious: Tokyo Drift (2006)
The sixth movie catches us up to Tokyo Drift. The third movie in the franchise continues its cast upheavals and brings in Lucas Black and Sung Kang for an interesting reboot. No Walker or Diesel in this movie (though he did get a little cameo). The timeline got confused, but we did get an appearance from Bow Wow that made it all worth it. (Plus, it’s also the first movie Justin Lin directed.)
Furious 7 (2015)
This movie has some tragic undertones since Paul Walker died in a fatal car accident before its release. Walker and the rest of the cast return in Fast’s seventh installment, where Deckard is looking for revenge again the people who put his brother into a coma. James Wan appears in this film as well.
The Fate of the Furious (2017)
This is the first installment without Walker, but we do get a new villain named Cipher (played by Charlize Theron). Dom is all about family, that is, until his child is kidnapped by Cipher. This turns the heist man against his old crew.
Fast and Furious Presents: Hobbs and Shaw (2019)
While a spin-off, this movie is still essential to the saga. The Rock and Jason Stratham have to fight Idris Elba’s character Brixton Lore, who ends up being the antagonist. The spin-off film shows Shaw becoming a hero and Helen Mirren returning.
F9 (2021)
How do you make an iconic American franchise even more iconic and American? That’s right; you bring in the man, the myth and the legend John Cena. Interestingly, the filming in Edinburg took 19 days and 11 different locations. They take their filming seriously.
This 2021 film finds Dom and Letty happy and retired. Of course, that could never last so someone needs to ruin it, which of course, is our beloved Cena playing Jakob, Dom’s younger brother.
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Fast X (2023)
The Furious films are winding to a close, with potentially only two movies left before the franchise calls it a wrap. This first of the two is set to premiere in May 2023 with many returning characters. The plot is still unknown.
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