Fast & Furious Is Ending 4 Movies Too Late

The core Fast & Furious saga will end after 11 movies, but unfortunately, for a proper conclusion, that’s four movies too late. The massively successful franchise has grown more and more bombastic with each entry, steadily distancing itself from the grounded street racing storyline that it was built on and becoming more similar to the Mission: Impossible films. While that craziness has continued to entertain viewers and bring in money, the right moment to end the Fast & Furious story has already passed.

That’s not to say that Fast & Furious has ever been a wellspring of innovative storytelling or Pulitzer-caliber writing. At its core, it’s always been a silly franchise about fast cars with a theme of family at the center. That’s the x-factor of Fast & Furious – somehow, amidst ridiculous action and relatively simple character dynamics, the story has at many times been greater than the sum of its parts. The brotherhood of Dom and Brian, the loyalty of the extended “familia,” and the stellar chemistry of an ever-growing cast has given the series the energy of a cult-classic with the box office return of Star Wars. At its best, Fast & Furious has hit a stride not dissimilar to The Avengers – a big blockbuster funfest with simple but effective emotional undertones, driven by a loveable ensemble who play off each other well.

So when people talk about wrapping up the central story of the franchise, they’re talking about that ensemble. The problem is, their story already had its natural climax in Furious 7. After the initial cultural impact of the first film and a subsequently middling performance by 2 Fast 2 Furious, Justin Lin took the director’s chair for four straight films that took the franchise from a moderate hit to a global sensation. The notion of reuniting nearly every major character from the first four movies for Fast Five was a brilliant move that created what’s widely seen as the best entry in the series. Then two more movies were planned and written in tandem. While the Tom Clancy-style globetrotting and big-budget spy action began in the sixth and seventh films, the story remained focused on the same core group of characters. Letty returned, Han’s death was given new significance, and most side characters got proper closure on their arcs – all with Furious 7.

More importantly, the core thread of Dom and Brian’s friendship reached a natural and powerful conclusion in Furious 7. The circumstances around that conclusion – Paul Walker’s tragic death – are still horrific. But in the midst of that tragedy, the series that was built on drag races and nitrous managed to pull off a tribute that was touching, respectful, and true to the core of the series that Walker helped build. Furious 7’s ending kept his real-life legacy centered, while also tying his beloved character’s final arc into the overarching themes of growing up and taking care of your family.

That might be laying it on a bit thick, but it’s safe to say that few people expected Fast & Furious to handle the passing of its star as tactfully and powerfully as it did. That, combined with the completed arcs of every other character in the series, made for a perfect, natural climax to a seven-film story. But because the franchise kept raking in money, more movies were inevitable.

The Fate of the Furious, while fine in its own right, lacked the emotional factor of previous installments. And while the return of Justin Lin and Sung Kang as Han bodes well for the final three films, it can’t shake the feeling that there just isn’t that much more to tell at this point. Furious 7 was a stellar conclusion to a fun and occasionally moving story. No matter how exciting the next few movies might be, they’ll have a tough time proving their necessity to the Fast & Furious story – a story that already had a perfect ending.