As it has grown in to the action blockbuster series that it’s known as today, the characters of the Fast & Furious series have expectedly grown with it. However, there’s no other movie series in which the characters have developed such incredible skills without ever being educated, as most of the characters are now so smart that they could work for NASA.
The cast is one of the ways the franchise is great, but it’s no secret that audiences totally have to suspend disbelief when watching a character who was once a car mechanic now hacking in to government computers. But despite some of the characters seemingly becoming geniuses over night, there are others that remain just as vacuous as when they were first introduced.
Rome
Rome might be one of the most likable characters, as his charm, which gets him into places no other people have access to, is why he’s even part of the group, but his intelligence certainly doesn’t match his likability. When discussing their illogical plans that completely defy physics, Rome is always several steps behind, and even during the plan he keeps asking questions. His problem is that he is always fixated on girls and barbecues, as he’s the only character who hasn’t developed or gotten smarter since he was first introduced.
Han
Han was foolish enough to go behind D.K. and the Yakuza’s back by skimming off the top of collection money, which is one of the dumbest things he could have ever done. He’s lucky that they didn’t murder him then and there, but it wasn’t long after that when he did go out with a literal bang. Even dumber than stealing from gangs, though it was retconned in a later movie, Han crashed his Mazda after driving close to 200 miles per hour on a busy road. Strangely enough, it was a valuable lesson about driving in a series that glorified street racing at the time.
Letty
Letty has a ton of great moments, most notably shooting Riley with a harpoon, but everything that Letty does is pretty instinctual with no thought, and she never once considers the possible consequences. A lot of Letty’s mistakes have often led to further problems, especially when speeding through busy streets in Fast & Furious 6 when she was temporarily working with the bad guys.
Mia
With Mia originally not getting involved in Dom’s criminal errands, Mia is the sensible one of the family, as she can always hilariously be heard screaming, “stop” during almost every fight scene.
Mis has incredible foresight too, as she’s surrounded by toxic masculinity, between Dom, Leon, and Vince, she can always sense when they’re about to lock horns, and she quickly steers Brian out of the way. In the first movie, Mia was also into street racing, but even then she was sensible and never floored it.
Elena
Audiences first met Elena in Fast Five when Hobbs recruited her to help him find Dom, and though she’s clearly smarter than anyone else on the team, she’s unfortunately sidelined to give Hobbs more screen time. However, she was the only person who managed to hold Dom at gunpoint at one point in Rio. But she also managed to get herself captured by Cipher in Fate of the Furious, and though it was one of the most emotional scenes in the series, knowing her skills, it’s something that could have been avoided.
Hobbs
Hobbs trying to learn team work was one of the times the franchise was so bad it was good, as he might not be smart enough to set aside his masculinity and control issues in order to work with Shaw, but he is an expert in every other part of his field of work.
When the character is introduced in Fast Five, he is the only guy able to successfully track down Brian and Dom. And Hobbs is so sure of himself that when he’s face to face with Dom, he even gives him a 24 hour head start so he can continue pursuing him.
Dom
On the face of it, in The Fast and the Furious, Dom seems like a brainless street racer who has very few brain cells to rub together, especially as he makes mistake after mistake in his criminal life. However, as the series presses on, the character leads the crew on so many adventures that requires a vast amount of knowledge of physics. With each passing movie, The idea of Dom being a physics genius is one of the things that actually makes sense, as there’s no way the gang could have ever pulled off these wild stunts without him.
Brian
Ever since the first movie, Brian is the character who had his head together the most, and he thinks rationally instead of acting on his emotions, which is what everybody else in the group seems to do. Unlike Dom, he doesn’t immediately resort to beating people to a pulp when he’s angry, but he thinks logically and considers all angles when approaching a situation. Brain is able to talk his way out of sticky situations, too, even when Dom suspects him of being a cop. And it goes without saying that he’s actually an incredible detective.
Tej
Tej has become the smartest member of the group, as the whole gang rely on him and his hacking skills. It’s actually hilarious that Tej has become a computer genius who literally outsmarts people working in the CIA, as he originally started out as a mechanic who was taking cuts off the top of illegal street races. Where he learnt all these hacking skills is impossible to know, and it’s one of the things that makes absolutely no sense in the franchise.