Of all the ten movies in the Fast & Furious series, Fast Five is one of the tent poles in the franchise and perhaps the single most important entry of them all. The movie is one of the best action movie sequels because of how it transcends the previous street racing focused films and turns the series in to an Ocean’s Eleven-type heist series with Mission: Impossible-like stunts.
Not only that, but it brought in Dwayne Johnson, one of the most bankable stars of this generation, and the movie is what began the franchise’s trajectory to being worth billions. But not every fan thinks the movie is the landmark that it has become. From denouncing the choice of abandoning street racing to complaining about the casting choices, Fast Five has its fair share of critics.
Fast & Furious 6 Is Better
Fast Five is generally considered the best in the series for a multitude of reasons, whether it's because it saw the introduction of Hobbs, the high-octane action, or the calculated heist. But not everyone is on the same wavelength, as some fans think that Fast And Furious 6 is far superior.
The user goes as far as to claim that they’re confused why fans think anything otherwise, but they do go into great detail as to why. They argue that the sixth movie has a more three-dimensional villain, as opposed to the rich and corrupt Hernan Reyes.
Fast Five Is Where The Series Lost Its Way
According to some Redditors go even further, not only is the film a lousy entry in the Fast & Furious series, but it’s the first movie in the franchise that lost its way. The series may have left the realism at the door, but the ridiculousness of the stunts and CGI really starts with the sixth installment.
Fast Five might be unrealistic in parts, such as the two muscle cars dragging along a vault in the final act, but for the most part, all the stunts were shot practically, including the smaller train heist at the beginning of the movie.
It Would Be Better Off Without The Rock
One of the most dramatic changes to the series with Fast Five was the way it built on the characters from the first movie. The best example of that was the introduction of Hobbs (Dwayne Johnson,) who is hired to track down Dom and his crew. However, one Redditor believes that the movie would have done better at the box office is Johnson wasn’t in it.
They go on to say that the Rock is not a movie star, but the box office returns of every movie he’s in beg to differ. And he is one of the major reasons why the series has become a billion dollar franchise. On top of that, if the Rock didn’t show up in the movie, fans wouldn’t have had some of the best quotes in the series.
It Became Superhero Franchise
It’s clear from even just the trailer for F9 that all the characters are now treated like superheroes. Letty is seen jumping out of buildings, Tej and Rome are flying into space, and Han is seemingly invincible, as he’s come back from the dead.
One Redditor claims that they have been portrayed as superheroes ever since Fast Five, but it again wasn’t until Fast And Furious 6 when Dom was flying through the sky and caught Letty mid-air did most people get the superhero vibes. There is nothing in Fast Five that depicts the characters as having any kind of superhuman strength or gravity-defying powers.
The Intro Doesn’t Make Any Sense
This user knows how ridiculous the series can be, as they mention it themselves, but regardless, they still believe that the opening of the movie is dumb even by Fast & Furious’ standards.
The team attempts to help Dom escape from the prison bus by violently flipping it, and it would surely murder him. They argue that though the team give him notice by driving past, there’s no way that Dom could brace himself well enough to avoid being murdered by a flipping prison bus.
It Was Too Plot Driven
Viewers can say what they want about the first three movies, as some believe they don’t hold up all that well, but there’s no denying how character-driven they all were. Whether it was Brian and Dom’s bromance in the first movie or Sean’s romance with Neela in Tokyo Drift, there was a lot to love about the characters’ story arcs.
However, this Redditor posits that the characters’ arcs had been forgotten about in the fifth movie, and it was instead too plot-driven. And while the Redditor may have a point, every character did have an arc, as it saw them all discuss what they would do with the money if the heist was pulled off successfully (which came to fruition by the end of the film). It just came with a boatload of large scale action.
Michelle Rodriguez Should Have Been In It
Another brilliant way that Fast Five changed the franchise forever was that it carved out the series’ universe by bringing in so many unique and diverse characters. However, not all of the original cast was there, as Letty (Michelle Rodriguez) was killed off in Fast & Furious, the fourth movie in the series.
Though she returned in the sixth movie, some argue that there was something missing because Rodriguez was absent. At least the character had an incredible arc in the following movie.
Getting Rid Of The Street Racing Was A Good Thing
Though the most recent movies are generally much more well received than the originals, there was still a lot of fun to be had with the street racing, and it’s why many fans still watch those movies.
Though the movies still feature some street racing from time to time, and there are loads of references to street racing, such as a Nos tanks inside of the car shuttle in F9, the novelty has been largely abandoned. Some Redditors think that it was a great move completely pivoting away from the niche, but they go even further to call the street racing aspect “boring.” However, most fans disagree, as many are clamoring for a Tokyo Drift 2, and it’s even in development.
The Heist Formula Is Ruining The Franchise
On the other side of the argument, a small minority believe that the heists have completely destroyed what the Fast & Furious series is. The user argues that all the movies from Fast Five onwards are completely different to the original movie. And they hilariously compare the move to if Rocky Balboa took up water polo and that’s what the next 10 movies in the series were about.
It Would Have Been A Great Conclusion To A Trilogy That Included The First And Fourth Movies
In what is some kind of revisionist history, One Redditor thinks that the first, fourth, and fifth movies would have made a perfect trilogy. To be fair, the three films do depict a perfect beginning, middle, and end for Dom and Brian’s story. However, the fourth movie is one of the worst rated movies in the series, and the “trilogy” completely ignores the second and third movies.
While those films might not have aged the best, they are still favorites of many Fast fans. And on top of that, the proposed trilogy also ignores Furious 7, the second highest-rated movie in the series according to IMDb.