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The Fast and the Furious franchise has been a thrilling journey with its mix of box office success and the occasional failure, but it has kept fans hooked on the action and the diverse characters. From its modest beginning as an underground street racing film in 2001, the franchise sped to overnight stardom, earning it billions in revenue all over the world.
However, with the franchise expanding comes great responsibility, especially when a plot needs to get extended, action scenes become too extravagant to believe, and characters become too predictable. In the beginning, it was praised but as time went by it was obvious the series had moved away from its roots.
As the Fast and the Furious franchise has been through the beginning and the fall, fans saw how the successful franchise somewhat failed to manage to balance its steadily climbing popularity while still staying true to itself.
How did Fast and the Furious become a success? Exploring the core factors
Fast and Furious succeeded through diverse representation, family themes, high-octane action, global appeal, and continuous evolution. These factors combined to create a blockbuster franchise with enduring popularity and success.
Box office
The performance of the franchise could be credited to the record-breaking box office result. From the very first film in 2001, which earned $144 million domestically and $62 million internationally, the franchise has gradually increased its global popularity.
After that, the franchise broke revenue records in countries worldwide, with Furious 7 and The Fate of the Furious each grossing over $1 billion, demonstrating that it has the power to captivate fans globally.
Casting
One of the pivotal points for the success of Fast and the Furious is its eclectic and adventurous crew. Characters such as Dominic Toretto, Brian O’Conner, and Letty Ortiz, played by Vin Diesel, Paul Walker, and Michelle Rodriguez, respectively, have gained legendary status throughout the franchise.
The further deepening of the franchise with new characters like Luke Hobbs played by Dwayne Johnson, has not only made the movies more appealing but also gained the franchise a wide-ranging crowd of fans.
Initial plot
The original Fast and the Furious movies, loosely inspired by the Vibe magazine article about street racing culture laid the groundwork for its popularity.
For instance, the attention paid to street racing competitions illegally, undercover policing work, and the relationships between characters like Brian O'Conner and Dominic Toretto were where the storyline was different from the earlier ones.
Direction
The Fast and the Furious franchise has been a success story it has earned $5.574 billion from nine films at global box offices, as per Deadline. The stories, which the series originally had a $38m budget, have adopted the theme of "family," meaning family in the wider sense, making it progressive and inclusive.
The script of the original movie is given major changes by David Ayer, who gained recognition from his work in Suicide Squad. He has set the movie in Los Angeles and a diverse cast, which worked in favor of the film franchise.
David Ayer conveyed his feelings of being left out and forgotten by the Fast & Furious franchise when he talked to Jon Bernthal on his Real One podcast, per Entertainment Weekly.
What went wrong with the Fast and the Furious franchise?
The Fast and Furious film franchise experienced a downturn in both quality and viewer response as a result of its inconsistent storytelling, growing unrealism, character comebacks, extravagant action, and profusion of spin-offs.
Stretching the plot
One of the problems that the Fast and the Furious series faced was the fact that the storyline had to be extended across various movies. With the series expanding to have nine movies, the authenticity, the family bond, and street racing were no longer the primary topics of the plot.
The turning to storylines that were extremely intricate and murdered-revenge plots, things of espionage, and some sort of cyber-terrorism took away from the original feel and authenticity of the series.
Too many characters
Numerous characters being introduced in all movies of the franchise resulted in viewers getting confused about the cast. Each sequel introduces more new characters, and the sheer emotional weight of the storyline decreases as the audience is divided among a multitude of other characters.
The continual presence of Letty and Han further lessened the weight of their deaths and made their sacrifices forgettable, therefore hindering the emotional aspect of the movie.
Impractical action scenes
Although the franchise Fast and the Furious was recognized for its breathtaking action and beyond illusion-like stunts, its development of these sequences that went overboard became a disadvantage.
The franchise took a new course from engines burning around the streets and listening to characters performing seemingly impossible tasks like jumping from cars, driving tanks on roads, and global-scale spying and action.
This shift that diverged the franchise from its historical base caused a decline in the original fan base and a loss of the series' genuineness.
Similar endings
The other reason for the Fast and the Furious franchise's decrease in popularity is the repetitiveness of its endings. From then on, the flicks began to follow a framework in which characters had analogous obstacles and resolved them in the way others had done before leading to boredom and lack of creativity.
The absence of the creative evolution in the narrative endings also supported a little in the monotony of the franchise and hence, a decrease in the audience engagement.
How did the Fast and the Furious franchise lose its momentum over time?
The table below depicts, according to Deadline, the Fast and the Furious franchise's declining momentum in terms of global box office collections. The figures show a trend of decreasing financial returns as the franchise grew, indicating a potential loss of momentum over time.
What factors contributed to the decline of the Fast and Furious franchise?
The decline of the Fast and the Furious franchise can be attributed to factors like:
- Escalating absurdity: The franchise has veered towards increasingly absurd plotlines and stunts, moving away from its original roots of realism and relatability
- Resurrecting characters: Bringing back characters from the dead, like Letty and Han, has diminished the impact of their deaths and undermined the emotional depth of the storyline
- Transforming villains into heroes: The franchise has blurred the lines between villains and heroes, altering the core principles of the characters and rewriting the franchise's history
- Unrealistic weapons: The incorporation of nonsensical and futuristic weapons in the films has detracted from the authenticity and believability of the action sequences
- Superhuman abilities: Characters displaying superhuman feats, like rapid healing and extraordinary strength, have stretched the boundaries of realism, making the storyline less grounded
- Neglecting character development: Instances like Dom's sudden focus on his son only after a kidnapping incident have highlighted inconsistencies in character development and emotional depth within the franchise
- Outlandish space mission: The decision to send characters into space in a car marked a peak in absurdity that may have alienated some fans and detracted from the franchise's core appeal.
Fast and the Furious should have bid farewell to Paul Walker's Brian a little sooner
One of the biggest challenges that the Fast and the Furious franchise has faced is finding an elegant way to say goodbye to Paul Walker's character, Brian O'Conner. The films have had to come up with very strange ways to describe Brian's absence.
At times, they succeed while other times, they fail miserably to give an appropriate explanation. This circular way of calling it a day, without saying goodbye to Brian has kept the franchise from developing itself, as well as moving on from his issues.
Vin Diesel has focused on giving a fitting closure to Brian O'Conner, realizing the fact that merely saying 'farewell' is not enough and realizing the need to say goodbye to him as a character, as per Collider.
Diesel's remarks illustrate the paradox of George walking away with the history of the Paul Walker legacy as well as maintaining the series narrative that resulted in the loss of an invaluable character like Brian O'Conner, which is a continuous and challenging task.
How Fast and the Furious could have upheld its legacy
Sustaining the legacy of the Fast and the Furious series means incorporating a combination of changes along with loyalty to the core concepts of family, loyalty, and adrenaline-produced thrills. It is important to stress characterization development, good narration, and high-quality action scenes which would help the franchise to stay interesting.
Furthermore, including in the movie a brief tribute to Paul Walker closing from the character he played Brian O'Conner, which will keep the legacy and the emotional bond the loyal fans have with him alive, would have been of paramount importance.
Finding a middle ground between innovation and depicting the franchise's tradition could have been achieved, and it could have led to the continuation of success and audience appeal.
A yet untitled Fast and the Furious 11 is slated to be released in cinemas on April 4, 2025.
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