Fast and Furious Ranked

Welcome to Ranked-where I rank a franchise or filmography from worst to best and hand out various related accolades. This week, I'm profiling the illustrious Fast and Furious franchise ahead of the release of the latest installment "F9" in theaters on Friday. 

Fast and Furious Movies Ranked:

9.The Fast and the Furious (B-)

8.Fast and Furious (B)

7.2 Fast 2 Furious (B+)

6.Fast and Furious 6 (B+)

5.Hobbs & Shaw (A-)

4.The Fast and the Furious: Tokyo Drift (A-)

3.The Fate of the Furious (A)

2.Furious 7 (A)

1.Fast Five (A)

Top Dog: Fast Five (2011)

Fast Five was the entry that changed the entire DNA of the franchise and ahead of F9, it remains the high point. Transitioning into a bigger scale, broader action movie, embracing a lighter tone that provided a great opportunity to highlight the strong buddy rapport that already existed between its established ensemble and adding the wildly charismatic Dwayne Johnson to the cast gave this series a level of creative juice and wall-to-wall fun that it didn't have when it was strictly about street racing. 

Lowlight: The Fast and the Furious (2001)

Its unspectacular origin is a big part of why the Fast and Furious franchise's evolution into the biggest and best action blockbuster franchise on the planet has been so impressive. The original Fast and Furious is a merely passable relic from an era where seemingly every movie aimed at teenagers looked and felt like a long music video that is saved from total mediocrity by some cool cars/street racing scenes and what proved to be the early stages of the development of some strong chemistry between the leads (Paul Walker, Vin Diesel, Michelle Rodriguez, Jordana Brewster).  

Most Underrated: The Fate of the Furious (2017)

The non-stop dazzling stunts and moving emotional highs of Furious 7 made it a hard film to follow up, but The Fate of the Furious did so with as much grace as possible. F. Gary Gray brought his signature infectious energy to the director's chair for an installment that features some of the most creative, insane action sequences of the entire series (the prison fight, baby rescue and "flying" car scenes are particularly noteworthy), an exceptional villain turn from Charlize Theron and the introduction of  Dwayne Johnson and Jason Statham as an antagonistic comedy duo that was so great that it landed them their own spinoff in short order.

Most Overrated: The Fast and the Furious (2001)

Even when compared to the OG street racing entries outside of Fast and Furious, The Fast and the Furious just can't match up. Everything from the overall entertainment value down to the sense of spectacle behind the direction is light years away from what the franchise has been consistently delivering over the past decade.  

Best Street Racing Installment: The Fast and the Furious: Tokyo Drift (2006)

The Fast and the Furious: Tokyo Drift has gained a pretty sizable cult following in recent years and as far as I'm concerned, that appreciation is long overdue. Not only did does the drifting technique and crowded, colorful Tokyo setting result in the most electrifying racing sequences of the entire franchise, the film introduced the two individuals (director Justin Lin and writer Chris Morgan) to the fold that were largely responsible for turning this franchise into an innovative, fun as shit powerhouse that has  achieved a decades-spanning longevity that no one could've ever imagined.