In 2009, director Jason Lin decided to set Fast & Furious, the fourth Fast & Furious movie, before its predecessor, 2006’s The Fast and the Furious: Tokyo Drift. Although that decision allowed Lin to bring fan-favourite Han (Sung Kang) back from the apparently-dead, it created one of the most confusing timelines in action-franchise history. The fifth and sixth Fast films are also Tokyo Drift prequels, and then the post-credit scene of 2011’s Fast 6 brought us current once again with Han’s Tokyo “death.” The subsequent four movies (and the spinoff Hobbs & Shaw) have continued on that post-Tokyo road. And so you could technically experience the Fast saga in chronological order by watching 1, 2, 4, 5, 6 (minus the credit sequence), 3, 7, 8, Hobbs & Shaw, 9, and 10. But Lin, the filmmaker responsible for Fast‘s highest highs, disagrees.
“I used to think that you should watch it chronologically,” the five-time Fast director previously told me. “And then my 11-year-old son was getting into the franchise, and we did that and I thought, no, that’s wrong. I think you have to watch it 1, 2, Tokyo Drift, 4… That’s the way to experience it, because that’s part of our growth.”
But there may be another, more natural order to impose on this 11-film, 25-year franchise. How well does each Fast & Furious movie live up to its name? How fast is each Fast & Furious movie, and how furious are the people in it? Read on for an extremely scientific breakdown of the entire Fast franchise, ranked solely by speed and anger.
11. The Fast and the Furious: Tokyo Drift (2006)
Universal/Everett Collection
HOW FAST IS IT: Not fast at all. Outside of one Han speeding scene, all of Tokyo Drift is essentially various people constantly reminding Sean (Lucas Black) and the audience how drifting isn’t about being fast. The most memorable scene of the cult favourite of the franchise happens at the very end, when Vin Diesel’s Dominic Toretto returns for the first time since the conclusion of Fast 1, opening the door for a Fast revival and renaissance. “You know this ain’t no 10-second race,” Sean says ahead of their drift face-off, to which Dom replies, “I got nothing but time.” When have we ever known this man to just take a minute to chill and not be robbing semi-trucks or saving the world?!
HOW FURIOUS IS IT: Outside of Yakuza wannabes D.K. (Brian Tee) and Morimoto (Leonardo Nam), everyone seems pretty relaxed, as if taking their cues from the cool and calm Kang radiates as Han.
