I have been a very big fan of the Fast and Furious movies since I first watched 2 Fast 2 Furious at the age of five, in 2012. My best friend and I have watched all the movies and are planning on going as Brian and Roman from 2 Fast 2 Furious for Halloween.
The Fast and Furious saga has been going on for twenty-two years since its debut film The Fast and The Furious dropped in 2001. Since then, there have been 10 movies and two short films, the two most recent being F9 and Fast X.
Despite Paul Walker’s death in 2013, they decided to continue the franchise with Dom as the main character, instead of the previous dual protagonist relationship with Brian and Dom. In the most recent movies, the CGI and realism have been in the bins, the side characters have lost all depth and the storyline has honestly been the scraping off the bottom of a barrel.
Many people say that the series went bad after Paul Walker’s death. While I do agree, I believe it started to go downhill after The Rock was introduced in Fast and Furious 2009. The Rock introduced another level of insane and impossible stunts, producing a larger element of unrealism. In a franchise about cars jumping onto boats or stealing vaults, unrealistic is expected, however, it should still be brought back down with repercussions.
After Brian lands the car on Varone’s boat in 2 Fast 2 Furious, Roman very clearly says, “I think I broke my arm,” and during the end of the movie, when they are talking to Agent Bilkins while they were being checked up on by paramedics, Roman was wearing a sling. This level of continuation, no matter how small the detail, is important to preserve the realistic parts of the movie that make it interesting to watch.
In Fast and Furious 6, Dom gets shot by Letty in the shoulder and just eats it. He has no reaction to it other than shock at the fact Letty shot him. While I understand getting shot doesn’t hurt immediately, a couple of seconds later, he should have at least looked like he felt some sort of burning sensation when he was shot.
Another point I feel has to be made is how Dom was made out to be the main character instead of Brian. In 2 Fast 2 Furious Brian is shown to be an incredibly skilled precision driver however in every other movie, his abilities seem to be lowered to cater to Dom being the “best” which I think to be absolute bull.
We hear Dom preach “Familia” throughout the entire saga but ends up showing almost no care about the side characters. Brian has had more chemistry with everyone, such as Roman, Tej, Han and Suki while every relationship Dom has feels incredibly forced. In F9, the team sends Tej and Roman, who voiced his concerns about the plan, into space to turn off the satellite. Being the more dangerous of the two missions, it would have made more sense for the main character, Dom, to be the one going to space instead of Tej and Roman. However, Tej and Roman were the ones to go to space but when they were having troubles and were basically going to sacrifice themselves, not enough attention was going towards them from anyone from the team, as if they were replaceable. Many people would disagree, though. Tej and Roman have been an iconic duo since 2 Fast 2 Furious and genuinely could not be replaced.
Another important topic to discuss is the “dumbing” down of Roman Pearce throughout the entire series and his transformation into the comic relief. Although it is important for every team to have comic relief, I also believe that an already existing, complex character, shouldn’t be forced into only being the “class clown” just because someone like that was needed. 2 Fast 2 Furious established Roman to be a hard criminal with a hot head temper and incredibly impulsive. However, by the movie’s end, he becomes more strategic in his actions.
This growth is particularly evident during the final car chase scene in 2 Fast 2 Furious, where Roman exhibits a remarkable display of skill and coordination, leading to the successful capture of Verone. He also expresses his trust in Brian and his plans throughout the movie, even trusting him when driving the car onto the boat.
Despite this, the later movies just erase that and make him an idiot, like in Fast and Furious 6 when he tampers with the titanium rope gun or when he’s asking everyone for money for the vending machine while Hobbs is briefing them. Roman starts to question every decision made by either Dom or Brian, although they were crazy ideas, Roman still should have trusted them. These later movies destroyed the character arc he had in 2 Fast 2 Furious and just completely demolished it for the sake of comic relief when we easily could have had both. He became such a filler character, scared of everything, instead of the gritty character introduced in the second Fast and Furious installment.
With Fast 11 confirmed to be released on Apr. 4, 2025, one can only hope for the best.
