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The Fast and the Furious: Impact of a Legend.

The genius of the Fast and the Furious series.

By Joe PattersonPublished 2 years ago Updated 2 years ago 4 min read
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The summer of 2001 was without a doubt one of my favorite summers as a kid. I remember being at summer camp, going to the beach, going to the zoo, getting a visit from my grandparents and all the great music and movies that came out at that time. One of the top five most memorable movies from that summer that all action adventure junkies were excited about was The Fast and the Furious, starring Vin Diesel and Paul Walker.

The Fast and the Furious quickly became one of the most highly anticipated movies of that summer along with other films like Baby Boy and Rush Hour 2. What made the film so attractive following the release of its earliest trailers was its adventurous car themed imagery and its cool young ingenue cast including: Vin Diesel, Paul Walker, Jordana Brewster and Michelle Rodrigues. The film quickly became widely appealing and a financial hit grossing over 200 million dollars worldwide. As someone who is a big fan of the Fast series I have to say this movie entertained me in a way that I did not expect. Though I knew it was going to have an action-adventure edge that I would love, I did not expect it to have such an emotional interpersonal edge to its content. This artistic device would become a key ingredient in the future growth of the series.

Written by Gary Scott Thomas and directed by Rob Cohen, The Fast and the Furious (2001) was nothing special in terms of plot and story, but it had a lot of personality summed up by Vin Diesel’s tough guy attitude and Paul Walker’s easy going demeanor. This personality would prove to be even more profitable with the 2003 release of the second entry in the series 2Fast 2Furious which grossed over 230 million dollars worldwide even with character replacement of Vin Diesel’s Dominic Toretto with Tyrese Gibson’s Roman Pierce. In light of the underperforming switch in direction with the third entry in the series Tokyo Drift, the Fast series would revamp itself with the 2009 release of Fast and Furious and the 2011 release of Fast Five, both of which would bring together every main character of all the films in the series to build the future of where the Fast franchise is at today and introduce new characters played by Dwayne Johnson and Jason Statham

Since taking up the mantle of the Fast series starting with Tokyo Drift, screenwriter Chris Morgan and director Justin Lin have taken the series from street racing and crime action adventure to upscale heist and big budget action galore with a more solid sense of storytelling. This change in direction has taken the fast series from making over 20o million dollars to now becoming a billion dollar franchise and led to a majorly successful spinoff film, Hobbs & Shaw.

The Fast series has become one of the highest grossing film series ever and one of the most influential franchises that still dominates with a financial and cultural impact to this day. The car culture that the series has glamorized so much has been appreciated from South America, to Asia, to the Middle East and beyond. The series has also made a positive impact by reaching all races and nationalities with its story and characters, this is something that many filmmakers and studios are trying more of nowadays, the Fast series started this practice over 20 years ago. This series didn’t become a world wide phenomenon in the same way that other big name film brands like, Marvel, DC, Star Wars, or Harry Potter became, it did it by its missteps as a beautiful mess. For every mistake the series made, it took that mistake and improvised it into a salvageable trait for future growth.

The Fast series never had true sense of direction, but it did have a niche of swagger, emphasis on car culture and emotional connectivity that it’s fans found relatable and so this would become the spirit of influence under which the films were crafted. This strong connection with fans can best be explained through the death of series lead Paul Walker. Like everyone else, I too was shocked and hurt by the death of Paul Walker back in November of 2013. He was a great person and entertainer who was a real-life testament to the Fast series emphasis on family and relationship. When he died both fans and filmmakers who are part of the Fast family talked about how the brother that Paul Walker was on screen was a reflection of who he was in reality. This is why when the phenomenonal and poignant send off to him in the seventh entry Furious 7 hit theaters, fans across the world were tearfully moved beyond words, also another testament to how the Fast series has been able to make beauty out of a perceived mess of ashes.

The Fast series is not conventional greatness, but it is certainly greatness and for all of us who it has reflected the lives and relationships of in the metaphors of its story, we will certainly always appreciate this franchise.

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About the Creator

Joe Patterson

Hi I'm Joe Patterson. I am a writer at heart who is a big geek for film, music, and literature, which have all inspired me to be a writer. I rap, write stories both short and long, and I'm also aspiring to be an author and a filmmaker.

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