I'm gonna watch and write about all ten entries in The Fast and the Furious series AND Hobbs & Shaw and you're going to be riding shotgun the whole time! FAMILY!
Years ago, I saw that the 8-movie set of Blu-Ray discs was selling for $10 on the Target website. Clearly this was an error and I felt bad for Target losing all that money and didn't want to put them out of business by taking advantage of this glitch.
Yeah, I'm weird.
It happened again 6 months later and this time I clicked BUY. So now I'll be able to follow along for the first 8 entries, and yeah also I'll "have to" buy the others, eventually. So far, I've only watched the first one. It was fun. I'm looking forward to watching the tone of the series change radically over time.
Also I was in Italy last May and the street in front of my hotel got shut down while they were filming the 10th movie. Neat! So now I have TWO reasons as to why I am looking forward to this very curious project.
Be sure to let Paul Scheer know you’re doing these. He and the other HDTGM members are big fans of the franchise. Who knows, he might even become a Substack backer!
I'm excited! It's also worth noting that the melodrama Better Luck Tomorrow shares a director with at least one FF entry as well as at least one character, adding that film to part of the FF expanded universe!
it does! I actually wrote up Lin's other collaboration with Han for The Fractured Mirror, since it's about the making of a posthumous "Bruce Lee" movie. It's cute. Not great. but an amusing trifle and he's very good in it as a relatable everyman.
I assume much has been written about how and why this franchise has had such staying power. My own guess would be that the multicultural cast automatically broadened its appeal, plus the fact that the movies all own how ridiculous they've gotten. (To the point where every film after 4 has at least one dialogue exchange wherein a character literally says, "This is ridiculous.")
And yes, while it has now been meme-ified into the ground, the whole "family" aspect was indeed a unique notion to hang an action movie around, and I think audiences responded to that. By now the series just revolves around cliches, but the filmmakers know that we're THERE for the cliches, and we'll be mad if they don't give them to us.
" also a world where men express their feelings openly and are not afraid to love each other like family."
I think, beyond the impressive stuntwork and T&A this is what made the first few films (Tokyo Drift notwithstanding) hits. Action movies that treat men like they have feelings and love for eachother are still sort of rare. It's why the Avengers films work. It's why these films work before Walker's death. Lure them in with practical stuntwork (missing from the recent films) and hook them with guys who actually relate to each other as people.
Y’know, if you wanted to eke a thirteenth column out of this franchise, you could also watch a few episodes of Netflix’s “Fast & Furious Spy Racers” cartoon, which ran 52 episodes and features Dom’s cousin as its globetrotting star.
Years ago, I saw that the 8-movie set of Blu-Ray discs was selling for $10 on the Target website. Clearly this was an error and I felt bad for Target losing all that money and didn't want to put them out of business by taking advantage of this glitch.
Yeah, I'm weird.
It happened again 6 months later and this time I clicked BUY. So now I'll be able to follow along for the first 8 entries, and yeah also I'll "have to" buy the others, eventually. So far, I've only watched the first one. It was fun. I'm looking forward to watching the tone of the series change radically over time.
Also I was in Italy last May and the street in front of my hotel got shut down while they were filming the 10th movie. Neat! So now I have TWO reasons as to why I am looking forward to this very curious project.
This is what got me to become a Patreon subscriber. I like to think I have sophisticated tastes, but I'm the biggest sucker for the Fast franchise.
Be sure to let Paul Scheer know you’re doing these. He and the other HDTGM members are big fans of the franchise. Who knows, he might even become a Substack backer!
I'm excited! It's also worth noting that the melodrama Better Luck Tomorrow shares a director with at least one FF entry as well as at least one character, adding that film to part of the FF expanded universe!
it does! I actually wrote up Lin's other collaboration with Han for The Fractured Mirror, since it's about the making of a posthumous "Bruce Lee" movie. It's cute. Not great. but an amusing trifle and he's very good in it as a relatable everyman.
I assume much has been written about how and why this franchise has had such staying power. My own guess would be that the multicultural cast automatically broadened its appeal, plus the fact that the movies all own how ridiculous they've gotten. (To the point where every film after 4 has at least one dialogue exchange wherein a character literally says, "This is ridiculous.")
And yes, while it has now been meme-ified into the ground, the whole "family" aspect was indeed a unique notion to hang an action movie around, and I think audiences responded to that. By now the series just revolves around cliches, but the filmmakers know that we're THERE for the cliches, and we'll be mad if they don't give them to us.
Isn't it pronounced "Fambly"...?
Ha ha
" also a world where men express their feelings openly and are not afraid to love each other like family."
I think, beyond the impressive stuntwork and T&A this is what made the first few films (Tokyo Drift notwithstanding) hits. Action movies that treat men like they have feelings and love for eachother are still sort of rare. It's why the Avengers films work. It's why these films work before Walker's death. Lure them in with practical stuntwork (missing from the recent films) and hook them with guys who actually relate to each other as people.
Y’know, if you wanted to eke a thirteenth column out of this franchise, you could also watch a few episodes of Netflix’s “Fast & Furious Spy Racers” cartoon, which ran 52 episodes and features Dom’s cousin as its globetrotting star.
https://youtu.be/ZoabGr0bHe4
My god Vin looks so young there. I forgot there was a time when he was a very good actor and not some jacked parody of an action star.