5. Fast Five
Where The Franchise Failed: Constant repetition and taking itself too seriously.
How It Re-Succeeded: The Rock!
Cinema Blend really hit the nail on the head when they said The Rock saves franchises. Before he came along and added his bombastic goodness to the Fast franchise, the whole thing was becoming an unintentional parody. It was staffed by charisma vacuums (Vin Diesel aside, maybe), suffered from constant repetition, and most awkwardly of all, addressed the subject matter with a certain po-faced sincerity, steadfastly believing the whole thing was vital, important and on the bleeding edge of cool. Granted, when it first came out, they were probably correct. Street racing was incredibly popular, Li'l John and the Eastside Boyz (I think there's a z in there, I just don't know anymore) were all over the zeitgeist and the game they lent their pipes to, Need For Speed Underground, was going gangbusters in the gaming charts. Yet come Tokyo Drift and beyond, we all started to get bored of the whole damn thing. Sure, it could still hold your attention and kicked ass at the box office, but it was starting to become the film equivalent of Coldplay successful, but the subject of jokes and eye-rolls. If I'm honest, I think the whole thing was all just a bit earnestly dull, and in dire need of some fun and games. Enter The Rock, doing what The Rock does best blowing stuff up and looking awesome while doing it. The man's presence slotted into the series' new-found ethos perfectly, straddling the line between parody and insanity with expertise. With The People's Champion aboard, the franchise was reinvigorated everyone knew they were in for big dumb fun. Being honest, I might be doing The Rock a disservice he's a better actor than people give him credit for, and occupies his action/comedy wheelhouse extremely well. If nothing else, he gave Vin Diesel and chums a compelling antagonist and rival, providing the series with a spark which made sure Fast Five and its sequel outperformed its predecessors both financially and critically. It was a Plus, I really like the rumour that they had to give him a beard so you could tell him and Diesel apart in the action sequences. I have no idea if that's true or not, but I hope to Christ it is.