10 Movie Franchises That Set The Bar Too High For Themselves

Remember when the Fast & Furious franchise used to revolve around a group of eclectic individuals whose biggest problem was figuring out how to hijack a moving lorry without getting killed?

Believe it or not, that very same franchise recently involved The Rock punching a missile.

Your writer has no problem with the fact that the series has moved on from its humble roots and what's not to like about seeing a colossal safe thrown around Rio de Janeiro by muscle cars?

Yet, for a number of reasons, it felt as though the series experienced its critical high point in 2015's Furious 7.

With the introduction of Jason Statham's Deckard Shaw, the franchise added even more star power to an already bolstered line-up of Dwayne 'The Rock' Johnson, Vin Diesel, Paul Walker, Ronda Rousey, Gal Gadot and Kurt Russel.

Diesel and Statham locking horns and The Rock blasting a helicopter out of the sky were all well and good. Yet, the heart-breaking final scene shared between Brian and Dom as they drove their separate ways (in the wake of Walker's real life passing) was a legitimately moving moment. Something which hasn't been replicated in the series since.

It'll still continue to rake in the big bucks at the box office, but don't expect the Fast franchise to ever produce a film with this much heart (combined with the series' trademark American muscle) in the near future.