10 Movie Sequels Nobody Asked For But Ended Up Being Awesome

After the release of the fourth Fast and the Furious film - imaginatively titled "Fast & Furious" - many felt like the franchise had sputtered to a self-parodying halt.

Pinballing between the outright absurdity of its CGI-slathered action sequences and the strangely grim solemnity of Letty's (Michelle Rodriguez) death, Fast & Furious' tone is all over the place, and spends far too much time and energy trying to be a Real Movie.

It seemed to suggest that the franchise was all out of ideas, until the decision was made to gear-shift the IP into a broader, more ensemble-driven heist series.

Between its bigger budget and the introduction of Franchise Viagra himself, Dwayne Johnson, Fast Five may have arrived amid relatively low expectations, but scored by far the strongest reviews and box office of the series up to that point.

With a greater focus on shamelessly cartoonish set-pieces and ridiculous banter while proving vaguely aware of its own trashiness, Fast Five was just the rejuvenation the series was screaming out for.

And like that, the Fast and the Furious went from a moderately successful action franchise into a global phenomenon and eventual billion-dollar enterprise.