10 Movie Sequels That Completely Changed Tone
8. Fast 5
The Fast and Furious franchise is a curious one in that it actually hugely improved after completely altering its identity. The first four were passable if uninteresting street racing flicks, then the powers that be decided "screw it" and made all of the characters Superman but with cars.
It's safe to say that none of us were ready for the fifth film in a street racing series to be an international heist movie, with a finale that featured muscle cars dragging a monolithic bank vault through the streets of Rio de Janeiro.
Yes, these movies have now become impossible to take seriously, but the lack of pretence has allowed them to breathe more. Asking us to be fully invested in a relatively bland team of street racers for four movies is a big ask, but how about a movie where that same team are now soldiers of fortune in pimped out automobiles?
The fun factor of the last three films has been off the scale, with stunts steadily escalating in ridiculousness to the point where I think we'll be a little disappointed if the last film isn't set in space. We owe it all to the reinvention of the franchise's premise that Fast 5 gave us, and for demonstrating the true meaning of "family".