20 Sequels That Brilliantly Fixed Past Mistakes
4. Fast Five - Ditching The Races And Getting The Tone Exactly Right
While The Fast and the Furious is now one of the biggest and most successful action franchises in history, things weren't always that rosy. The first four films are a mixed bag. 2001's original is good if you can forgive it being a bare-faced Point Break rip-off, and 2 Fast 2 Furious has its moments, but 2006's Tokyo Drift is thoroughly mediocre, and 2009's Fast & Furious is straight-up bad.
A big problem is that these movies didn't find a proper direction. The first three were dominated by repetitive, tedious street races, and while the fourth film moved away from this, it was an overly serious and dull revenge flick that didn't replace the old formula with anything compelling. Satisfyingly, Fast Five saw this IP finally find its place in the world. Alongside jettisoning the endless street races and establishing a warm, comedic tone, it carved out its own niche in the action movie market.
It was with this picture that the series started presenting its characters as a sort of surrogate family and delivering its famous cartoony, hilarious, unrealistic action set-pieces which weren't like anything else at the time. Thus, this series was now giving audiences something they couldn't get elsewhere, and by following this formula, the series delivered several smash-hits over the next few years.
Unfortunately, Fast & Furious has lost its way now, but it did have a great run for a good few years, and it all started with Fast Five, arguably the IP's greatest movie.