Fast and Furious 11is set to be the final installment in the beloved action franchise, but there are some problems that it will need to overcome in order to live up to the high expectations.Little is known aboutFast 11, but it will seemingly be a continuation of the story that was put forward inFast X, with Jason Mamoa’s new villain Dante looking for revenge against Dom and his crew. But after the disappointments that came withFast X, the series will have to make a dramatic U-turn to reclaim themany fans who have lost interest.
TheFast and Furiousfranchise began way back in 2001, and it’s been growing bigger and bigger since then. With larger stunts, bigger budgets, and more recognizable faces,Fast and Furioushas quickly become one of the most reputable action franchises of the century - but it’s no secret thatvery few of the recent sequels have actually found critical success. IfFast 11wants to serve as a fittinggoodbye for theFast and Furiouscharacters, it will need to go back to the series’ roots, instead of continuing down the path that it’s been on.
Fast & Furious 11 Cannot Go Bigger Than Fast X After Part 1’s Problems
That Would Be A Major Misstep
to reach its full potential,Fast 11needs to end the tradition of each sequel getting bigger and bigger in terms of stunts and action. While the huge set pieces and big-budget explosions are always fun to watch, they’ve been the main problem for the franchise in recent years, as it’s struggled to find an identity outside of being an action spectacle.Fast 11has the much-needed opportunity to ground itself in the franchise’s roots, focusing on the characters and their relationships instead ofthrowing as much money as possible toward the visual effects.
Fast & Furious Disrespected Han, But Fast 11 Is About To Do Something Even Worse
The Fast and Furious franchise once insulted Han’s character and sparked the “Justice for Han” campaign, but Fast 11 could do something even worse.
Fast X’s main problem was that beyond the explosions and car chases, the story was essentially nonexistent. This was marketed as the final chapter in the saga, but audiences were given very little reason to care about this journey. Thesefinal films should focus on the charactersthat have been present since the beginning, rounding off their arcs in satisfying ways and ensuring that they’re given the goodbyes that they deserve. There are manyexciting things to expect fromFast 11, but replacing these with huge stunts will only ruin the film.
New Fast & Furious Movies Have Been Bigger Than The Previous Ones For Decades
It’s Slowly Becoming A Trend
This trend of raising the stakes and increasing the drama ofFast and Furiousmovies is one that’s been around for the past decade. It’s a problem that’s rooted itself in the franchise and fundamentallyforced the filmmakers to drift away from the grounded storytellingof the first films and write themselves into knots over the returning characters and fan service retcons. While this worked for a while, with movies such asFast FiveandFast & Furious 6admittedly saving the series from extinction, it’s now gone too far.
From there, the films have embraced their goofy, off-the-wall action and lost the grounded nature that audiences initially invested in this franchise for.
Furious 7effectively toed the line between family drama and all-out action spectacle, but whenthat film performed so well at the box office, it sent the wrong message to the studios behind it. From there, the films have embraced their goofy, off-the-wall action and lost the grounded nature that audiences initially invested in this franchise for. The most recentFast and Furiousmovies have retconned deaths, burned down relationships, and suspended reality so dramatically that they’re almost unrecognizable from the first few movies.
Fast X’s Budget Proves Fast & Furious Has Become Too Big For Its Own Good
The Final Movie Must Take A Step Down
The most obvious reason for this decrease in quality is the franchise’s increased budget - ever sinceFurious 7worked its way toward the top of thehighest-grossing movies ever made, the budget has risen dramatically. This gave way tomore stunts, more explosions, and more cars- but less storytelling. It’s a problem that’s been present ever sinceThe Fate of the Furious, but it didn’t become as overwhelmingly obvious untilFast X. The film seems unsure of itself, never quite aware of what audiences want from this story - and the only solution is to get bigger, bolder, and more brash.
To an extent, this covers up the cracks in the storytelling, but it doesn’t hold up well under scrutiny. Dante’s over-the-top personality is enough to keep audiences invested from start to finish, but there’s no emotional weight to the story. At leastFurious 7had the focus on Paul Walker’s character,Brian O’Conner, to give it some depth, butFast Xdoesn’t have that. It merely assumes that the audience is going to care about what’s happening, just because it’s big and superficially exciting, but it doesn’t go beyond that.
Fast & Furious 11 Should Be A Much Smaller Movie Than Fast X
To Go Forward, It Has To Go Backward
However, that doesn’t mean thatFast and Furiouscan’t go back to what it was. There are still multiple things thatFast 11can do in order to get back on track and provide a satisfying conclusion to this epic franchise. While it’s typical for the final movie in a series to be the most explosive and high-stakes, this should be the opposite forFast and Furious. The saga has spent so much time withcar chases, action set pieces, and big-budget showcases- now is the time to slow down, get out of the cars, and settle the score between the characters.
Thecliffhanger ending ofFast Xsaw Dom Toretto and his son in mortal peril at the hands of Dante, just before the villain revealed thatDwayne Johnson’s Agent Hobbs was next on his list. Thankfully, this can easily be resolved in the first act ofFast 11, leaving plenty of room for the crew to end Dante’s vendetta and pull all the narrative threads together in a way that doesn’t feel rushed or forced. There’s plenty of time for Dom, Letty, and their friends to bring their respective journeys to a happy ending without spending the whole film fighting Dante.
However, it could be argued thatFast and Furioushas had its foot on the gas for too long now, and letting go at the final stretch would certainly be disappointing for some fans. This is why the series needs to find a balance: it can’t totally abandon the spectacular action of the previous films, but it equally can’t rely on it fully. HopefullyFast 11can find a way to bring these two very different styles of filmmaking together for a conclusion that celebrates the entirety of this long-running franchise - not just the most recent installments.
Fast and Furious 11
Cast
Fast X: Part 2 is the final movie in the Fast Saga. It reunites Vin Diesel’s Dominic Toretto with the rest of the cast for one last ride. However, the franchise is open for spinoff films like Hobbs & Shaw afterward.
