By Hong Lau
It will be 20 years of "The Fast and Furious" franchise releasing by the time we are done with it in 2026. Man, have we seen the series progress and all our favourite characters’ age? I grew up with a love for the JDM car scene and a love for all those “import tuners.” Some of my favourite cars include the Skyline GTR R34, the Toyota Supra, Toyota MR2, Mazda RX-7, and you can’t forget the tofu car, the Toyota Trueno AE86, a Corolla shoutout to initial d.
Watching the series continue for so long has been a love-hate relationship. It started in the first three movies, which were really for people who loved the car scene. Some of the most iconic cars are Suki’s Honda S2000, Paul Walkers’ Skyline, Vin Diesel’s muscle cars, and so many others. We loved cars with loud mufflers, neon lights and NOs back then. But as always, time progresses, and things evolve, and that’s no different with the Fast and Furious franchise. It has not become an “action” film with a lot of huge star power involved. Ludacris, Tyrese, Gal Gadot, and so many others A list start participating in this franchise. Everyone asks, “When did Fast and Furious just become outrageous to you.” That really refers to the ridiculousness and realism of the series.
It never mattered; I always thought the underlying plot and theme were family and loyalty. Those are two huge values for me in everything that I do. I think that’s what makes this series special. I’ve continued watching every movie and rewatching some of my old favourites. I believe to this day, my favourite was the original Tokyo Drift. Back then, they still kept things relatively mild, and it was about the car scene. Although things have changed quite a bit since that, there are still some great movies like Fast Five and FF7; some of those scenes and soundtracks were legendary.
I think Fast X fits the series quite well, I would say it was unrealistic and had its typical crazy action scenes, but that’s what we’ve become accustomed to. Having a lot of the original and fan-favourite characters reappear was a blast in the past. I was happy to see Cipher and Gisele return to the series.
All in all, I think everyone needs to go watch it if you are there for the nostalgic vibes!