The Fast and Furious films ranked from worst to best by Louis Leterrier

A true fan of the franchise since its beginnings, the Frenchman was propelled to the helm of Fast and Furious X (and soon the eleventh and final part). Louis Leterrier ranks the ten films in the saga for Premiere, including of course the spin-off Hobbs & Shaw.

After his time in the room, Fast X is currently a hit on VOD and on DVD and Blu-ray. When the film was released, the director of the 10th part of the saga, Louis Leterrierhad agreed to classify the films for Première Fast and Furious. Except the one he directed of course…

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10 – FAST AND FURIOUS: HOBBS & SHAW BY DAVID LEITCH (2019)

“I adore Jason Statham And Dwayne Johnson, but in Fast, I like when the characters are Robin Hoods behind the wheel of their cars. When it became a James Bond – and Hobbs & Shaw is really too Bondian – I liked it less. Furthermore, the super-soldier played by Idris Elba – and I know he really likes it – that’s not really my taste… It’s almost a superhero film. Certainly, the characters of Fast and Furious are urban superheroes, but their superpowers are their cars, their way of fighting and their intelligence. There, we come across indestructible super-soldiers and motorcycles that drive themselves: I find it a little strange that it takes place in the same universe as the other films. We almost have the impression that they are parallel worlds!”

9 – FAST AND FURIOUS 9 BY JUSTIN LIN (2021)

“We’re at the end of something, we feel tired… That they’re going into space, I find it funny to be honest. However, this time, the wink becomes a little too big. The film is just a meeting with the public. It’s too much… I like to tell myself that we’re going to show things that are a little crazy and that we’re going to push the cursors until it breaks! But it doesn’t it must not become totally implausible, otherwise we lose the public. In my opinion, the franchise has lasted for twenty-five years precisely because people say that it is at the limit of the possible. That said, the happy medium is hard to find.”

8 – FAST AND FURIOUS 4 BY JUSTIN LIN (2009)

“I like this movie, but it’s a little too much like the prequel short Los Bandoleros. And then I’m less interested in the bad guy, Arturo Braga… Still, this is a pivotal moment in the history of Fast, since all of Dominic Toretto’s actions now have consequences. For the first time, the awareness of a franchise takes hold. Until issue 3, they simply thought they had made two sequels, including one for the video market! There, the foundations of the saga are laid, with good guys, bad guys and a mythology.”

7 – FAST AND FURIOUS 6 BY JUSTIN LIN (2013)

“I like it a lot, but with Fast 5, they follow each other a little. This is Justin Lin’s fourth film, which was one after the other, and you feel that it’s getting a little tired, despite some over-exciting moments. The scene where Dom jumps and catches Letty flying on the bridge opened the floodgates for physical stunts, where the cars are nothing more than mattresses: there’s a bit of the same thing in the 9, where Letty gets hit by a 4×4, spins and instead of falling to the ground, Dom hits her with his car. (Laughs.) In Fast 6, there is also the arrival of Jason Statham, who is great. Besides, maybe I’m downgrading 6 and 8 a little (read next page) because I was slightly jealous of Jason! At the time I was busy on Hulk And Clash of the Titansbut I loved it so much Fast and Furious that I was a little green to see him join the franchise. (Laughs)”

6 – 2 FAST 2 FURIOUS BY JOHN SINGLETON (2003)

“2 Fast 2 Furious is very different from the first film, because it is the arrival of humor in the saga. We become aware that these situations can be funny and we wink at the camera. There is a side of ‘the public with us’ that I find very interesting and which has remained ever since. I really like the handover between Rob Cohen and John Singleton, who had a real sense of humor. You feel his paw. This shows that directors have always been highlighted in Fast films and that they can find their place within this system. Afterwards… I have affection for 2 Fast 2 Furiousbut like the 4THE 6 and the 8it’s not my bedside film.”

5 – FAST AND FURIOUS 8 BY F. GARY GRAY (2017)

“I’m hesitating a little… but I’m going to put this film in fifth position. There are some really great discoveries, like the zombie cars controlled by Cipher. Besides, the arrival of Charlize Theron has done good for the franchise, she is incredible. In terms of stunts, they went far this time – some would even say a little too far! Afterwards, even if I like the realistic stunts, it also amuses me when they push the sliders. Dom jumping above a submarine on the ice floe, and the missile arriving… It’s gigantic! An iconic plan and a real thing for a kid who plays with his little cars and creates scenarios in his head. It’s still pretty awesome to see them on screen. Moreover, the scene at the dam that Dom drives down and that we see in the trailer for Fast and Furious Xit’s something I imagined when I was 5 years old!”

4 – FAST AND FURIOUS 7 BY JAMES WAN (2015)

“Obviously, there is the emotion of saying goodbye to Paul Walker, with an extremely strong final scene. But it’s also a film full of extraordinary sequences, like the scene in Abu Dhabi where Dom and Brian jump from one building to another in a car. It’s crazy! The beginning is funny, too, because they accept that the characters have taken a bit of the bottle. We see Brian with his minivan, Hobbs as a football coach… They have reached a milestone. Fast is 25 years of cinema. I like seeing these characters grow old with us and become adults. They decide to calm down, stop the heists and stop being stupid…”

3 – FAST AND FURIOUS: TOKYO DRIFT BY JUSTIN LIN (2006)

“This one holds a special place in my heart. Tokyo Drift was initially not supposed to be released in cinemas and arrived directly on video. We feel it very well when watching: there is a kind of freedom that emanates from it. Justin Lin is really making a car movie, something about because culture and drifting. With Tokyo as a backdrop, of course… This is also where I really discovered Sung Kang (who plays the character of Han), and he amazed me with his intensity. Ah, I almost forgot: this is the first time that there is a post-credits scene, with Dominic Toretto who returns without warning at the end, and who makes the link with the first Fast. It’s very clever because, suddenly, it creates a kind of excitement in the viewer.”

2 – FAST AND FURIOUS BY ROB COHEN (2001)

“I like it a lot because it’s the first film Fast and that he defined the concept. Well, obviously, there are downsides. You see very clearly the scriptwriting facilities and the influence of Point Break, but it still holds up today. It’s a pure urban film, with ‘real’ stunts and car races. Whatever pleases me! And then I admit that there is a little madeleine side of Proust when I see him again, because I systematically think back to the moment when I discovered him in theaters, with Jason Statham (which he had starred in The carrier) by my side… This memory is inseparable from the film in my mind.”

1 – FAST AND FURIOUS 5 BY JUSTIN LIN (2011)

“At the top of this list, there is necessarily the one who inspired me a lot to Fast and Furious X. I love the staging of Fast 5. It’s a very interesting film because it reinvented the saga by transforming Dominic Toretto’s gang into burglars. The heist at the end, with the safe dragged through the streets of Rio, is a mind-blowing sequence! But above all there is real emotion, because the characters have evolved, like Brian and Mia who had a child… Suddenly, the flag Fast and Furious was planted on Mount Cinema and the films completely asserted themselves as a franchise, which was not quite the case before. It is also a franchise that was chosen by the public, unlike Marvel, for example, which from the start was designed as such. A movie Fastit’s always a dance between the spectators and the directors.”