TEAM MOVIE THOP
Despite Fast X and Fast & Furious 11 being confirmed as the final two Fast & Furious films, the franchise has already wasted two perfect endings. A team of street racing anti-heroes lead by Dominic Toretto (Vin Diesel) is the focus of Fast & Furious.
In addition to high-octane illegal street racing, the franchise has delved into cyber-terrorism, cross-continental heists, and even space travel since the first film.
The Fast & Furious franchise has already had two chances to end emotionally satisfyingly, although it continues to be wildly entertaining.
In The Fast and the Furious, undercover FBI agent Brian O'Conner, played by Paul Walker, must hunt down a street racer named Dominic Toretto, who is suspected of committing a series of high-speed robberies.
As Dom and his crew evade capture for their crimes, Brian covers for them, igniting a series of events with ever-increasing stakes.
They continue to cross paths while evading the FBI and taking down various criminal bosses, such as Arturo Braga and Hernan Reyes.
Brian even ends up marrying Dom's sister, Mia Toretto, transcending their friendship and making them family. Dom continues to take on more audacious missions with his crew, which include The Rock's Luke Hobbs, Jason Statham's Deckard Shaw, and Michelle Rodriguez's Letty Ortiz.
As Brian and Dom's story ended in the wake of Paul Walker's tragic death, Fast & Furious should have ended on a high note, especially in Fast 5 and Fast & Furious 7. Brian challenges Dom to a no-stakes drag race, with neither of them having anything left to prove to the other.
Despite this happy ending, the more emotional and perhaps most appropriate ending for the series would have been Fast and Furious 7, which was in production when Paul Walker passed away.
To the tune of Wiz Khalifa and Charlie Puth's "See You Again," Dom and Brian drive alongside each other one last time before diverging down two different roads. It was the perfect emotional farewell to Paul Walker that still sends shivers down the spine.
Fast 5 neatly wraps up the story, and Fast and Furious 7 provides a strong sense of catharsis, but these are not the endings Fast & Furious got. Whether Fast & Furious has overreached its grasp in its efforts to finish strong remains to be seen.
It's no coincidence that Fast & Furious has such a resonance with messages of family because of Brian & Dom's relationship. Even though the further adventures have been fun, the franchise has lost its emotional connection to the relationships it once had.
Fast & Furious is far from over. Hobbs and Shaw will surely commission their own spin-off stories, but to have a truly satisfying conclusion to the main story, Dom's journey must be properly concluded.
The majority of possible endings to Dom's story have already been explored. As the old adage goes, sometimes less is more. Dom has already reunited with family, lost loved ones, redeemed himself after turning rogue, and gone to live a peaceful life with his family.
In Fast and Furious 7, Brian drove off into the sunset after those two roads diverged and Fast & Furious never stopped entertaining.