The Fast and Furious movies, owned and distributed by Universal Pictures, are arguably the most iconic racing film series and one of the most iconic movie series ever produced. The parent franchise, which also bears the same name, has produced at least 10 such movies, with the first released in 2001. The Fast and Furious franchise has managed to cook up something new with each subsequent release while maintaining the franchise's core plot of illegal street racing. Viewers have seen the running plots in the films range from having the main cast members commit crimes to saving the world from terrorists while running from the law themselves to even going to space!

However, deciding on the best order to watch the Fast and Furious movies has been an age-long hassle for viewers. Choosing to watch them according to the order of release, while it might be convenient, ends up leaving the viewer confused somewhere in the middle due to the franchise’s use of flashbacks and spin-offs. But there is a timeline across the franchise’s 10 movies, and seeing the movies in the order in which they occur in the timeline only makes it easy for viewers to follow the plots.

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The Fast and the Furious (2001)

The Fast and the Furious gives first insight into a world of illegal street racing and other secondary themes through street racing gang leader Dominic Toretto and his gang, with LAPD officer Brian O’Conner on the other side as he is first assigned to investigate a spate of highway robberies in the Los Angeles area and soon finds himself embroiled in the world of illegal street racing and high-speed heists, defying duty for friendship and suffering consequences for switching loyalties. It is a befitting opening for the ruckus that the franchise is about to cook up in its subsequent movies and provides a point of first contact between the viewer and the main cast, who are gearing up to be popular fan favorites.

2 Fast 2 Furious (2003)

A continuation of The Fast and the Furious following Brian’s journey to reorient himself after his apparent excommunication from the LAPD. He’s on the wrong side of the law now and has to take on yet another investigative assignment, this time alongside Tyrese Gibson’s Roman Pearce, to assist in the arrest of a Miami drug kingpin as a deal to earn the duo a wiped record with the law.

Although they almost have their cover blown when they have to meet their handler without prior warning, they succeed in gaining the drug king’s trust, which ironically comes with severe disadvantages. Now they have to ensure the fulfillment of their assignment before it gets fatal. 2 Fast 2 Furious sees Brian make the full 180 from a law enforcement agent on the straight-and-narrow to a character who now embraces the high-octane thrill of living life one mile at a time, doing well to build on his character following his meeting Toretto.

Los Bandoleros (2009)

The Fast and Furious timeline splits after The Fast and the Furious, with Toretto and Brian going their separate ways. 2 Fast 2 Furious and Los Bandoleros document what they both have been up to in their respective lives following the split before they are brought back together in Fast and Furious. Although Los Bandoleros was released in 2009, its events precede Tokyo Drift's, and considering the timeline of events in the Fast and Furious franchise, this short film especially sets up the events of Fast and Furious (or Fast and Furious 4). While the film retains the franchise's go-to plot of high-speed heists, it also portrays Toretto and his crew as Robin Hood-like heroes as they choose to give away their loot - hijacked fuel from tankers - to a community. The film also introduces Han Lue, around whom the plot of Tokyo Drift is built.

Fast & Furious (2009)

This is the fourth Fast and Furious movie to be released, excluding Los Bandoleros, and it is where the confusion starts to set in for viewers who choose to watch the movies according to the order in which they were released. In Fast and Furious: Tokyo Drift, which is the third movie to be released, Han seems to die in an explosion after his car is broadsided by Deckard Shaw. So there are raised eyebrows and questions when he appears in the next release. However, watching the movies in this order explains this, as Tokyo Drift comes after the crew’s altercation with Owen Shaw in Fast and Furious 6.

Although this isn’t the immediate next release after 2 Fast 2 Furious, it is a continuation of Los Bandoleros, following Toretto’s return from the Dominican Republic to embark on an investigative journey of his own upon learning of the apparent death of his girlfriend, Michelle Rodriguez’s Letty Ortiz, in Los Angeles. His search for answers leads him to the doorsteps of drug-fueled crime and reunites him with Brian, who becomes an FBI agent sometime after 2 Fast 2 Furious and is also on a mission to track down the narcotic boss at the helm of it all, Arturo Braga. Together, Toretto and Brian infiltrate the drug king's business, and Brian tries to negotiate a pardon for Toretto in exchange for Braga, an unsuccessful ploy that causes Brian to be taken off active duty and allows Braga to escape.

However, this just gives Brian more room to operate in the gray areas between law and crime, and he soon pursues the fleeing Braga to Mexico alongside Toretto, with the car chase resulting in the death of Fenix, who had unwittingly revealed himself to Toretto as Letty's killer. With his job done and revenge taken, Toretto surrenders to law enforcement. Brian seems to embrace the lifestyle as they know it when he resigns from the FBI and joins the rest of the crew to intercept the prison bus transporting Toretto.

Fast Five (2011)

This is the fifth movie to watch, following the franchise's event timeline and movie release dates. It picks up right after Brian and Mia free Toretto from the prison transport, and the trio flees to Rio de Janeiro. Fast Five is pivotal to the franchise's dynamics in that it is the first Fast and Furious movie to tone down the franchise's canon of street racing. Instead, the plot centers around a series of heists, which puts the main cast right between organized crime and the law.

It is perhaps also the franchise's first venture into the absurd, as the movie somehow manages to use two police cars to rip an evidence vault clean out of a police station—utterly disregarding that concrete, bricks, and rebars were used to build the place. Interestingly, the crew finds themselves on the side of the law once more (or is it the law that finds itself on their side?) when DSS agent Hobbs played by Dwayne Johnson, and Officer Neves join forces with them to pull one last big heist on Hernan Reyes, the criminal kingpin whose men were responsible for the deaths of Hobbs' and Neves' teammates.

Fast and Furious 6 (2013)

Though they may all seem confusing and disjointed, with each looking like they can be standalone movies, the Fast and Furious movies have managed to keep to a core storyline, tracing the transformation of the Toretto crew (or 'family') from wanted lawbreakers to gray-area walkers who use unorthodox means to assist the law in nabbing higher-profile criminals, usually in exchange for a clean slate with the law for members of the crew.

The plot in Fast and Furious 6 reinforces this, spotlighting the crew members in different parts of the world enjoying the aftermath of Rio de Janeiro. Hobbs brings them out of their temporary recess and, in exchange for their full pardons, enlists their help to stop a gang of mercenaries trying to build and sell dangerous tech. Fast and Furious 6 is also probably the first time the crew has to complete a mission with someone they consider to be one of theirs playing for the other side, a twist that does more to influence their decision to take on the job than the appeal of pardon.

The Fast and the Furious: Tokyo Drift (2006)

The movie follows Han in Japan after the Fast and Furious 6 events. There, he coaches a young high schooler in drift racing and finds himself involved in his protégé's beef with a yakuza boss' nephew over a woman. He also finds out that he wronged the boss himself. He has to escape his sticky situation alone this time, with the lack of protection from the Toretto crew evidenced when he is seemingly killed in a car explosion by Jason Statham's Deckard Shaw, brother to Owen Shaw, whom Hobbs executed in Fast and Furious 6.

Furious 7 (2015)

After apparently killing Han in Tokyo, Deckard Shaw moves to exact his revenge on the rest of the team, which now kind of includes Hobbs. However, the team finds themselves in cahoots with yet another government agent who pledges to help them stop Deckard if they help him retrieve a dangerous computer program.

The lines between revenge and plain mercenary action blur when Deckard aligns himself with a mercenary interested in the computer program as the duo realize they have a common enemy. The Toretto crew is forced to protect themselves on two fronts, with the franchise applaudably exploiting the gravity of the danger they now face as a basis for the retirement of Paul Walker's character following his tragic passing.

The Fate of the Furious (2017)

The Fate of the Furious re-employs the friend-turned-adversary and mission-for-pardon plots in this movie, with the subjects being Toretto himself and Hobbs, respectively. This time, Toretto's reason for switching sides is blackmail, not amnesia, as it had been for Letty, and Hobbs has to go on a mission to have his records cleared for operating outside the law.

The franchise also fully embraces its theme of absurdity in this movie, ramping up Toretto's driving skills to the extent that he can shake off five harpoons attached to high-powered vehicles similar to his. Also, in a surprising twist, the Toretto crew finds Deckard on their side after he and Hobbs break out of prison and are hired by Mr. Nobody to help Toretto. The Fast and Furious movie cements Hobbs's position as part of the team and perhaps Brian's replacement.

Fast & Furious Presents: Hobbs & Shaw (2019)

Enter the franchise's first spinoff movie, which follows Hobbs and Shaw on a side quest to save the world from literal annihilation. They go up against a terrorist organization and especially its hitman, a cybernetically augmented ex-colleague of Shaw's, who are threatening to unleash a biological weapon on the world. The movie also reinforces the franchise's secondary theme of family first, as it manages to squeeze in an uneasy family reunion for Hobbs. Yet again, this is all eclipsed by the film's blatant defiance of physics, which allows Hobbs to hold a helicopter in midair with just his hands!

F9 The Fast Saga (2021)

This one flashes back to Toretto’s origins, revealing the reasons that set him on his current life path. He is forced to resolve family differences as he now faces his long-exiled brother, Jakob played by John Cena in a battle to gain possession of yet another piece of powerful technology. The movie also resurrects Han from his apparent death and implies how he has helped the crew from the shadows during the time he was presumed dead. Also, thanks to another piece of physics-defying writing, Tej and Roman manage to drive a car into space.

Fast X (2023)

Honestly, how the franchise manages to pack all it does into this one movie is beyond comprehension. First, the main plot subject in this iconically named release is revenge, as Dante Reyes’ diabolical plan to avenge his father, whom the crew executes in Fast Five, is finally done. The movie portrays Dante as their most traumatizing adversary yet, as he doesn’t seem to have any morals whatsoever and is quick to employ the dirtiest means available to achieve his goals. He is especially adept at framing people for terrorist acts he commits and seems to have his tentacles everywhere, which puts him steps ahead of Toretto and the crew at every turn.

The Fast And The Furious

The action-packed Fast & Furious franchise follows a ragtag group of drivers as they use their skills behind the wheel to fight against international threats. Starting from humble street-racing beginnings, the movies have become bigger and more exciting over the course of two decades, even spawning a spinoff movie for two fan-favorite characters.

Cast

Paul Walker , Vin Diesel , Michelle Rodriguez , Ludacris , Tyrese Gibson , Dwayne Johnson , Jason Statham , John Cena , Jason Momoa , Charlize Theron , Gal Gadot

Spin-offs (Movies)

Fast & Furious Presents: Hobbs & Shaw