Fast Five

“We’re gonna need a team.”The greatest heist movie of all time. Here, we see all of the previous films in order of release connect and create what later becomes one of the best examples of the found family trope. Everyone has a role to play, and if one person was removed nothing would work. This movie is the earliest memory I have of liking the franchise. It was me, my grandfather, and my older cousin— we’d just rented this movie from Redbox, and came straight home to watch this that night. I don’t necessarily remember watching it other than the train scene, but knowing that my grandfather loved this franchise and I got to share it with him before he passed is a huge blessing. The entire reason why I got into Fast & Furious in 2020 was because of his passing four years prior. He was the most important person in my life. I personally witnessed his last breaths, and have always had a difficult time grieving him due to guilt and not having good people around me to help me get through it. I grasped at straws to find ways to honor him and this was it. As silly as it may sound, watching this franchise is the closest I’ve gotten to true happiness following his death. Whenever I tell people how much I love this franchise, 90% of the time, I get sighs of annoyance, giggles, or judging looks. “I don’t understand how you can continuously watch these movies, they suck.” If only they knew.  Sometimes I wonder how my grandfather feels in heaven, how he thinks the movies ended at Furious— boy, have I got a story to tell him when it’s my time.