By Alex Carder, Staff Reporter

The iconic “Fast & Furious” series released its 10th movie of the series on May 19. With the new addition, the franchise now includes 11 movies, an animated TV show and two short films. The “Fast & Furious” franchise has fallen victim to a pattern that is sadly growing in the movie industry.  Along with other series, such as Star Wars or the Marvel Cinematic Universe, the Fast & Furious series has gone on for too long. It went from a blood pumping story built around a strong and prominant theme to a series that just goes from one action scene to another with the occasional cameo. 

The series peaked with the movie “Furious 7” in 2015 which had a Rotten Tomatoes percentage of 81%, the highest of any of the movies. In addition, “Furious 7” also has the highest Box Office Gross of the iconic series at 1.51 billion. The iconic movie series should have ended with that movie. 

Some people would say the new movies have been better because of the additions of superstars such as John Cena, Jason Momoa, Helen Mirren and Kurt Russell and cameos by stars such as Cardi B, Kevin Hart and Ryan Reynolds. Some fans of the series believed these cameos were fun and made the movie better, but that is not the case. These cameos were brought in to distract viewers from the fact that the movies have a lack of plot since the seventh. 

“Furious 7” is the movie in which Deckard Shaw is introduced (Jason Statham) (would have his own spinoff with Officer Hobbes (Dwayne Johnson) called Hobbes and Shaw) for the first time when he wreaks havoc on the main characters. They fight him and the main character, Dominic Toretto (played by Vin Diesel), almost dies. The movie ends with the iconic character Brian O’Connor (played by Paul Walker) and Dominic Toretto driving away from each other on separate roads, showing the end of the Brian O’Connor character arc. This final scene is the most emotional ending of the series and for a good reason.

The ending was not the same as the original plan. The ending was later changed because, during filming, Paul Walker, the actor who played O’Connor, died in a car crash. His early death caused the movie makers to make a new ending. Fortunately for them, Paul Walker’s brother, Cody Walker, volunteered to step in and do the final scene. The movie was then dedicated to Paul Walker before the end credits were shown and had a beautiful montage of Paul Walker as O’Connor in the previous movies.

The series changed greatly without the character and has been declining in rating since. Due to the effect of Paul Walker leaving and the lack of plot in the recent movies, the movie series should have ended with “Furious 7.”

Alex Carder can be reached at [email protected].