11 questions you were too embarrassed to ask about the Fast & Furious movies

What is the Fast & Furious franchise?

The Fast & Furious franchise consists of six movies of gradually increasing mayhem, with a seventh hitting theaters Friday, April 3, 2015.

The first film is basically a small-scale character drama with some car chases added in here and there. The sixth film concludes with a man driving a car through the nose of a crashing airplane. As you can tell, things escalated.

Here are the seven films in the franchise, with quick plot descriptions, international box office totals, and the official Vox rating:

The Fast and the Furious (2001): LAPD officer Brian O'Conner (Paul Walker) goes undercover among illegal street racers to figure out who's behind a string of truck hijackings. While there, he develops an intense rivalry — and eventual friendship — with the mysterious, mountainous Dom Toretto (Vin Diesel). Worldwide box office: $207 million. Vox rating: 3.5 out of 5.

2 Fast 2 Furious (2003): Brian leaves behind everybody who was in the first movie to track down drug dealers in Miami. Also, there are car chases and street races and Eva Mendes. This movie is bad. Worldwide box office: $236 million. Vox rating: 1.5 out of 5.

The Fast and the Furious: Tokyo Drift (2006): For 99 percent of its running time, this movie has absolutely nothing to do with the previous two. An American misfit teenager named Sean (Lucas Black) goes to live in a version of Japan that seems cribbed from a Carmen Sandiego game. While there, he learns about the mysteries of "drift" racing and takes on the Yakuza. Surprisingly decent! Worldwide box office: $158 million. Vox rating: 3.5 out of 5.

Fast & Furious (2009): The franchise accidentally creates continuity by gathering up major characters from the first three films (which, remember, had very little to do with one another) and sending them after drug dealers yet again in the wake of a tragedy. The plot doesn't make much sense, but the action is better than ever. Worldwide box office: $363 million. Vox rating:3 out of 5.

Fast Five (2011): The franchise's pinnacle so far mostly leaves behind car racing in favor of an elaborate heist plot, with even more characters from the series' history getting together to rip off a Brazilian crime lord. The concluding action sequence in this is one for the ages.Worldwide box office: $626 million. Vox rating: 4.5 out of 5.

Fast & Furious 6 (2013): The franchise takes a full turn toward melodrama, with double-crosses, amnesia, and brave self-sacrifices turning up as major plot points. It's arguably a littletoo much, but that's what this franchise is for now. Oh, and the action sequences are stunning.Worldwide box office: $789 million. Vox rating: 4 out of 5.

Furious 7 (2015): The brother of the sixth film's main villain looks to have his revenge on Dom, Brian, and the crew. This can only end furiously. It's an enormously entertaining movie and would serve as a great finale for the whole series, if it needs to be. (It won't be, however.)Worldwide box office: n/a Vox rating: 4 out of 5.

Is the first film a remake of the 1955 film of the same name?

No. The first film is actually loosely based on a 1998 magazine article from Vibe magazine about street racers.

The 1955 film — produced by famed low-budget Hollywood maven Roger Corman — was about a criminal who breaks out of prison and has to drive really fast to stay ahead of the law with a beautiful woman at his side. Elements of that idea have been sprinkled throughout the series, but no single film here is a remake of that movie. However, Universal did buy the rights to use the title for the first film.

You can watch the full 1955 movie here.

It is also not a remake of the 1939 Busby Berkeley comedy Fast and Furious, as that is about rare book dealers. Here is the film's trailer anyway.

Who directed the movies?

The first film was directed by Rob Cohen, and his departure from the sequel was seen as something the franchise might struggle to overcome. (He left with Vin Diesel to make XXX.) His visual style — which mostly consists of making the world passing by those super-fast cars look all jittery and stretched out — defines that first film in a big way.

The second film was directed by John Singleton, a great director who also made Boyz N the Hood but who seemed to fundamentally misunderstand that a Fast & Furious movie should never be too serious.

The next four films were directed by Justin Lin, one of the best action directors working right now. Now that he's left the Fast franchise, he'll be directing the next Star Trek movie and a couple episodes of True Detective, season two. He's a good choice.

What Lin understands intuitively is that action sequences require long shots that will establish geography, so we have a better idea of what's happening to whom when. Here's a great example of how he establishes the geography of a major chase in Fast Five:

The seventh film is directed by James Wan, best known for his horror work on movies like Sawand The Conjuring. He's an expert at building tension, something he uses to great effect throughout Furious 7.

It's also worth pointing out that films three through seven are all written by Chris Morgan, who has become a kind of steward of the characters.

Who are the most important characters?

The crazy thing about the Fast & Furious franchise is that no single character has appeared in all seven films. This isn't a conscious choice as in, say, the Marvel movies, where all the characters have their own solo adventures before coming together in Avengers films. Many of the actors split off to have more successful careers elsewhere — only to come back when those careers didn't exactly pay off.

SOURCE: http://www.vox.com/2015/3/31/8318371/fast-and-furious-movies