All 11 Fast and Furious movies ranked from worst to best

1. Fast Five

• Release Year: 2011
• Director: Justin Lin 
• Cast: Vin Diesel, Paul Walker, Jordana Brewster, Tyrese Gibson, Chris “Ludacris” Bridges, Matt Schulze, Sung Kang, Gal Gadot, Tego Calderón, Don Omar, Joaquim de Almeida, and Dwayne Johnson

Fast Five is the fifth movie of the Fast and Furious franchise, and it’s the best movie of the franchise, although it’s close. As mentioned, Fast & Furious 6 and Furious 7 each have a decent claim for the No. 1 spot on the list.

The kicker for me, and what puts Fast Five over the top, is that Fast Five is really where the franchise hits its stride. Fast Five is the movie where the story moves away from street racing, and I think it works much better. The first three movies of the franchise are good, but they’re limited in some crucial ways. The fourth movie is good, but clearly worse than the first three. Fast Five is where the stakes become higher, and the story is so, so, so good. It’s the most complete story in the franchise, and I think that’s the difference.

In Fast Five, Dom, Mia (Jordana Brewster), and Brian flee to Rio de Janeiro while on the run from US authorities. There, they help run a job for Hernan Reyes (Joaquim de Almeida), the leader of a drug cartel. It goes sideways and leaves DEA agents dead. Although it’s not Dom, Mia, and Brian’s fault, they are accused of the murders, which leads agent Luke Hobbs (Dwayne Johnson) and his team to Brazil to catch Dom, Mia, and Brian. The trio puts together a team of experts to run the biggest heist of their lives and rob $100 million from Hernan Reyes to start a new life while evading Hobbs and his men.

This movie is one of the best heist movies in modern history, in my opinion. It’s so good, and that’s why it’s the best Fast and Furious movie we’ve seen so far.