Dominic Toretto has been at the center of Fast and Furious (aside from a short hiatus) ever since The Fast and the Furious (2001), but making the franchise all about Vin Diesel’s character was a mistake. While Vin Diesel’s star power made sure that Fast and Furious could remain a successful franchise, the Dominic Toretto actor also has to thank the Fast and Furious movies for how big his career became – especially worldwide. That said, even though the Fast and Furious/Vin Diesel collaboration is a proven strategy on which the studio would always bank, recent Fast and Furious movies have become way too dependent on Dominic Toretto.
At this point, it can be difficult to that Fast and Furious started with a 38-million-dollar film set entirely in Los Angeles. 2001’s The Fast and the Furious introduced the world to Paul Walker’s Brian and Vin Diesel’s Toretto, and while the story itself was pretty much a Point Break remake, the characters were interesting enough to charm audiences and get a sequel to greenlight. However, Vin Diesel was not interested in starring in a The Fast and the Furious sequel, especially now that he had another franchise, Riddick, ahead of him. 2 Fast 2 Furious was then released in 2003, bringing back O’Conner now paired with a new partner, Tyrese Gibson’s Roman Pearce. Both Vin Diesel and Paul Walker then both skipped Tokyo Drift, although the former had a quick cameo in the film, and it was only in 2009’s Fast & Furious that Dom and Brian were reunited.
Dominic Toretto’s story without necessarily making the entire saga about him.
Fast & Furious Was Originally About Street Racing, Not Family
While 2001’s The Fast and the Furious did reference themes like family and brotherhood, the focus of the movie was on street racing and small-scale car heists. Dom, Brian, Letty, and Mia had been created to serve the heist and street racing stories, not the other way around. The Fast and the Furious’ hook was the idea of an undercover FBI agent getting into the world of street races to take down a cargo-stealing organization, and while Brian and Dom shined, the movie did not try to make any character more important than the story. A similar approach was applied in 2 Fast and 2 Furious and in Tokyo Drift, in which audiences were introduced to an entirely new set of characters. Therefore, up until Fast & Furious (2009), audiences never knew what to expect from Fast and Furious as the focus was more on episodic stories than on the characters. After O’Conner’s and Toretto’s returns, however, Fast and Furious became much more formulaic. Dom’s infamous family speeches started to get common, and the movies were now focusing on entirely different themes.
Why Fast & Furious Movies Changed With Fast Five
Dom becoming the center of Fast and Furious coincided with the movies becoming much more action-oriented. That switch had already been teased in Fast & Furious, but it was Fast Five that truly made Fast and Furious into an action blockbuster franchise. Fast Five was the first Fast and Furious movie to have a budget of more than $100 million, something that was noticeably translated to screen. Not only did Fast Five have the biggest cast for a Fast and Furious up until that point, but it also featured action pieces much more ambitious than anything in previous movies. The vault heist in the middle of Rio de Janeiro is the biggest example, but other scenes like Hobbs chasing the crew or Dom fighting Hobbs are also worth mentioning. Fast Five was the first movie in the saga to frame Dominic Toretto as a hero doing anything to protect his family, cementing Dom as Fast and Furious’ main character.
Fast & Furious Became Less Interesting Because Of Dom
While it’s difficult not to think of Dominic Toretto when discussing Fast and Furious, making Vin Diesel’s character the center of the entire saga for multiple films did not work. By becoming almost a superhero who cannot be hurt or defeated, Dominic Toretto lost all that made him so interesting in the first place. Dom was a flawed person in The Fast and the Furious and Fast & Furious, but after Fast Five, he became the perfect hero. Fast and Furious only story was now Dom and his family trying to defeat those who were against them – either for personal reasons or because of some mission. As such, Dom became a one-note character, which caused recent Fast and Furious movies to become highly predictable and much less interesting.
