Perhaps that statement gives you, the discerning cineaste – or at least the type of person who has regarded the Fast and Furious franchise as some reliably motor-headed fun – reason to pause.
Perhaps you are the type of person who would read the existential raison d’être for Fast Five – “We’ve all seen the cars be fast, but have we seen them be … furious?” Hertz quotes one unnamed Universal Pictures executive during a brainstorming session, in a brief interlude that suggests Hollywood satires have not been near mean enough about their subjects – and think maybe the fact the film was profitable and pivotal enough to fuel six more sequels and spinoffs (and counting) was a sign of free falling cultural standards. Or at least proof of the adage that you’ll never go broke underestimating the public.
Read an excerpt from Barry Hertz’s new Fast & Furious book, Welcome to the Family
Well, friend, in that case, let Hertz – who is also The Globe’s film editor – drown out the niggling voices in your head with the power of a NOS-fuelled Dodge Charger driving through the nose cone of a cargo plane.
Positioned as a behind-the-scenes exposé – complete with 170 interviews with key creatives, enough footnotes to make a pub trivia team beg for mercy, breathless breakdowns of major moments and gossipy infighting for days – Welcome to the Family (much like the film series it’s chronicling) smuggles in plenty more between the lines.
Chief among these points is that the Fast series is, if not precisely the motor of Hollywood’s 21st century franchise film explosion, at least leading the pack. It consistently finds inventive ways to rethink the blockbuster, with other franchises racing to catch up once the fast cars and furious heroes have shown them it can be profitable.
It’s a fascinating argument about the series, whether or not you’re inclined to buy it (and you are quite likely to close the book convinced). From the first film – no one’s idea of a franchise-launcher – Fast and Furious has had two feet in classic Hollywood action tropes: B-movie bravado, hardcore stunts, powerful cars, gratuitously filmed and fleshy but not always fleshed-out women, even a decidedly Western influence in its chases, heists and stand-offs.
All 11 Fast & Furious movies ranked
These roots are intertwined with a series of incidental, accidental and financial but bold choices to create the most innovative major franchise we have. From the unselfconscious diversity present from the beginning, the retconned timeline and intricate lore, the action-planning innovations that have become standard practice, and the concerted effort to chase international audiences, there aren’t too many blockbuster franchise trends Fast didn’t try first – a testament to the series’ willingness to hit the gas at 100 miles per hour.
Hertz makes a convincing case. His full throttle approach beautifully captures the unforgiving economics, creative trickery, oddball passion, ego-managing and sheer moxie that goes into creating the type of film that no one regards as their Citizen Kane, but where cleverness, pride and profit gives everyone plenty of reason to push.
The story of how certain scenes and set pieces got made prove more interesting than most of what ends up on screen. For instance, when a producer hopped Vin Diesel’s fence and outran his hounds to convince the actor to show up for a cameo that likely saved the series from direct-to-DVD status. (And if you even had a passing interest in uncomputerized stunt work, there are enough detailed anecdotes to have you measuring the family SUV for a roll cage.)
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There’s also no shortage of personal drama, with Hertz doing a particularly good job of threading Diesel’s increasingly diva-y demands through the series’ growing importance. He breaks down the infamous Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson social media post insulting Diesel that very nearly took down the franchise.
If there is one area where Hertz could have actually gone further, it might have been in chasing down the top-of-the-poster talent. Though the book could double as a biography of franchise impresario Justin Lin, who lays bare his theories on the infamous jump back in time and the intricacies of dragging a safe through Rio de Janeiro, almost all of the actors are quoted here only through other sources.
It does not, by and large, detract from the story. The Rock’s brand-management strategy would not have added much, but Diesel is a profoundly weirder person than you might expect, given that a muscle-bound gearhead is his main contribution to cinema. It would also be nice to get at least one of the impressive roster of A-listers to weigh in on what they saw in the franchise.
Though the omission does somehow feel appropriate to the spirit of a series that boasts a massive ensemble cast that still regularly take a back seat to the the flashy destruction of high-end cars.
Welcome to the Family works as both a fan’s bible and a convincing case for the series as, if not the best, then at least the franchise that best explains how and why Hollywood has travelled its particular road in the quarter century since the first movie came out. Try to keep up.
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