With Hobbs & Shaw officially bringing super powers into the Fast & Furious world, the super-successful franchise is slowly spreading its wings and re-defining what can happen in its film universe. It's really exciting stuff, especially when one admits that Fast & Furious has often skated on the edge of reality at times anyway. Could this be the first baby step into the movies going full-tilt with out-there concepts?
I sure hope so, and if Fast & Furious is willing to dabble in the superhero genre by incorporating superhuman abilities and all that, what else could they do? Let's just say things could get very interesting if Universal is willing to pull the trigger, and audiences are willing to jump on board for the wild directions and genres this franchise could dive into.
Space
Space, the final frontier. Mankind's greatest space captains include Kirk and Picard, and maybe the Toretto name go down in history alongside them. Dom may be one of the best drivers the world has ever known, but can he navigate the coldest darkest reaches of space? It's probably not a situation any space organization would sign off in real life, but hey, this is Fast & Furious. Get the crew a helmet and fly them to the moon!
For a plausible plot line, perhaps some villain the Fast & Furious crew is familiar with has taken hold of the International Space Station, and it's up to the team to put their evil misdeeds to an end. This movie is only half for the plot, and more for the awesome reduced gravity stunts that would surely be implemented. Let's see a car do several flips in slow motion over a moon crater, or a car re-enter the Earth's atmosphere!
Post-Apocalyptic
Imagine this. Hobbs, Dom, Shaw and everyone else are on a mission to stop a nuclear strike from happening, but despite their heroic track record, they fail and the world descends into chaos. They're all okay because their cars were fitted with nuclear resistant shielding for the mission, but their lives has been forever transformed as the world they once knew has gone to waste.
Despite that, they shoulder the responsibility of setting things back to normal and roam the wastelands in search of people to help however they can. Basically, think of what a mashup between Mad Max and The Fast & Furious would be, and that's the movie. This crew would be kings in a scenario like that, and would use their exceptional team chemistry and knowledge of cars to be the ultimate heroes a lost world would need.
Thriller
No one will dispute the Fast & Furious movies are "thrilling," but none of them really qualifies for the thriller genre. Let's have a movie where a criminal mastermind is targeting the crew's former and current collaborators, and keep it a mystery throughout a bulk of the movie who is behind it all. Bonus points if the twist is that it's actually one of the crew orchestrating the whole deal. Who would guess Roman is actually a bad guy?
Ok, maybe that's not the best twist, but Fast & Furious films could benefit from having just a bit more mystery. If this franchise committed to even half the amount of effort towards suspense that it commits to action sequences, I truly believe they could make a film that would surpass Avatar's box-office record. Ambitious? Perhaps, but with Furious 7 and The Fate of the Furious in the top 20 highest-grossing films, it's not crazy to think it's possible.
Animation
For those unaware, the Fast & Furious franchise is already exploring this genre. Not in the world of film, mind you, but with Netflix in an upcoming series titled Fast & Furious: Spy Racers. That series will follow Dom's cousin Tony Torretto, as he leads a young crew on a mission to infiltrate a criminal organization. What, is this just a family business now?
It could be, and much like Spider-Man: Into The Spider-verse was a hit for Sony, an animated Fast & Furious film has some potential. The stunts can be wilder, the story more spectacular and the visuals kid-friendly. Maybe Tony can also follow in Dom's footsteps and be a box office juggernaut? I hope so, we need more entries in the action genre for children's movies.
Western
So, remember that whole joke about the Toretto family being comprised of alpha dudes adept at carrying out high-stakes missions? What if that was actually canon, and Dom has some ancestor who led a crew of outlaws in the old West? What if that train heist from Fast Five was some crazy form of genetic muscle memory he inherited from his great-great-great-great grandfather? It's a little silly, but a better option than him physically going back in time in a car.
The whole 'no cars' thing would be a bit of a problem for the gear heads who show up for that reason, but the rest of the Fast & Furious franchise really fits the Western genre quite well. Just really work the horse angle, and hope there's an untapped market of "horse girls" who appreciate high value stallions appearing on the silver screen. The rest will work itself out, probably.
Sci-Fi
Imagine a Fast & Furious film set in the future, or in an era where technology is far beyond what it is now. What would street racing look like then? What kind of weapons would be used? Would crews of elite racers and hackers be the primary defense force of nations? Given the success rate of the crew, it wouldn't be all that surprising if more nations began to take note and found their own racers.
Plus, just imagine how cool it would be to see a bunch of concept cars? Maybe there's something that works even better than Nos, like some anti-gravity wheels that allow drivers to race up the sides of buildings as opposed to directly through them. We could even approach the age-old question of whether or not a robot can drift better than a human! Think of the possibilities here, people.
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There's so many genres the franchise could slip into, but for now, we have Hobbs & Shaw heading to theaters Friday, August 2, and Fast and Furious 9 on the way. Got an idea for the beloved franchise? Drop it down in the comments below and be sure to stick with CinemaBlend for all the latest in movies and television news.
