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It’s gotten to the point where I look forward to the next Fast*/Furious* movie – or at least the announcement – just to see what they’ll call it. Every title since the first one has had something to offer: nonsensical wordplay (2 Fast 2 Furious](2 Fast 2 Furious (2003) - Movie | Moviefone)), a wonderfully goofy subtitle (The Fast and the Furious: Tokyo Drift](The Fast and the Furious: Tokyo Drift (2006) - Movie | Moviefone)), bizarre and confusing minimalism (Fast & Furious](http://www.moviefone.com/movie/fast-and-furious/31559/main)). The current title of the fifth entry (which we speculated about last month, and is now official) into the now-venerable franchise combines at least the first and the third of those: the movie is currently known as Fast Five, which I guess means we have to start referring to this series as Fast and/or Furious.
The three series mainstays – Paul Walker, Vin Diesel, and director Justin Lin – have all signed on for the fourth sequel. It’s an admirably shrewd move, since none of them have a lot else going on: Walker hasn’t had a non-Furious hit in at least four years, and Diesel in five, while Lin’s only attempts to branch out since Better Luck Tomorrow have both flopped (though Finishing the Game](Finishing the Game: The Search for a New Bruce Lee (2007) - Movie | Moviefone) is a sorely underrated little comedy). For his part, Lin seems to have used his experience on the franchise to hone his big-budget Hollywood filmmaking chops: while still not a particularly good movie, Fast & Furious was easily Lin’s best directorial turn. That opening truck chase set piece was downright impressive, before things went south.
Fast & Furious, the most recent installment, was the highest-grossing of the four ($155 million domestically, nearly $350 million overseas), though also the most expensive. Fast Five will be in theaters next year to attempt to build on that momentum.