Ranking the Fast & Furious films in the order in which they were made

Fast & Furious 7 [car verb]s its way into cinemas this week, meaning movie sites are rolling out their bi-annual Fast & Furious feature ideas. Rather than a highly subjective ranking of all seven Fast & Furious movies in order of their perceived quality, which is entirely dependant on the individual taste of the author, we thought we'd try something a little less arbitrary. So, we present to you, our ranking of the seven Fast & Furious movies based on the order in which they were released. There's precisely zero room for debate. Strap yourselves in!

7. Fast & Furious 7 (2015)



As the seventh and most recent Fast & Furious movie, according to the rules of this ranking we really had no choice other than to rank it seventh. That's kind of how this thing is going to work. Regardless of the quality of the movie or its relative success, Fast & Furious 7 is categorically the seventh Fast & Furious movie, hence its ranking on this countdown.
6. Fast & Furious 6 (2013)



There can be no complaints: Fast & Furious 6 was the sixth Fast & Furious movie to be released theatrically, which is why it's appearing one place higher than Fast & Furious 7 and one place lower than Fast & Furious 5. You'll notice the numbers in the titles directly correspond to the ordering of both this list and the order in which the films were released - this was intentional on behalf of the filmmakers for obvious reasons.
5. Fast Five (2011)



It's the movie that saw the Fast & Furious franchise break free of its street-racing origins to become an all-purpose action spectacular, but if we're to continue following the only criteria for putting this list together, then Fast Five ranks fifth for reasons pretty much already established in the last two entries. The common consensus is that Fast Five is the best movie in the franchise, but that's not why we're here and you should stop expecting this list to deviate from its predicted trajectory.
4. Fast & Furious (2009)



Though the title does not feature the numeric '4' or indicate in any other way that it is the fourth movie in the Fast & Furious franchise, we can confirm that it was the fourth film in the series, meaning it secures the #4 slot on the list with minimum fuss. This is the first film in the franchise whereby the chronology is not linear - if we were to place the movies in the timeline order in which they were set, then movies 4, 5 and 6 would be placed before the third instalment. But we won't.
3. The Fast And The Furious: Tokyo Drift (2006)



You might be surprised to see Tokyo Drift ranked at #3 on our list, but only if you weren't aware that this movie was the third Fast & Furious movie, which is understandable I guess. However, for most Fast & Furious followers who have a basic understanding of how the franchise has unfolded, its third place finish will be obvious - after all, it was the third Fast & Furious movie to be released, which is the reason we're all here. Trivia: Vin Diesel makes a last minute cameo, but this has nothing to do with the order of the rankings, so the information has been disavowed.
2. 2 Fast 2 Furious (2003)



If you thought that this article was going to pull a classic bait-and-switch by adding a twist #1 entry at the last minute, then sorry to disappoint you, because by all measurable criteria, 2 Fast 2 Furious was only ever going to take second place. In fact, we might as well break it to you here and now, the #1 movie on this list is going to be The Fast And The Furious. To go back on the rules we've established thus far would be to betray any readers who have enjoyed our strict adherence to those boundaries.
1. The Fast And The Furious (2001)



More like The First And The Furious! There was only ever going to be one movie that came out top of the list of Fast & Furious movies ranked in the order in which they were released, and this was it - the very nature of time itself meant that the 2001 original, The Fast And The Furious, was an undisputed lock for the top spot. The cars! The action! The thrills! All completely and utterly meaningless when it came to putting together this list. Let this settle the debate: The Fast And The Furious was the first movie to be released in the franchise, and it always will be.
Disagree with this list? You are wrong: there is no room for error using this metric. Check again and admit your mistake in the comments.