Cinema
Christopher Nolan (‘Oppenheimer’) defends ‘Fast and Furious’ and picks his favorite installment in the franchise
The director of ‘Inception’ and ‘Interstellar’ says there is no need to feel guilty about enjoying action blockbusters and explains their virtues.
Christopher Nolan has always walked a fine line between blockbuster and auteur cinema. The director is accustomed to delivering spectacular action sequences and films with a massive budget (and talent) behind them, but he also usually combines it all with cryptic narratives and time games that are not always to the liking of mainstream audiences. Fully aware of this, he has perhaps always defended one or the other. The great classics of cinema history and the films destined to conquer the summer box office. And that is exactly what he did with the ‘Fast and Furious’ franchise.
In an interview on the occasion of ‘Oppenheimer’ (part of the promotion that has made it a big favorite for the 2024 Academy Awards), the filmmaker was asked about his guilty pleasures and the franchise of Vin Diesel and company, to which he did not hesitate to take offense that the franchise is associated with the word “guilt. “I have no guilt about being a fan of the ‘Fast & Furious’ franchise,” Nolan explained. “I watch those movies all the time. I love them. I’m amazed you’ve never seen one of them. It’s only the last few where a specific arc and mythology develop. I would start with ‘Tokyo Drift’ and watch it as its own thing.”
The question knew where it was going, as Nolan has expressed his fondness for ‘Fast and Furious’ many times. The director went into detail about his favorite installment and why he likes the franchise. “I’m sort of original recipe, the Rob Cohen original. But I’ve got a very soft spot for Tokyo Drift actually. And Justin Lin’s iterations, as they got crazier and bigger and crazier and bigger they became something else, but something else kinda fun.”
“The fun thing about those [Fast and Furious] movies is even as they’ve gotten bigger and bigger, as sequels have to do – everyone always complains that sequels get bigger, but we are the people making sequels get bigger. We do want them bigger. You don’t want them smaller.”