Let’s be clear about one thing: I loved FAST FIVE. I had barely seen any of the previous four movies, couldn’t give two shits about cars but still went in and had an absolute blast with FAST FIVE. I spent a good 30 minutes talking on this week’s podcast about how I thought it was the perfect summer movie; a meticulous blend of legitimately badass action and the insanely ridiculous. It worked. Critics and audiences enjoyed it and it’s making Universal very happy. Case closed? Not so much.
We all know that FAST SIX or whatever they’ll call it is a certainty but that’s not enough for Vin Diesel. In an interview with the LA Times, Diesel said, “I wouldn’t be surprised if there is some Oscar talk around this.”
Diesel admits he’s mostly going off the suggestion of some TV personality from “Channel 7” (very likely Sandy Kenyon of NYC’s ABC affiliate) but it’s also likely that suggestion was made in jest (or at least tongue-in-cheek). Not every great, enjoyable movie needs to aspire to an Oscar nomination. I mean, THE KING’S SPEECH won the Oscar last year and many people agreed that was not the Best Picture. So who cares? We love FAST FIVE and let that be that. Let’s not get too carried away with ourselves, Vin.