Dominic Toretto has been the main character of the Fast and Furious series since the very beginning, despite being absent from a couple of the early sequels. However, the character that audiences got to know and love from the first film doesn’t exist anymore, as the franchise has taken a completely different direction with his story. Vin Diesel wasn’t as well-known before The Fast and the Furious, but the movie’s success gave his career a huge boost – and since then, his image has changed massively. This also has a direct effect on the character of Dom Toretto.

Since the international success of the Fast and Furious sequels, the franchise has been getting steadily bigger and bolder with its storytelling. The increased budgets have given the films a more centered focus on stunts and visuals, whereas the early movies were much more character-focused with grounded narratives. This switch-up in style has completely changed many of the Fast and Furious saga’s best characters, and Dom Toretto is the most dramatic example of this.

The Fast And The Furious’ Dom Feels Like A Different Character From The Other Movies

His Morals Were Entirely Different

In short, Dominic Toretto is a completely different character in The Fast and the Furious in comparison to what he becomes in the sequels. In the first movie, Dom is a troublemaker with a complex backstory: he’s turned to a life of crime in order to settle his mistakes, and it’s only through his friendship with Brian that he begins to see a better path for his life. He’s troubled and unpredictable, which is exactly what makes him such an interesting character. It’s hard to call him a strictly good person, but it’s his complexities that make him so engaging.

In The Fast and the Furious, it was clear that Toretto had unresolved feelings and troubles that gave his actions some emotional weight. He was a three-dimensional character whose moral complexities bounced off Brian’s character perfectly, with their unconventional dynamic driving the story forward. But when watching the Fast and Furious movies in order, it’s obvious that Toretto’s backstory is essentially written out of the franchise when the writers decided they didn’t want a “bad guy” protagonist as the face of this story.

Vin Diesel’s Dominic Toretto Returned Radically Different In Fast & Furious (2009)

The Dom That Returns Is A Totally Different Character

By the time Toretto returns in Fast and Furious, he’s a completely different character. In his absence, Dom has completely let go of his criminal background and acts like some kind of superhero, interrogating his enemies and giving emotional speeches about the importance of bringing the bad guys down – seemingly forgetting that last time he was on-screen, he was one of those bad guys. The inclusion of Dom Toretto’s family makes him more human, but the films seemingly forget that he wasn’t always the paragon of morality.

The main explanation for Toretto’s U-Turn change of heart is Letty’s supposed death, which makes him realize the dangers of the driving lifestyle and become more responsible with his actions. This would make sense, except the only lesson he learns from this is to fight on the other side of the law – not to stop the fighting altogether. His actions in Fast and Furious don’t feel totally natural, and there are several moments that feel like they’re only included to make his transition to “hero” feel slightly more purposeful.

Dominic Toretto Becoming An Action Hero Made The Character Less Interesting

The Protagonist Became Way Too Perfect

In many ways, Dom’s transformation throughout the Fast and Furious sequels is the main thing that’s gone wrong in the franchise. While it’s widely accepted that the series got better as it progressed (until it peaked around Furious 7), there’s something about those early movies that works surprisingly well in retrospect. Dom’s character is genuinely interesting, and that’s something that can’t be said about the recent films. The moral complexities no longer exist, and as a result, the narratives often feel very one-dimensional and less interesting.

While the filmmaking improved and the storytelling got better over the years, Fast and Furious’ character work was arguably at its best right at the beginning. It’s the back-and-forth between Dom and Brian that makes that first movie work so effortlessly, and that’s not present once Dom becomes an infallible action hero. There’s nothing interesting about a main character who’s always right, who never makes mistakes, and who always knows how to save the day.

Even “rotten” movies like 2 Fast 2 Furious have a certain level of moral complexity: Brian and Roman have completely different values, and they’re forced to go outside their comfort zones in order to protect themselves and bring down even bigger fish. This is infinitely more interesting than F9’s very linear “good vs evil” approach, even if the sequels’ box office success may not reflect that.

It’s Too Late For Fast & Furious To Bring The Real Dominic Toretto Back

There’s No Time Left For The Franchise To Fix Its Mistake

Unfortunately, it seems like Fast and Furious has gone too far to turn the car around now. Fast 11 will be the final movie in the franchise, and it would require too much of an investment of time to bring Dom back to the character that audiences first grew acquainted with in The Fast and the Furious. There are too many subplots and narrative threads that need to be tied together in the final movie, and Dom’s story is moving in a completely new direction at this point. His journey will take him somewhere, but not back to the start.

Heroes don’t have to be flawless, and Dom Toretto was a great example of that.

It’s a shame that Fast and Furious felt the need to rewrite Dom’s story, because the character from the first movie was a genuinely interesting one. He was complex, he had fears and weaknesses, and his friendship with Brian was always gripping to watch. Now, Dom almost feels like a parody of himself. The writers have become so tangled up in trying to make him as perfect and admirable as possible that they’ve frequently forgotten what makes him so interesting in the first place. Heroes don’t have to be flawless, and Dom Toretto was a great example of that.

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