The substandard sequel that inadvertently laid the table for a $7.5 billion saga deceives both sides of the law on Netflix’s Top 10

Looking back, you’d have been laughed out of every building on the face of the planet had you claimed in the wake of its theatrical release that 2 Fast 2 Furious would serve as the springboard for a franchise that would not only still be going strong 20 years later, but would comfortably rank as one of the biggest in Hollywood history.

While The Fast and the Furious may have gotten the ball rolling, it was the success of its first follow-up that convinced Universal it had a genuinely marketable IP on its hands, with not even the absence of figurehead Vin Diesel preventing it from earning more at the box office than its predecessor in spite of lesser reviews.

In fact, 2 Fast 2 Furious is still one of the worst-rated entries in the entire Fast Saga, with its 38 score on Metacritic putting it bottom of the pile, while a 36 percent Rotten Tomatoes approval rating is ahead of only the fourth chapter that got the original gang back together and reignited interest in the property.

Tyrese and Ludacris are still integral cogs in the machine, too, and their respective debuts as bickering BFFs Roman and Tej has now put the pedal to the metal and ended up as one of the biggest hits on Netflix. Per FlixPatrol, 2 Fast 2 Furious has raced onto the Top 10 in the United States, and the fact it’s also charted on iTunes and Rakuten ensures its longevity in spite of its status as a lower-tier contribution to a franchise that’s hauled in almost $7.5 billion in total.