Beyond 'Fast': 5 Other Paul Walker Movies to Stream

There’ll be lumps in the throats of millions of moviegoers this weekend, as Furious 7 hits theaters, and with it, the final screen appearance of one of the franchise’s stars Paul Walker. (The actor died in November 2013, midway through filming the new movie.) Walker was always one of Hollywood’s more likable leading men, with an inherent goodness that made him an eminently watchable performer.

He was best known for his six appearances as Brian O’Conner in the Fast and the Furious franchise, but the star made plenty of entertaining and thrilling films apart from the series. So, in case Furious 7 leaves you wanting to delve into some lesser-known Walker movies this weekend, we’ve picked out five of the actor’s more under-sung films, which are all available to stream right now:

Pleasantville (1998)

Though he’d been a child actor, and toplined the silly Disney surf comedy Meet The Deedles, Walker first came to the attention of many in director Gary Ross’ ingenious 1998 fantasy about two modern-day teens (Tobey Maguire and Reese Witherspoon) transported into a classic black-and-white 1950s sitcomland. It’s a smarter, more moving film than it’s high concept might sound, and Walker is perfectly cast as Witherpoon’s clean-cut, golden boy love interest who gets a literal rude awakening. (Amazon, iTunes, Google Play)

Joy Ride (2001)

Filmed under the far superior name of Squelch, and co-written by a pre-fame J.J. Abrams, Joy Ride is an above-average teen horror movie helmed by The Last Seduction’s John Dahl that sees Walker, his girlfriend Leelee Sobieski, and his no-good brother Steve Zahn menaced by a faceless truck driver. Riffing loosely on Steven Spielberg’s debut Duel, it can’t match that film for sustained tension, but Dahl knows how to work an audience, and Walker makes for a relatable genre lead, even if the film was nowhere near as successful as The Fast and The Furious had been just a few months earlier. (Amazon, iTunes, Google Play)

Into The Blue (2005)

Perhaps the most underrated of Walker’s non-Fast and the Furious genre pictures, Into The Blue saw him swap the tarmac for the deep sea as one half of a ludicrously attractive treasure-hunting diving couple (with Jessica Alba) who accidentally stumble upon a crashed plane full of cocaine. It’s reasonably familiar stuff, but has a nice Shallow Grave-style morality play feel to it, and director John Stockwell, known for unpretentious B-movies like Blue Crush, includes some stunning underwater footage. (Amazon, iTunes, Google Play)

Eight Below (2006)

The only Walker movie that can give Furious 7 a run for its money as a tear-jerker, Frank Marshall’s Eight Below is a Disney animal movie done right. Walker is the human lead, an Antarctic guide at a research base determined to rescue the team of beloved sled dogs he was forced to leave behind over the winter, and his essential decency is an enormous boon to the film. But the real stars are the eight huskies at the center of the plot, and their thrilling, moving battle for survival. (Amazon, iTunes, Google Play)

Running Scared (2006)

This 2006 crime thriller, written and directed by The Cooler’s Wayne Kramer, might not be the best film Walker ever starred in (it’s up there), but it’s certainly his best performance. Playing a low-level criminal and family man on a desperate quest to retrieve a murder weapon, Walker is terrific, and the film around him — a pitch-black, gruesomely violent, frenetically stylish thriller — is an absolute blast. Woefully underseen on release, it’s very much worth checking out, particularly for fans of the recent Keanu Reeves vehicle John Wick, with which it shares some DNA. (Amazon, iTunes, Google Play)

Watch the trailer for ‘Running Scared:’