The Fate of the Furious is out in cinemas today and to celebrate the release of the 8th installment (8th?! Really?!), we are looking back at the ten most outrageous moments in the long-running franchise, in no particular order. Who needs the laws of physics when you got family?
Reckless flirting (2 Fast 2 Furious, 2003)
What better way to converse with a girl you like by lovingly staring into her eyes and right down her very soul… while going over 100 miles an hour?! I don’t blame the filmmakers, I would stare at Paul Walker like that too.
Tunnel chase (Fast & Furious, 2009)
For the then-current franchise revolving around street races and police pursuits, having a chase scene in one of the narrowest places is the first sign that the franchise blatantly doesn’t really care about logic or physics in terms of sheer thrill. Hell, this scene suits the Speed Racer film more than a Fast and Furious entry.
Vault chase (Fast Five, 2011)
Why apply precision and finesse to something involving a heist when you can just take the whole damn vault and blitz right of town? With mass destruction and high amounts of collateral damage within the city? Well, that’s what happens when you mess around with family! This scene has more vehicular destruction than Michael Bay‘s Bad Boys 2, and that’s saying something!
The tank chase (Fast & Furious 6, 2013)
This scene verifies a few things:
- Cars are basically used as mattresses to break falls without injury.
- A car can be used to catapult a person.
- Hearing a tank fire up-close will not disrupt a person’s hearing whatsoever.
- Vin Diesel can fly.
Longest runway ever! (Fast & Furious 6, 2013)
Going way over 100 miles per hour in a 10 to 15 minute climax just goes to show that this is the longest airport runway ever conceived. And what better way to destroy a big-ass plane than to drive a car through it? It’s science!
You will believe a car can fly! (Furious 7, 2015)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jO5X9jLo9FA
In this scene, Vin and Paul drive a car through TWO skyscrapers in the city of Dubai. Many stories high! I’m gonna have to agree with Paul. Cars don’t fly but they can fall…with style! Or was it Woody from Toy Story who said that?
The cavalry to the rescue! (Furious 7, 2015)
What better way to rescue your friends — I mean, family — than to have Dwayne Johnson destroy a drone with, what else? A goddamn ambulance?! And to top it all off, Dwayne literally double taps it to put it down for good. Never can be too careful. Hobbs is literally The Rock AND the hard place!
Skydiving…with cars! (Furious 7, 2015)
The title really says it all. And to stick the landing of your assigned destination is just icing on the cake. Featuring one of the many moments where Tyrese is screaming like a sissy.
The train robbery (Fast Five, 2011)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tKrEH_GSaG4
Here’s one of many scenes in the franchise where it basically shows that cars are like horses: ridden with care, considered as family and used to rob trains like in Westerns. Also features one of the best car dives ever, going from the hood off a bridge all the way to the water.
Dropped under the bus (Furious 7, 2015)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iCgg4gYOPhk
Paul Walker may not be with us anymore, but at least one of his last stunt-filled set-pieces he left behind is one of the franchise’s best. In an homage to The Italian Job (1969), Paul climbs out of a leaning bus off the edge of a cliff and dives to grab the spoiler of a drifting car driven none other than by Michelle Rodriguez.
And to think that the latest installment has even more outrageous stuff in it, including a submarine, an homage to John Woo‘s Hard-Boiled and a car pile-up that would make the one in The Blues Brothers seem subtle!
The Fate of the Furious is in cinemas now.
———-
