I recently rewatched all of the Fast and Furious movies as part of my deep dive into the #FastandFuriverse. One thing that struck me was how integral the big set piece stunts were in the franchise. Many of the films have incredible stunts, done in fresh ways that actually made me say ‘Wow’ out loud at least a couple of times. So obviously I had to do a Top Ten list of all the stunts in the series. Here goes.
10. Gas truck roll – F&F4 – This is when they are in the Dominican Republic, robbing a gas truck and the trailer ends up rolling down the road towards them. As a visual spectacle that’s pretty great anyway, let alone with Dom timing his car to drive underneath the bouncing gasoline trailer. Pretty bold move, Dom. It makes it into my list.
9. Brian bridge jump – 2F2F – This is in the second film, when Brian jumps over the bridge and also over the other car at the same time. It’s crazy, it’s cool and it’s very well done. I love how you see/hear Brian ‘whoop’ in the car and then the camera cuts to a distance shot outside the car and you still hear his whoop from further away. Nicely done.
8. Submarine rising up – F&F8 – The sub rising out of the water and sending the baddie vehicles flying is probably the most memorable stunt shot of this film. Sure it’s a heavily CGI’d shot but it’s still pretty breathtaking.
7. Brian saves Vince – F&F1 – On paper this one isn’t that impressive but it’s got two things going for it. It’s old school and raw. It really looks like these are proper old school stunt guys that are hanging off a truck and jumping between cars. But also that shot of Brian squatting on the side of car getting ready to jump is a pretty iconic Fast and Furious shot in my book. That rawness and iconicness boosts it up my list.
6. Train heist and cliff jump – F&F5 – This scene is pretty audacious as it is, when they are stealing the cars from the train. It’s pretty crazy how Dom jumps from the train in his car, but then the bit where Brian and Dom jump over the cliff is just fantastic. The camera just holds on them in slow motion as they fall with the car and jump out into the water. The sound cuts out and you can almost hear yourself audibly say “Holy ****”
5. Skydiving with cars – F&F7 – Skydiving with cars – that’s pretty crazy right? But this is Fast & Furious. Crazy is normal. It’s no wonder that Roman didn’t want to reverse his perfectly normal car out of a perfectly good aeroplane. I wouldn’t have either!
4. Vault chase – F&F5 – The majority of the stunts in this list are from the 5th film onwards. When I saw this stunt in F&F5 I was blown away. The whole sequence of them driving the massive safe through the streets of Rio is fantastic. Many people I’m sure would have this as their favourite stunt in the whole series. Here is a great breakdown of this chase sequence as told by the stunt coordinator. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FaHxGu5YeKM
3. Skyscraper jump – F&F7 – Jumping between three skyscrapers in Abu Dhabi – again this is just crazy, and yet again they totally pull it off. I love Brian’s “Dom, cars don’t fly” line right before they jump out the building. Very well done and certainly a Wow moment in Fast & Furious cinema. That end shot of Dom looking over the edge of the building gets me every time.
2. Brian bus run – F&F7 – These last two stunts were so close in my book. This scene where Brian is hanging off the edge of the bus that’s falling over the cliff and then he climbs up and slow motion runs up the side of the bus is cool. It’s perhaps a ’simpler’ stunt, in the sense that it’s not happening at 100mph, but it’s so stressful and realistic to watch. And not only that but he then jumps and catches the rear spoiler of Letty’s car that is handbrake skidding right at the edge of the cliff, which A) brings a car into the stunt of course, but also B) really boosts the audience’s feelings for Letty. The stunt is just astounding and it brings a whole shedload of emotion with it. What a visual treat and a nerve-wracking moment. I love it. I could watch it non stop on repeat for hours.
1. Dom flying Letty catch – F&F6 – There is one Fast & Furious stunt, however, which I believe actually made me pause the film, get up onto my feet, high five myself, laugh and cry at the same time, and generally just applaud in respect to the film-makers. Dom rams his car into the side of the bridge to catapult himself into the arms of the already catapulted Letty and then land on a car bonnet. It is audacious, genius and beautifully shot. Like a lot of things in the F&F movies it is absolutely ludicrous (or should that be Ludacris) and yet is done with such style that they totally pull it off. Plus it is Dom doing it for the woman that he loves, even though she doesn’t remember him. And like F&F does well a lot, it calls out the unlikely bits later, like when she asks Dom how he knew they would land on a car bonnet (like I’m sure a lot of viewers were asking) and he calmly replies “I didn’t”. There was little doubt that this stunt was going to be my no.1, because it just epitomises everything that the Fast & Furious movies are about.