Top 5 – ‘Fast and Furious’ Scenes
Throughout seven films, the Fast and Furious franchise has brought us some jaw-dropping moments and scenes. From exhilarating races, to badass fights, to physics-defying stunts, these movies know how to exhilarate us and put our jaws on the floor. So in honor of The Fate of the Furious coming out this week, here are my picks for the best Fast and Furious scenes. These aren’t just races, but scenes that made our hearts race.
5 – OPENING RACE/BRIDGE JUMP from 2 FAST 2 FURIOUS (John Singleton, 2003)
2 Fast 2 Furious‘s opening race was a perfect start to the film. Coming of the surprise success of the first film, this scene throws us right back into the world we were so immersed in in the first film. Set to the tones of two of the hottest tracks of 2003, “Like a Pimp” by David Banner and “Act a Fool” by Ludacris – who made his Fast debut in this film- the opening scene is filled with bright, exotic cars, scantily clad women, and the promise of a race. It also showed right off the bat that this was a Brian O’Connor (Paul Walker) vehicle, as he is called in to be the fourth racer and shows up with as much swagger and intimidation as a white t-shirt and black Chuck Taylors can have. The race itself is an exhilarating rush, ending with a crazy bridge jump which, at the time, was the the wildest thing we had seen in the series. 2 Fast 2 Furious is a bright, fun entry in the franchise and the opening race is indicative of that.
4 – TORETTO VS. HOBBS from FAST FIVE (Justin Lin, 2011)
Fast Five was the peak of the franchise being more furious than fast. Fast & Furious (2009) gave us a taste, but Fast Five took it to another level, featuring wild and extravagant heists while eliminating the racing aspect almost entirely (I think there was one race? Maybe?) I was torn between the cliff jumping train heist, but this brawl is one of the best fights I’ve seen in movies this decade. When it was announced that Dwayne ‘The Rock’ Johnson, who wasn’t nearly as big and famous as he is now, was going to be in this film, I immediately wanted to see he and Vin Diesel get into some fisticuffs, and I was not disappointed. This is a tough, old school, bare knuckled fight between two musclebound juggernauts just beating the crap out of each other. This was everything I wanted it to be and added a new grittiness to series.
3 – TANK BATTLE from FAST AND FURIOUS 6 (Justin Lin, 2013)
The Fast and Furious franchise has given us a slew of absurd and ridiculous stunts over the years. From breaking Dominic Torreto out of prison by flipping a bus, yet killing nobody in Fast Five, to the train heist I mentioned above, to the bank heist in Fast and Furious 6 to the jumping between three buildings in Furious 7. But nothing, and I mean nothing, is as insane as this tank battle. When the crew is trying to stop mercenary Owen Shaw (Luke Evans), who now has the amnesic Letty Ortiz (Michelle Rodriguez) on his side, from taking a military convoy captive, they get into a wild chase on a Spanish highway. What the group didn’t realize was the resources Shaw had, leading to an intense chase sequence featuring fast cars and, more impressively, a tank, driven by Shaw. Shaw bulldozes over a number of cars, while firing off a number of rounds trying to stop the crew. But what makes this scene even better is the most ridiculous “what the fuck?’ moment in the entire series. Brian and Roman (Tyrese Gibson) are able to stop the tank by forcing it to flip over, and throwing Letty off in the process. Dom is then forced to make an ariel save of Letty, leaping from his car, grabbing her mid-air, and landing safely on another car. This is the quintessential Fast and Furious of the latest furious run of this series.
2 – THE FIRST RACE from THE FAST AND THE FURIOUS (Rob Cohen, 2001)
This is the moment that set this franchise in motion. The beginning of The Fast and the Furious showed us Brian O’Connor as an undercover police officer who is going undercover in the underground world of street racing. In this opening race, we see Fast and Furious staples; neon cars, women, bass shattering music, and it shows us the logistics of how street racing works, and the honor system that comes with it. The race itself is awesome, showing us the inner workings of the cars while they are topping out a 140+ miles per hour and showing the affects of NOS on a car. But what makes this scene special is that it sets up the characters perfectly. It shows O’Connor as the bright-eyed, naive puppy who has no idea what it really means to be a race. It shows Dominic Toretto, played with such confidence by Vin Diesel, as a larger-than-life force who everybody loves and a brilliant racer. He knows his cars and everyone else’s and knows what it takes to win. Diesel is sensational in this scene and it is the scene the set the pace for the Fast and Furious movies.
1 – FAREWELL, BRIAN from FURIOUS 7 (James Wan, 2015)
Through all the action scenes, all the fights, and all the races, the best scene in any of the Fast and Furious movies is none of those? That’s right. Call me a softy if you want, but this scene is simply perfect. Paul Walker tragically passed away during the making of this film, and sadly in the most ironic way possible. So how they were going to end Brian O’Connor’s character arc was something that interested me greatly. Director James Wan handled this like a pro, giving us a beautiful, heart-tugging scene that combined voice over, montage, cars, and plenty of emotion. The gang has succeeded in another mission, the last one Brian will be a part of since he wants to protect his family. The whole crew is watching Brian play with his son and his wife, Mia (Jordana Brewster), at the beach when Dom gets up and leaves the beach without saying goodbye to Brian. Dom is driving off and, when at a stop sign, is joined by Brian in a white Toyota Supra, a nice nod to the car Brian raced Dom in the first film. Then we get a sweet voiceover from Dom/Diesel about brotherhood and family and a homage of clips of Brian and the crew through out the movies, all ending with and ariel shot of the two driving down different roads and Brian’s white Supra driving into the light, and all this set to Wiz Khalifa’s superb “See You Again”, which is the best song from any Fast movie. This scene was done with such class, grace, and heart. It was a perfect sendoff for one of the faces of the franchise and a respected man in Hollywood, which is why it is the best Fast and Furious scene.
What are you favorite Fast and Furious scenes? Comment below or hit me up on Twitter and Instagram, @kevflix, or on Facebook by searching Kevflix.