8 completely crazy things cars can do in the ‘Furious’ world
If the Fast and Furious films have shown moviegoers one thing, it’s this: There are so many insane stunts you can do with cars!
Forget drag racing: How about outrunning a train, parking a car on a boat, driving off a cliff or parachuting a car out of a plane? Yep, the franchise has shown all of that, yet it still manages to up the action ante in the eighth installment, The Fate of the
Furious (in theaters Friday), with scenes (all glimpsed in trailers) that involve a wrecking ball, a humongous submarine and self-driving cars.
The eight craziest car stunts the franchise has pulled off, in chronological order:
DOM OUTRUNS A TRAIN, GETS PUMMELED BY A TRUCK (THE FAST AND THE FURIOUS, 2001)
Insanity scale: Just warming viewers up.
In one of the first major action sequences of the franchise, Dom (Vin Diesel) races Brian (the late Paul Walker) down a street in his Dodge Charger.
Dom starts out strong — popping a wheelie and barely speeding by an oncoming train — but then hits a semi. Oopsy daisy. Bye bye, Dom’s ride.
BRIAN PARKS A FLYING CAR ON A BOAT (2 FAST 2 FURIOUS, 2003)
Insanity scale: Cars can fly and float now, people. The best way to stop a baddie on a ferry, according to the Furious franchise? Speed your Camaro off a cliff and miraculously land it on the boat, duh. “That’s some real Dukes of Hazzard (stuff ),” says Roman (Tyrese Gibson).
SEAN DRIFTS THROUGH SHIBUYA CROSSING (THE FAST AND THE FURIOUS: TOKYO DRIFT, 2006)
Insanity scale: When you see a crowd of people, you think of driving a car through them, right? No?
By the third movie, turning corners in a race car was old news. Tokyo Drift taught viewers how to oversteer, skid and burn out tires (aka drift) while navigating a tight turn. One of the places Sean (Lucas Black) drifted? In the middle of the busiest intersection in the world, somehow leaving hundreds of pedestrians unharmed.
DOM AND BRIAN DRAG A VAULT RIGHT OUT OF A BANK (FAST FIVE, 2011)
Insanity scale: The robbery plan
in Ocean’s Eleven is child’s play. Apparently, you don’t need to crack open a safe to steal its contents. Dom and Brian, driving side by side in matching Dodge Chargers, pull a vault right out of a bank in Rio de Janeiro. Sure, they take down a few vehicles and a building, because it’s hard to drag a safe with dozens of crooked cops on your tail.
CARS BRING DOWN A PLANE (FAST & FURIOUS 6, 2013)
Insanity scale: Seriously, who thinks of this stuff ?
To stop a crime boss, Dom’s team pulls down his plane. With their cars. Where’s Dom? Well, he’s inside the aircraft, pushing Shaw (Luke Evans) overboard. Naturally, Dom manages to walk away from the flaming wreckage unharmed.
CIPHER RELEASES SQUADRON OF SELF-DRIVING CARS (THE FATE OF THE FURIOUS, 2017)
Insanity scale: This is terrifying. Cyberterrorist Cipher is able to chase down a New York City motorcade remotely.
How? By hacking every vehicle within a 2-mile radius, disabling any “collision avoidance” systems and auto-driving hundreds of vehicles.
The result is a horde of cars that ignore traffic lights, drive out of showrooms and flip off the top floors of parking garages on their way to surrounding the person of interest.