9. Downhill Tanker Siege – “Fast and Furious”
Dom and Letty are in “Bonnie and Clyde” mode in the smashing, Dominican Republic-set opening of the fourth “Fast” chapter, “Fast & Furious”: here, we see Letty leaping onto a moving gasoline tanker, with Dom holding down the front as Han and a few other crew members proceed to hit the vehicle “hard fast from the rear” whilst barreling down a dangerously steep hill. It’s a thrilling reintroduction to Dom after the largely Toretto-free hijinks of “Tokyo Drift,” particularly for these films, which thrive off chaotic cartoon pandemonium. This sequence is a marvel of Owen Shaw’s favorite quality as quoted in “Fast & Furious 6”: precision. While every variable here clicks together with lockstep exactitude, Dom and Letty’s love for one another is deeply felt throughout: it begins with a kiss and ends with the big lug imploring his beloved to leap to safety (it doesn’t hurt that Dom’s white collared sleeveless T is the definition of iconic). The more-sullen-than-usual “Fast & Furious” isn’t much to write home about on the whole. Still, it does represent a moment in the “Fast”-verse where the filmmakers challenged themselves to think of bigger, wackier, even more ludicrous stunts than ever before.
8. Jason Statham Baby Gunfight – “The Fate of the Furious”
“The Fate Of The Furious” is one of those blockbusters where every subsequent set-piece feels engineered to top the one that came before it. Quick: how many other “Fast” movies hinge their plot stakes on the threat of nuclear annihilation? This is another way of saying that “Fate,” the eighth official “Fast” movie, is chock-full of moments that almost made this list, such as the New York chase sequence or the hellzapoppin’ prison riot/brawl that served as an unofficial “Hobbs and Shaw” teaser. Still, seeing Deckard Shaw rescue Dom Toretto’s infant son from a plane that’s been commandeered by Charlize Theron’s Cypher – all while forcing the child to listen to Alvin and the Chipmunks, all the better to shield him from the blistering sounds of gunfire and crunching bones – is basically the cinematic equivalent of mainlining sugar cereal. Statham rips through the scene with agility and the blunt, brute force that has become his trademark, and really, what better way to endear fans to a formerly hateable character than by having him extricate an adorable child from the clutches of mortal peril?
7. “They Got A Tank” – “Fast & Furious 6”
There’s crazy, and then there’s commandeering a tank down a freeway in Spain while a caravan of luxury cars tail you in hot pursuit. That’s basically what happens in this fevered, high-octane highlight from “Fast & Furious 6,” which mostly discarded standard-issue CGI in favor of having an actual tank crush upwards of two hundred stunt cars during principal photography. Lest you think that to be excessive, remember that this is a series defined in one way or another by excess (although we concede that Tej’s offhanded line delivery at the sudden appearance of the tank is practically droll by “Fast” standards). This spectacular chase also includes Tyrese Gibson’s Roman Pierce leaping from a speeding car and surviving a jump that would have killed a mere mortal, and also a glorious cornball finish in which Dom literally soars across the damn freeway, intercepting Letty as she’s propelled from the airlifted tank and saving her from certain death. It’s a moment so animated in its defiant refusal of realism that it’s a wonder Tex Avery didn’t dream it up.
6. Helicopter vs. Trucks – “Fast and Furious: Hobbs and Shaw”
Sure, “Hobbs and Shaw” may technically be a “Fast & Furious” spinoff, but it’s also such a Saturday morning cartoon of a movie, one that’s so in tune with the overall spirit of the “Fast” films – a boisterous, practically steroidal buddy-actioner that oscillates between alpha-dog banter between its two badass leads, and some of the most ambitious stunt work these films have ever showcased – that not including at least one of its many dumb, dazzling set pieces would have felt like a crime. This is a film where Idris Elba plays a cybernetically engineered warrior-despot named Brixton who can effortlessly sprint down the vertical inclines of skyscrapers, but that’s practically naturalism compared to the movie’s hilariously improbable climax, wherein Hobbs, Shaw, and most of Hobbs’ extended biological family deploy a cavalcade of trucks to take down Brixton’s helicopter (really, the brain-dead majesty of this scene can barely be described, only witnessed). The entire thing is an enormous flex, a sequence that says to the bad guys in these movies, “We don’t care if you’ve got all the fancy, flying toys in the world – cars will always rule.”
5. Dragging The Safe – “Fast Five”
The final forty-five minutes of “Fast Five” offer such a delirious rush of uncomplicated popcorn-movie bliss that it’s easy to overlook that the famed vault heist sequence feels like the “Fast” architects throwing down the proverbial gauntlet; it’s as if family mainstay Justin Lin was making a promise to fans that these movies would only get bigger, more fun, and more resoundingly emotional with every succeeding installment. Here, Brian and Dom are outrunning a squad of corrupt cops in Rio, racing through the streets with a comically humongous bank vault (one that they’ve just snatched from a police station, thanks to Luke Hobbs being willing to drive an armored vehicle straight through a goddamn brick wall to retrieve the cargo) strapped to the back of their cars. As with any of these set pieces, you don’t want to spend too much time thinking (ugh, thinking) about the physics at play: just kick back and admire the adrenalized frenzy of Brian and Dom whipping the vault around, causing multiple cop cars to smash into each other like Hot Wheels toys being tossed around by a hyperactive kid. Like we said: uncomplicated popcorn-movie bliss.
