Top 10 Favorite 'Fast and the Furious' Stunts

The Fast and the Furious franchise is one that needs no introduction. It’s been one of Universal’s most successful franchises, having been around since 2001, and it’s still going strong today. The eighth (yes, eighth!) installment of the series, The Fate of the Furious, hits theaters this weekend and is sure to deliver more of the entertainingly high-octane and goofy action that we’ve come to expect from these films. Thus, in honor of its impending release, I decided to do a Top 10 list of my personal favorite action sequences from this smash hit of a franchise. Though, again, who’d thought that this series would manage to last this long? Not only that, but this series has also somehow managed to get better with each new installment. For the record, yes, they’re completely ridiculous films with action sequences that defy all logic and physics… but they’re also highly entertaining to watch. And, yes, there are those out there who absolutely scoff at these films, questioning why they became so gosh darn successful despite being so silly (looking at you, CinemaSins). But, at the same time, it’s clear that this franchise has one hell of a fanbase. Heck, it’s a fan-base that I myself am a part of, having been a fan of the franchise ever since the fourth installment. Now, with this list, I only have one ground rule that I’m maintaining and that is that I wanted to have at least one stunt from each of the previous 7 films. Because if I didn’t, then this list would’ve most likely been made up almost entirely of sequences from films 5 through 7. So, with that in mind, rev up your V8 engines (complete with NOS boost) and prepare yourselves as we delve into some of the craziest and yet awesome stunts from the Fast and the Furious franchise.

HONORABLE MENTIONS

I’ve got not one, not two, not three, not even four, but five Honorable Mentions to list. What can I say? This franchise knows how to do awesome action sequences. First up, there’s the scene from the climax of the original Fast and the Furious in which Dominic Toretto’s crew tries to hijack a semi-trailer truck but then must deal with the driver’s heavily armed response. Brian O’Connor manages to come in to help them out of this situation but this then leads to him having to blow his cover as an undercover cop when he calls for medical support for an injured member of Dom’s crew. Overall, a solidly tense action set-piece that culminates in that big reveal. Then, from the third film, The Fast and the Furious: Tokyo Drift, there are the two primary drift races between Sean Boswell and Takashi AKA ‘D.K.’ (Drift King). I’m listing them both instead of just one because both are good in their own unique way. The first is fun because we get to see a clearly inexperienced drifter like Sean go up against a drifting expert like Takashi. Suffice it to say, Sean doesn’t do so well in the race and he ends up decimating his car, which he borrowed from Takashi’s business partner (and, as we learn later, a former member of Dom’s crew), Han Lue. But, by the time the second race rolls around, Sean has become more experienced with drifting. This results in a much more neck and neck battle between him and Takashi as they race on a treacherous mountain track, culminating in Sean beating Takashi to become the new Drift King.

Next up, from film #4, Fast and Furious, there’s the first true ‘street race’ of the film, in which Dom and Brian race through Los Angeles so that they can be recruited to a team that transports heroin across the U.S.-Mexico border for drug lord Arturo Braga, who both are trying to take down. All in all, it’s another solid street race that shakes things up from previous street races by having them drive through traffic, unlike the ones in the first two films where those involved in the races got the streets closed and, therefore, free of any traffic and police. That and this sequence is also minimal in its use of CG compared to previous films, where they primarily used it for shots of the cars’ engines. It’s also quite funny to see Brian argue with his GPS (provided to them for the race) when he ends up going off-course. Finally, from Fast and Furious 6, there’s the big finale in which Dom’s crew pursues Owen Shaw’s crew, who are escaping via plane on a ridiculously long runway. This admittedly long (about 13-15 minutes to be precise) but exciting sequence is full of epic and over-the-top stunts both inside and outside the plane (e.g. when Hobbs launches into the air to knock out one of Shaw’s goons who’s being held down by Dom). And it all culminates in the plane being brought down by Dom’s crew and Dom’s car crashing through the nose of the plane in gloriously ludicrous fashion, as one would expect from this franchise at this point.

And while it isn’t an action sequence, I also want to highlight the ending of Furious 7, namely because of how it serves as a fitting tribute to series star Paul Walker. Of course, as we all know, Walker tragically passed away in a car accident in November 2013, during a break from filming. The filmmakers then reworked the ending so that Brian could be given a proper send-off. Thus, after they defeat Deckard Shaw, Dom and crew decide that it’s time for Brian to retire so that he can be with his family; his girlfriend, and Dom’s sister, Mia, their son Jack, and their incoming second kid. As Dom goes off for a drive, Brian catches up with him and as they go on one last ride together, we cut to a montage of moments from the previous films, all set to ‘See You Again’ by Wiz Khalifa and Charlie Puth and a touching monologue from Dom in which he notes “No matter where you are, whether it's a quarter mile away or half way across the world, you'll always be with me. And you'll always be my brother.” It’s a monologue that’s clearly referring to both Brian O’Connor the character and Paul Walker. Finish with a shot from above of the two driving off in separate directions and you have a guaranteed tear-jerker ending that’s sure to affect any fan of this franchise. And think about this for a moment; this is coming from a franchise that’s primarily known for crazy action sequences and not its writing. It just goes to show that all this talk about ‘family’ that keeps getting brought up throughout the films is an accurate reflection of the great camaraderie of the franchise’s ensemble cast.

10. THE FINAL RACE (THE FAST AND THE FURIOUS)

It’s only fitting that we start this list off with a scene from the original Fast and the Furious from 2001. It was a simpler time back then. Before the physics-defying stunts of its most recent outings, this series started out as a simple street racing franchise… as well as being an unofficial ‘remake’ of Point Break but that’s another story. Anyway, kicking off this list is the final race between Dom and Brian after taking down gang leader Johnny Tran. When Brian catches up to Dom, the two end up in a quarter-mile drag race. This race culminates in an awesome moment in which the two cross a railroad crossing just as a train passes through. Unfortunately, for Dom, he then immediately rams into an oncoming truck, resulting in his trademark 1970 Dodge Charger R/T flipping in the air before crashing. Fortunately, for him, Brian ends up giving him his car so that he can get away from the cops. After all, as noted earlier in the film, Brian did owe him a ‘ten-second car’ after a confrontation with Tran’s gang resulted in Brian’s previous car, which Dom had just won in a street race, being blown up. Like I said before, the simplicity of this action sequence is why it ends up being so memorable. The only thing holding it back, really, is that the slow-motion shots of Dom and Brian in their cars before passing the railroad crossing are a bit too much. However, with that said, the shot of Brian handing his keys over to Dom is one of the most iconic images in the franchise’s history, even after all these years.

9. THE FREEWAY RACE (2 FAST 2 FURIOUS)

Next up, we have a scene from 2 Fast 2 Furious, which admittedly is the weakest entry in the series. This is primarily due to a mediocre plot which culminates in an anti-climactic finale with an equally mediocre villain. Not even this film’s action sequences can save this from being the ‘worst’ in the series. However, there are still some memorable action sequences from this film, like the one chase scene near the end where Brian and company have a bunch of street racers drive out of a garage to distract the police. But, for this list, I’m going with the race that takes place on a crowded Miami freeway. In this scene, Brian and his best friend Roman Pearce race a bunch of other drivers to acquire a package from an impounded car so that they can be recruited by drug lord Carter Verone to be his drivers. In a film where some of the racing sequences were more CG-based, especially compared to the ones in the first film, this one was done practically and features some great stunt work, including one where a car ends up getting crushed when it gets caught in-between two trucks (though, let’s be honest, that car’s driver CLEARLY died in that moment) and another where Brian does a 180-degree turn and drives backwards for a bit. Now, admittedly, he mainly did this just to show off in front of Roman but it’s impressive to note that Paul Walker really did do this stunt himself. And, because of aspects like this, this scene gets a slight edge over the final race from the first film and lands at the Number 9 spot on this list.

8. OPENING HEIST (FAST AND FURIOUS)

2009’s Fast and Furious served as the long-awaited return of the series’ original stars. It was the first time that the series’ main leads (Vin Diesel, Paul Walker, Jordana Brewster, and Michelle Rodriguez), had appeared together in a Fast and Furious film since the original and while it ended up being the worst-reviewed entry in the series, with a mediocre 28% on Rotten Tomatoes, I’d argue it’s rather underrated. Now, admittedly, this is mainly because THIS was the film that got me into the franchise. I remember seeing the film’s Super Bowl ad and was interested in it despite having never seen any of the other films beforehand. I didn’t end up seeing it in theaters but I did watch it when it came to HBO, so yes, this was the first Fast and Furious film I ever watched. But, I’m getting off-track here; aside from being perhaps a bit too serious for a Fast and Furious film, I’d say that this film was like a better-directed version of the first film. It was the second film in the series to be directed by Justin Lin and while the series wouldn’t truly start to shine until the next installment, this one still has its moments. For one thing, it starts off with a pretty epic opening heist in which Dom and his crew, including his girlfriend Letty Ortiz and Han from Tokyo Drift, hijack a large fuel tanker in the Dominican Republic. However, like the truck driver from the climax of the first film, the tanker’s driver soon starts fighting back once he realizes what’s going on. This time around, though, they do manage to steal a good amount of the tanker’s fuel sources and the sequence ends with Dom and Letty narrowly avoiding the tanker as it crashes towards them in a crazy but awesome stunt that was seen in all the trailers, including that Super Bowl ad I mentioned earlier. I guess you could say that thanks to this scene, I officially became a fan of the Fast and the Furious franchise.

7. CHASE THROUGH TOKYO/HAN’S DEATH (THE FAST AND THE FURIOUS: TOKYO DRIFT)

As we’d come to find out, The Fast and the Furious: Tokyo Drift, despite being the third film of the series to be released in theaters, was not the third film from a chronological standpoint. Instead, it took place after the events of the following three films; Fast and Furious, Fast Five, and Fast and Furious 6. This explains why Han appears in those films as a member of Dom’s crew despite what happens during this sequence from Tokyo Drift. It all starts when Sean, Han, and company are confronted by Takashi over a theft that Han had pulled on his family, who are tied to the Yakuza. Thanks to a diversion from their friend Twinkie, Sean, Takashi’s ex-girlfriend Neela, and Han manage to escape with Takashi and his sidekick Morimoto right behind them. This leads to a tense but exciting chase through the city. There’s even one point where they must drive through a crowded street, resulting in a pretty nice shot when they drift through the crowd. And while Sean and Neela manage to get rid of Morimoto, who presumably dies after crashing into an oncoming car, Han, unfortunately, ends up being hit by another car after managing to get away from Takashi. Before Sean can save him, the car explodes, bringing a sad end to easily the best character in the film. This scene would later be revisited during the mid-credits scene of Fast and Furious 6, where we learn the identity of the driver who hit Han’s car; none other than Jason Statham’s Deckard Shaw, setting up the epic confrontation between him and Dom’s crew in Furious 7.

"Dominic Toretto. You don't know me... you're about to.

6. TRAIN HEIST (FAST FIVE)

After Fast Five opens with a bang as Dom is broken out of a prison bus by Brian, Mia, and their crew (a scene that was teased at the end of Fast and Furious), the film then sets the stage for the first big action sequence set in its main locale, Rio de Janeiro. In this sequence, Dom, Brian, and Mia, along with their old friend Vince (who last appeared in the first film, released a full decade prior), attempt to steal a bunch of cars from a train with the help of some locals. When Dom overhears one of the locals, Zizi, mention that he’s primarily interested in one of the cars, a Ford GT40, he has Mia ride off with it instead. Of course, this then leads to trouble as Dom and Brian must then deal with Zizi and his henchmen. They barely manage to escape, as the scene culminates in an epic stunt in which the two end up driving off a cliff and jump out of their car before it crash-lands into the water below. Unfortunately, for them, this results in two things happening. First off, they are immediately captured and are then confronted by Rio’s primary crime boss, Hernan Reyes. And, as they come to learn, the GT40 contained a computer chip that was full of information regarding Reyes’ criminal empire. But then, because Zizi killed three DEA agents during the heist, this results in DSS agent Luke Hobbs being called in to capture them when they’re framed for the murders. In short, a lot happens in this scene and, fittingly enough, it’s an excellent sequence with great stunt-work and camerawork. You could even say that it began the series’ transition from street racing to action-filled heist plotlines. Either way you look at it, this scene clearly helped when it came to making Fast Five the most critically/commercially successful entry in the series at that time.

5. JUMPING TOWERS IN ABU DHABI (FURIOUS 7)

Yep, can’t forget about this one. During the sequence where his crew attempts to steal a powerful computer device known as the ‘God’s Eye’ from a billionaire in Abu Dhabi to help them find Deckard Shaw, Dom and Brian escape from Deckard Shaw (so… really, no need for that God’s Eye device but hey, this is a Fast and Furious film; who seriously goes into it for the plot?) by driving the fancy new Lykan HyperSport out of the Etihad Towers. And how do they do this? By jumping across the complex’s three towers with the car, of course. What else would they’ve done, take the elevator? In all seriousness, though, this is yet another awesome set-piece. And while some parts of the jump were clearly CG (including CG Paul Walker, even, as this was one of the scenes that required the use of his brothers Cody and Caleb Walker as stand-ins), you’d be surprised to find that there was still quite a bit of practical stunt work involved in filming this scene. Obviously, they didn’t ‘really’ jump the car through the towers, but most of the shots in which they go in and out of them were done practically on a set, highlighting the great efforts of the filmmakers to do as many practical stunts as possible even as this franchise continues to get more and more insane with its set-pieces. After jumping out the first tower (right in the middle of a lavish party), Dom and Brian then crash through the second tower on a floor that’s under construction. They then jump out that tower and crash through the third tower, right in the middle of an art exhibition, before jumping out the car before it falls out the tower and descends to the ground below. And while this does mean that the HyperSport (1 of only 7 in the world) gets totaled, it did see more action in this moment than it did when the billionaire they were stealing from was just keeping it locked up in his penthouse. Dom said it best, “Nothing sadder than locking a beast in a cage”. Too bad we didn’t get to see Brian punch the guy in the face like he said he was going to do. Ah well…

4. DOM VS. HOBBS (FAST FIVE)

At Number 4, we have the only action sequence on this list that doesn’t primarily involve cars. However, it’s still an epic sequence regardless, as it consists of Dom finally going one-on-one with Hobbs when the latter comes in with his team to arrest Dom and his crew. Suffice it to say, this highly-anticipated showdown between Vin Diesel and the Rock lived up to the hype. And as many will agree, the addition of Dwayne ‘The Rock’ Johnson to the series’ ensemble cast is arguably the primary catalyst behind the Fast and Furious franchise’s unexpected rise in quality. The smack-talking but still all-around charismatic DSS agent proved to be a great addition to the franchise and the build-up to his confrontation with Dom was well handled by Justin Lin and his team, from his very first scene where he immediately starts preparing to hunt Toretto once his team arrives in Rio (him to Rio’s chief of police: “Stay the f*** out of my way!”) to the scene where he and his team confront Dom and company at a street race but are driven away by the street racing community of Brazil. But when the two finally go toe-to-toe, all bets are off. Over the course of three minutes, the two crash through several glass windows and the fight ultimately ends with Dom nearly bashing Hobbs’ head in with a pipe wrench, a callback to the first film where it was established that Dom nearly beat a man to death with a socket wrench after he had killed Dom’s father during a stock car race. Mia’s pleas for him to stop are what ultimately keep Dom from pulling the same move twice. 

3. DRAGGING A GIANT SAFE THROUGH RIO (FAST FIVE)

In Fast Five’s big climax, Dom, Brian, and their crew pull off their big heist on Hernan Reyes. How so? Well, by having Dom and Brian drag a giant safe containing his money through the city of Rio with their cars, of course. What other option would there be? What follows may arguably be the series’ first truly physics-defying action sequence, as the safe becomes a battering ram, smashing through everything in its path. Not only does it smash through several cars, both police and civilian, but it also smashes through a few buildings as well, including a bank. Han and Roman also help Dom and Brian out by getting rid of some of Rio’s extensive police force in police cars that they themselves stole earlier in the film. This chase through the city ultimately ends up on the bridge leading out of the city, with the police, Reyes, and Zizi in hot pursuit. Realizing that there’s no way that they can outrun them all, Dom has Brian go off without him while he stays behind to deal with their pursuers. And, of course, he gets rid of them with the safe, as multiple cars are launched in the air and into the water below. It all culminates in Dom ramming the safe into one of the two remaining cars before jumping out of his car as it launches into the air due to the safe’s recoil and slams into Zizi’s car, critically injuring Reyes, who is ultimately killed by Hobbs for revenge against the death of his team earlier in the film (Zizi is killed by Brian, who came back to help Dom). But while Hobbs has Dom and Brian leave the safe with him, giving them a 24-hour head start before he goes after them again, he finds that they had switched the real safe with a fake one during the pursuit, allowing them to successfully pull off their big heist.  

2. CARS PARACHUTING OUT OF A PLANE (FURIOUS 7)

When the first trailer for Furious 7 premiered, it immediately gave us our first look at one of the film’s crazy stunts; Dom and crew airdropping their cars out of a plane to ambush a mercenary convoy in the Caucasus Mountains in Azerbaijan to rescue hacker Ramsey. What more can I say? These films continually manage to up the ante with their crazy stunts with each new film and this sequence is no exception. But you know what’s even crazier? A lot of this sequence was done practically. I mentioned this earlier when I talked about the ‘car jumping the towers’ stunt but I wanted to bring it up again because that’s ultimately one of the coolest things about the recent entries in this series. While there are certainly some stunts in these films that implement CG in some way, they still try to do as many practical stunts as possible, no matter how crazy these set-pieces get. And in this instance, they literally sent these cars out of a plane. Obviously, shots of Dom and crew at the wheel were done in front of a blue-screen but, for the most part, those are real cars soaring down from the sky and that’s quite an impressive feat. The ensuing chase is great too, from Dom and Letty ripping the back of the convoy’s large bus off with hooks to Brian climbing out the side window of the bus and running up its side to get back onto the ground before it falls off a cliff. And even after Dom, with Ramsey in tow, is cornered by the mercenaries and their leader, Jakande, they manage to get away by driving backward off the mountain. And even though their car ends up getting totaled on the way down, they survive. Why? Because this is a Fast and the Furious film, of course. These characters are basically superheroes at this point.

(P.S. Also, in one of the best humorous moments of the series, Roman initially backs out from dropping out of the plane, resulting in Tej forcibly dragging him out of it by activating his parachute while he’s still on the plane. If I haven’t mentioned it already, Roman usually gets a lot of the best lines/funny moments in these films and this is easily one of his best.)

1. CARS VS. TANK (FAST AND FURIOUS 6)

For my Number 1 pick, I’m going with a scene from Fast and Furious 6 which, at the time I’m writing this, still stands as my favorite entry in the series to date. Overall, it’s a toss-up between this and Fast Five in terms of being my ‘favorite film’ of the franchise. For now, the sixth film wins out by a slim margin for various reasons. One of these reasons is that it has a stronger villain in the form of Luke Evans’ Owen Shaw, who operates on a mantra where he views his crewmates as expendable, a sheer contrast to Dom’s crew and their familial bond that has been such a definitive element of this franchise. Not only that, but when we first meet his crew, we see that Letty, who supposedly died during the events of Fast and Furious but is revealed to have survived albeit now suffering from amnesia, is working with them. And in the first of the film’s two climactic action sequences (the other being the plane chase), Dom and his crew pursue Shaw’s crew when the latter attempts to steal a computer chip from a NATO base in Spain so that they can build a device that can block all military communication on Earth. However, they soon realize that Shaw is instead gunning for the military convoy that’s transporting the chip away from the base. When they get there, Shaw and his crew have already hijacked the convoy and are now running around in a big tank. As it begins to bulldoze its way through a busy freeway, crushing cars left and right, Tej remarks that they need a Plan B… or Plan C… or Plan D… or Plan E, bottom line, “We need more alphabet!”

I picked this as my favorite action sequence from these films because it basically has it all. The set-up is so simple (cars vs. a tank) and yet so effective, with Dom and crew running around trying to avoid the tank and its gunfire while they do what they do best which, as Brian notes, is to ‘improvise’. At one point, Roman’s car is about to be crushed by the tank, resulting in him having to jump over to Brian’s car, which had gotten over to that location after doing a sick jump off a ramp made of broken pieces of a bridge that the tank destroyed. And then the scene ends with an epically ridiculous stunt. To stop the tank, Dom and crew end up flipping it by sending Roman’s damaged Mustang, which he had tied to the tank with a cable, off a bridge part of the freeway to use as an anchor. However, this results in Letty, who was outside on top of the tank when this happens because Shaw ordered her to deal with the cable, to be sent flying off it. To save her, Dom ends up launching out of his car and catches her in mid-air over a big drop before they crash down onto a car on the other side of the freeway. Is it a ridiculous moment that defies all logic? Yes. Did it elicit a great reaction from the audience when I saw this in theaters? Hell yeah! That’s another reason why Fast and Furious 6 is my favorite entry in the series; it resulted in one of my all-time favorite theater experiences, as I saw it with an enthusiastic crowd who reacted to every major stunt in the film, including this one. It really goes to show how far this series has come, as it’s amassed a large and dedicated fan-base who are always along for the ride and I’m proud to say that I’m one of them.

And those are my Top 10 favorite stunts from the Fast and the Furious franchise. Be sure to sound off in the comments below with your own favorite stunts from these films. And you can expect a review of The Fate of the Furious sometime this weekend. 

'The Fast and the Furious' (2001-2013) Series Retrospective

Despite the tragic death of series star Paul Walker in a car crash back in November 2013, ‘Furious 7’, the seventh (yes, seventh) film in the ‘Fast and the Furious’ series hits theaters this week. Seriously, who would’ve ever thought that a film series that’s primarily about driving cars and ridiculous stunts would be successful enough to produce seven films? Most film franchises never get that far and even if they did, the films would really start to get bad after a while. But it’s surprisingly the opposite case with ‘The Fast and the Furious’ films; they’ve actually gotten better as the series has gone on. I’ll admit that I never really paid much attention to the franchise during its early years. The only major element of it that was I familiar with at the time was the multiple arcade game spin-offs, including the original ‘Fast and the Furious’ arcade game and its many follow-ups, including one for ‘Tokyo Drift’ and two ‘Super Bikes’ games that in hindsight don’t really connect to the series that much at all; hell, the second game doesn’t even carry the film series license. But anyway, I digress. I remember that it was after watching the Super Bowl commercial for the fourth film that I actually started to become interested in the franchise. I didn’t see the fourth film in theaters but I did watch it on HBO and since then… I have to admit I’ve actually become a fairly big fan of the franchise. So today, in honor of the seventh film’s release and in memory of Paul Walker, I’m looking back upon this beast of a franchise, from its humbler beginnings to its more recent bigger-scaled efforts. It’s time to ‘Ride or Die’ as we look at the ‘Fast and the Furious’ films.

THE FAST AND THE FURIOUS (2001)

As someone who was first introduced to the franchise through its later installments, I must say that it’s fairly interesting to see how far ‘Fast and Furious’ has come since it first started 14 years ago. Like with the ‘Harry Potter’ franchise, this is definitely a case where the series definitely got better over time. That isn’t to say that ‘The Fast and the Furious’ isn’t entertaining; it has a nice energetic pace that perfectly matches the, for lack of a better term, fast nature of the story and a lot of the car stunt sequences are pretty good. But with that said, you still have to admit that the film is a definite case of style over substance. Sure, this film’s not completely brain-less as there are some actual/legitimate bits of character development here, namely between the main characters, street racer/criminal Dominic Toretto and undercover cop Brian O’Connor, and Vin Diesel and Paul Walker work off each other really well. But suffice it to say this is not a movie that you go into expecting great writing. In fact, as many people have already pointed out, this is basically just the street racing clone of ‘Point Break’. Despite this, the first ‘Fast and the Furious’ film is still a fairly entertaining popcorn flick even if, in some cases, it’s become a little dated. Ultimately, though, it would take some time (about a decade to be specific) before this series really started to shine.

Rating: 3.5/5

2 FAST 2 FURIOUS (2003)

First I’ll give you a few seconds to laugh at that hilariously ridiculous title… done? Okay, moving on… so now we come to the second film in the series, this one being directed by John Singleton, who had previously been nominated for two Oscars for his work on his 1991 film ‘Boyz n the Hood’. As for ‘2 Fast 2 Furious’, however, unfortunately it ends up being the weakest entry in the franchise. Now despite what I just said, that doesn’t mean the film isn’t entertaining, because it is. Once again, a lot of the car stunts are really cool, especially the first highway chase and the scene near the end involving a whole mob of cars coming out of one warehouse. Leads Paul Walker and Tyrese Gibson have nice camaraderie with one another, with Gibson in particular being a real stand-out due to his great comedic ability which was put to even greater use in future films. Ultimately though, ‘2 Fast 2 Furious’ suffers from some fairly mediocre writing. Now to be fair, these films have never been known for their writing anyway but here it ends up being rather dull and generic, with a mediocre anti-climax and a generic villain. Plus, something I didn’t mention in my review of the first film is that both of these films have some rather poor/obvious CGI used during some of the racing scenes, namely during close-up shots of the drivers. Thankfully, this was improved upon in future installments. ‘2 Fast 2 Furious’, ultimately, is my least favorite entry in the franchise. I don’t think it’s bad, but like I said earlier, we still haven’t gotten to the series’ best installments yet.

Rating: 3/5

THE FAST AND THE FURIOUS: TOKYO DRIFT (2006)

After the first film which featured all four of the series’ main group of leads and the second film which only featured one of them, now we have ‘Tokyo Drift’, the only entry in the ‘Fast and Furious’ series not to have any of the main leads of the series appear in a major role, save for a pretty awesome cameo by Vin Diesel at the end. Because of this, ‘Tokyo Drift’ has basically been regarded as the most forgotten entry in the series, made even more evident by the fact that it’s the lowest-grossing entry of the series at the box office. But… it’s actually the most underrated of the series and, dare I say, I have to agree with my friend Augie in that I think this is even better than the first film. Sure, this film may not have Vin Diesel or Paul Walker but its cast gets through it pretty darn well without them. Plus, like with ‘2 Fast 2 Furious’, this film does give us another standout character that would later become a major character in future films, in this case Han (Sung Kang), despite the fact that he actually dies during the events of this film. So why does he come back in later films? Well that’s because, despite the fact that this was the third film released chronologically, it actually takes place after the events of the fourth, fifth, and sixth films, hence why Han appears in those films. ‘Furious 7’ will be the first film in the series set after the events of this film. Yeah… wrap your head around that one.

So what’s the main reason as to why this film works so well? It’s because of director Justin Lin, this being the first entry in the series that he directed. He gives the series a much needed boost in quality in terms of direction while also giving the series an edge that, in some cases, the last two films sort of lacked. This film also has the added benefit of being set in a cool locale, Tokyo, meaning that this film does manage to stand out even without the main leads in it thanks to its great visual look. The whole concept of ‘drifting’, which is pretty cool, really lends itself well to the fun action sequences that you’ve now come to expect from this franchise. So overall, ‘Tokyo Drift’ is the one entry in the series that really deserves more attention than it currently gets. If anything, you shouldn’t ignore this entry in the series just because Vin Diesel and Paul Walker aren’t in it. Sure, it may not necessarily be one of the series’ best, but it’s still really entertaining. This was the first entry of the series that really showed promise that the series could improve and you can thank Justin Lin for that as he managed to make an incredibly memorable ‘Fast and Furious’ film without any of the series’ main leads. But this would set the stage for those leads to make one heck of a return to the franchise they helped start in the first place.

Rating: 3.5/5

FAST AND FURIOUS (2009)

After nearly a decade since the first film’s release back in 2001, the main four leads of the franchise; Diesel, Walker, Michelle Rodriguez, and Jordana Brewster all reunited for a new film in the franchise, ‘Fast and Furious’, the second entry in the series to be directed by Justin Lin. But unlike the following two entries in this series, ‘Fast and Furious’ has been the least successful of the series in terms of critical response despite its commercial success at the box office. It only has a 27% score on Rotten Tomatoes… but overall I disagree with that rating. This is my third favorite entry in the series to date and I as noted in the intro, this was the first ‘Fast and Furious’ film that I ever saw, albeit on TV, not in theaters. This of course was after I had watched the Super Bowl commercial for the film, the first time that I really began to show interest in the franchise having initially not paid any attention towards it during its initial run. Overall I view it as being similar to the first film but with much stronger direction. Like I said before, Justin Lin gave the series new life and now with this fourth film, it has really started to shine thanks to the return of the main cast after they didn’t play a major part in the second and third films. So with that said, why then is this one not as liked by a lot of people? Well, from what I can tell, it’s because they feel the movie is ‘too serious’ for a ‘Fast and Furious’ film. And for the record I do see where they’re coming from.

The plot of this film revolves around Dom returning home to LA after learning that his girlfriend Letty (Rodriguez) has been ‘murdered’ (I use the term loosely because, well, you’ll see why when I start talking about the sixth film), looking for revenge against those who were responsible. This results in him crossing paths once again with Brian, who’s going after the same people for the FBI. Last year’s ‘Need for Speed’ was a similar situation, being more serious than both it needed to be and quite frankly what it was capable of being given its premise of street racing. But here, I didn’t mind too much when the film got serious because I do feel that there was some legitimate motivation for Dom and Brian to stop the villains unlike with previous villains in the franchise. Besides, there’s still a lot of awesome car stunts, from the opening tanker sequence in the Dominican Republic to the final chase scene taking place in the underground tunnels between Mexico and the U.S., though in the case of the latter, I am aware that there was definitely a lot of CGI used in that sequence, even though for the most part it at least looks a little better than it did in the first two films. Regardless, this is still a ‘Fast and Furious’ movie; it’s silly and over the top but still really fun to watch. Now that the main cast was back, it was time for the series to go off in a new direction which ended up taking us all very much by surprise.

Rating: 4/5

FAST FIVE (2011)

I think it’s safe to say that we were all surprised when we saw that this film, the fifth entry in a series that was more successful with audiences than it was with critics, was actually getting really great reviews from critics. It has a 77% rating on RT, way higher than any of the previous four films (which were rated 53%, 36% twice, and 27%, respectively). And suffice it to say… they’re right. At the time of its release, ‘Fast Five’ immediately made a name for itself as the best entry in the series. It achieved that by making the radical move of straying from the formula that had defined the series since the beginning though ultimately it ended up being the right move. Instead of its focus being on street racing, ‘Fast Five’ opts for a heist storyline a la ‘Ocean’s Eleven’ and ‘The Italian Job’. Seriously, there’s only one ‘street race’ in this entire film and they don’t even show it happening; they cut away from it before it starts. The second major change is that, unlike the previous films which only centered around 2-4 characters at a time, this is the first in the series to have a true ensemble as the film reunites Dom and Brian with nearly all of their primary allies from the previous films; Roman (Tyrese Gibson), Han, Gisele (Gal Gadot), Tej (Ludacris), etc… And third, and most importantly, there’s ‘The Rock’.

Yes folks, the addition of Dwayne Johnson in the role of DSS agent Luke Hobbs, who’s out to catch Dom and his crew, is quite frankly the best thing that could have ever happened to this series. Johnson really stands out amongst the members of the cast in what is simply a stand-out role. But with that said, this is probably the first entry in the series where the cast in general really shines. A key theme of the whole series has been ‘family’ and you really do see that with this cast as proven by their excellent camaraderie with each other. The action sequences are much more fluid than earlier films and of course, we got more fun and, in some cases, insane action sequences to enjoy. There’s the opening scene where Brian and Mia break Dom out of a prison bus, there’s the first fight between Dom and Hobbs, and who can forget the scene where Dom and Brian literally drag a frigging safe through the streets of Rio. And yes, at this point, the series has really begun to defy all sorts of physics but with Lin’s solid direction, a terrific cast, and most importantly a real sense of fun, ‘Fast Five’ easily stands out amongst the six ‘Fast and Furious’ films that have come out. Again, who would’ve ever thought that at the time of its release, the fifth film in this series would ultimately end up being the best up to that point?

Rating: 4.5/5

FAST AND FURIOUS 6 (2013)

For my original review of the film posted on May 23, 2013, click the link provided below;

(http://rimoviecorner.blogspot.com/2013/05/fast-and-furious-6-2013-review.html)

At this point, I think it’s safe to say that this series has now realized exactly what it is; it knows it’s silly and over-the-top and it doesn’t care. It just rolls with it and doesn’t try to be something it’s not. That’s the best way I can describe ‘Fast and Furious 6’; it’s ridiculous, fast-paced, and it keeps defying physics with every action sequence it does. Plus, this film pulls quite the heck of a retcon by having it be revealed that Letty survived the events of the fourth film, albeit being affected with amnesia in the process. But it’s still just so damn entertaining to watch. The same positives that I noted for ‘Fast Five’ are once again present here; a terrific ensemble cast that has terrific camaraderie, another batch of awesome action sequences (the tank chase, that fancy flip car, the whole finale on the world’s longest runway involving a crashing plane, etc…), and so on and so on. But at the same time, there are some things in this film that I feel actually do improve on the previous film. For one thing, this film has quite frankly the best villain of the series to date in the form of Luke Evans’ Owen Shaw. His whole philosophy of regarding the members of his crew as ‘expendable’ is a cool contrast to the ‘family’ dynamic of Dom’s crew. Another great addition to the cast is Gina Carano as Hobbs’ assistant Riley. Her fight scenes with Rodriguez are some of the most badass moments in the entire film. Because of ‘Fast Five’, this was the first entry in the series that I was really anticipating and sure enough it did not disappoint in the slightest. In fact, this in, is my opinion, the best ‘Fast and Furious’ film to date.

Rating: 4.5/5

Ranking time!

6. 2 Fast 2 Furious

5. The Fast and the Furious

4. The Fast and the Furious: Tokyo Drift

3. Fast and Furious

2. Fast Five

1. Fast and Furious 6

Top 10 Films of 2011

2011 was my first full year as a film critic. However, as a whole, the year was rather lackluster as far as movies go. That’s not to say there weren’t any good movies that came out that year, as you’re about to see. It’s just that the first really good movie I remember seeing that year was in May. It took five months for the film industry to get going as far as the best films of the year were concerned and most of the films that dominated my ‘Worst of’ list of that year came from the first few months of the year. I can also remember that was the year where it had the most sequels ever (28, to be exact) and the year where new remakes were pretty much announced every month. Talk about overkill… I wouldn’t call it the worst year ever for movies, but it’s also not one of the best. As such, this year I only have two honorable mentions.

Fast Five

I’ve gone on record saying that for the longest time, I was never really a big fan of the ‘Fast and Furious’ franchise but now, since Justin Lin took over the franchise starting with ‘Tokyo Drift’, I’ve now sort of become a fan. I think 2009’s ‘Fast and Furious’ was really good because it was the first to bring back the cast of the first film under Lin’s direction, but then comes ‘Fast Five’. It’s a film that basically takes the main premise of these movies, street car racing, and switches it out for a heist story. In the case of this film, it works out pretty darn well. Also, this film benefits from the cast’s terrific camaraderie. It’s hard to believe that a franchise would release its best entry to date five films in, but ‘Fast Five’ does just that. This film made me excited for ‘Fast and Furious 6’, a film that dare I say was even better than ‘Fast Five’.

(And yes, on a side note, R.I.P. star Paul Walker, who sadly passed away just a few weeks ago as a result of a car crash. To be honest, I know that they’re currently working on ‘Fast and Furious 7’, but I think they should just cancel the project now out of respect for Walker. I mean, I really don’t know how they could possibly continue the movie now because it wasn’t even finished at the time of his death.)

The Muppets

You can pretty much refer to this as the film that revitalized ‘The Muppets’ film franchise. For a new generation, it’s a great introduction to the franchise and for those longtime fans or those who have grown up with The Muppets like me; this is a much welcome return for these iconic characters. The marketing for the film was really clever, spoofing all of the big films that were coming out at the time and as for the film itself, it’s a nice heartfelt tribute to the franchise. You can clearly see that writers Jason Segel and Nicholas Stoller really care about the property as proved in their writing. It has a bunch of memorable songs (including the Oscar-winning ‘Man or Muppet?’), an entertaining bad guy played by Chris Cooper (“Maniacal Laugh… Maniacal Laugh…”), and overall it does the franchise justice. I am interested to see what they are going to do with the next film, ‘Muppets Most Wanted’, which comes out next March.

Starting things off at Number 10 is a dramedy that manages to blend the two genres together while also doing a great job at handling a difficult subject.

10. 50/50

This film is based off the real-life experience that writer Will Reiser had in 2005 when he was diagnosed with spinal cancer. The subject of cancer is obviously a difficult one to work with but when watching this movie, you really get a sense that everyone involved is taking the subject seriously and that’s part of what makes this movie work. Another thing that makes it work so well is the camaraderie between main stars Joseph Gordon-Levitt and Seth Rogen. Together, they produce the comedy of the movie and it works very well. You root for Levitt’s character Adam all the way and sympathize with him when he’s at his lowest of lows. Rogen’s character Kyle may not always seem like he’s helping Adam cope with his cancer (at first, he suggests that he should use it to pick up women) but by the end you see that he really does care a lot. If this movie wasn’t as serious about the topic of cancer as it was, then I don’t think it would have worked out as well.

Number 9 makes this the second year in a row where a film by David Fincher made it in my Top 10. This one doesn’t take the Number 1 spot like ‘The Social Network’ did in 2010 but in the end it’s another fine effort from the director.

9. The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo (The American version)

At the time I am writing this, I just recently watched the original Swedish adaptation of the story directed by Niels Arden Oplev and starring Noomi Rapace and Michael Nyqvist. While I do think the original is a very good movie, I think Fincher’s version is the superior adaptation and no, I do not want this to look like I’m biased either because I’m American or I saw the American version first. I think the newer version is better for one main reason; its execution in regards to tone. I have not read the original novel, but it’s clear that this is a very dark story that is full of murder, rape, and revenge. The Swedish film certainly had that, but with this film, Fincher takes it one step further. As a director, he has been known for creating some unpleasant environments in his films (like in ‘Se7en’ or even ‘Alien 3’) and that is evident in this film. It’s brutal and unrelenting, and yet that’s part of what makes it so compelling. What’s even more compelling is the performance from Rooney Mara as Lisbeth Salander. Noomi Rapace did an excellent job in the original, but like with this version’s emphasis of its atmosphere and tone, Mara takes the role one step further in her portrayal of this incredibly fascinating character that you just can’t get a beat on. Daniel Craig does an equally terrific job as Mikael Blomkvist and in the end the new version of ‘The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo’ manages to outshine its Swedish counterpart mainly because it took the bigger risk.

Remember how I said that the films of 2011 didn’t really get great until May of that year? Well, at Number 8 is the first great film I remember seeing that year.

8. Thor

Since I’ve talked about this one recently, I won’t go into too much detail. Bottom line; Marvel was playing a risk with this one, but Kenneth Branagh’s direction and Chris Hemsworth’s performance are both excellent so in the end, it worked out in Marvel’s favor.

From one superhero film to another, Number 7 is probably my personal favorite film in the Marvel Cinematic Universe.

7. Captain America: The First Avenger

Again, I won’t go into this much either because I already did. Chris Evans is fantastic as Steve Rogers/Captain America, it has a great ensemble cast, and an ending that was actually quite emotional.

It’s the fourth film in a series helmed by a director mainly known for animated films; for the record, some of the best animated films ever and as such, he ends up making the best entry in this franchise to date.

6. Mission Impossible: Ghost Protocol

The first two films in the ‘Mission Impossible’ franchise were unfortunately plagued by one major problem; for a series that put emphasis on the idea of teamwork, these first two films were just ‘the Tom Cruise show’, meaning that his teammates weren’t given as enough character development as they should have. Thankfully, J.J. Abrams’ ‘Mission Impossible 3’ was the first entry in the series that really gave more for the other members of the team to do. Then we have ‘Ghost Protocol’, the first true entry in the series to have a great team. Cruise is still the star, but Jeremy Renner, Paula Patton, and Simon Pegg’s characters are each given proper character development. As for the film itself, Brad Bird’s experience in animation transitions well to live-action; this film has some of the best action scenes in recent memory (this film’s also a must-see in IMAX for that reason). The only complaint; rather weak villains because there are multiple in this film but yet each of them only have generally minor roles in the film. Despite that, this is easily the best film in the ‘Mission Impossible’ franchise. Hopefully the next film, despite not being directed by Brad Bird, will continue the idea that there’s no ‘I’ in team.

Marvel had a really good year in 2011, with three excellent entries in the superhero genre. At Number 5, here’s the best Marvel film of the year and arguably one of their best to date.

5. X-Men: First Class

Once again, I’ll keep this short. I’m not really a big ‘X-Men’ fan, but this is my personal favorite. It has great direction from Matthew Vaughn, a cool Bond-like atmosphere, great acting, a great villain; overall, this is a great rebound for the franchise after ‘The Last Stand’ and ‘Origins: Wolverine’.

Biopic films can either be hit or miss, and it usually depends on the performance of its lead actor/actress. With the case of this film, we have one of the best performances ever from a female lead in a film centered on the most famous woman in the world.

4. My Week with Marilyn

The main reason why this film succeeds is that while it’s focused on Marilyn Monroe, the most famous woman in the world even years after her death, it doesn’t try to glorify her. Instead, we get to see a softer and more vulnerable side to the actress that we never really see. The story about Monroe’s experiences while working on the Laurence Oliver film ‘The Prince and the Showgirl’, where she befriended the third assistant director Colin Clark (played here by Eddie Redmayne) is somewhat debatable over whether or not it’s really true, but it’s a sweet and touching tale that’s pretty much a real-life fantasy. But in the end, this film belongs to Michelle Williams, who is outstanding in the role of Monroe. In all serious, she should have won the Oscar for Best Actress that year (if not her, Rooney Mara, but as a whole, I think Williams has the edge as far as performances go); a major snub by the Academy.

It’s always nice to see an original story in today’s Hollywood, which is full of remakes, reboots, and adaptations of numerous franchises. In the case of this film, we have a loving homage to both the 1970’s and the films of one of the most famous directors in all of Hollywood. It’s a film that slowly becoming one of my personal favorites in the sci-fi genre.

3. Super 8

With ‘Super 8’, director J.J. Abrams pays loving homage to the films of Steven Spielberg; this film has many callbacks to classic Spielberg films, although the Jaws homage (where you don’t see the monster until the end of the film)… was sort of unnecessary. But that’s part of the beauty of this film; when I first saw it, I honestly forgot I was watching an Abrams film. This movie feels so much like a Spielberg film and yet that’s not even a problem. I may not have grown up in the 70’s, but for anyone who did, this movie is pure nostalgia at its finest. Another one of the highlights of the film are the performances, particularly from the kid actors, most of whom were making their big-screen debuts with this film. Lead Joel Courtney in particular shines as Joe Lamb. He’s a very sympathetic and engaging lead character and I hope Courtney gets more work in the future because this is one of the best performances from a child actor that I have ever seen. Like I said, ‘Super 8’ has become one of my personal favorites and it’s both one of my all-time favorite original films and sci-fi films. Kudos to J.J. Abrams for making this excellent film.

Number 2 holds the honor of being the most underrated film of 2011; a film that serves as the modern-day parallel to a classic sports film that’s just as emotionally-gripping.

2. Warrior

In a sense, ‘Warrior’ is the modern-day version of ‘Rocky’ but it manages something that you wouldn’t expect. For a film that is focused around two characters who end up fighting each other at the end of the film, you end up liking both of them in the end (neither is played out to be the bad guy), although at first Joel Edgerton’s character was more likable while Tom Hardy’s character initially comes off as a jerk. The writing is excellent, with a gripping tale of a family that has been torn apart and I guarantee that this is a movie that will have guys shedding man-tears. It’s phenomenally acted from all involved, including Hardy, Edgerton, and Nick Nolte (who earned himself a well-deserved Oscar nomination for Best Supporting Actor). So why did this film underperform at the box office? Well, I’m guessing that’s either because MMA is not really the most popular sport out there or, at the time this came out, it didn’t really have a notable cast (sure, Hardy and Edgerton are big now, but that wasn’t really the case when this film came out). Still, this is one of the best films of the year and as such, this is one I highly recommend. You don’t have to be a fan of MMA to like this film.

Finally, taking the Number 1 spot on this list is the epic finale to one of the best film franchises ever, and boy did it go out with a bang (figuratively and literally)

1. Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, Part 2

As I said in the last list, the decision to split ‘Deathly Hallows’ into two films ultimately worked out in its favor because not only did the filmmakers have enough to work with, but they successfully ended ‘Part 1’ at the right time in order to set up what’s to come for ‘Part 2’. ‘Part 2’ ends on a high-note with the terrific final battle between Harry and his allies and Voldemort’s army at Hogwarts; the movie may be one of the shorter entries in the series but it’s entertaining from beginning to end. My only real complaint with this film is that some of the major deaths are sort of glanced over. Like I said, this is one of the shorter films so it would be nice if they gave us more time to mourn the dead. Still, this movie serves as the proper finale to the ‘Harry Potter’ series, the only series I can think of where every movie in the series, one that has gone on for eight films, is terrific.

And those are my picks for the Top 10 Best Films for both 2010 and 2011. Check back soon for my lists for the Top 10 best and worst films of 2013.