The Most Ridiculous Moment In The Fast And Furious Franchise Is Also Its Best
You know, when you think about it, franchises can be a lot like family. The bigger they are, the more likely they are to go off the rails entirely. Of course, there's no more quintessential example of a big-screen family that fits both of these descriptions than Dominic Toretto (Vin Diesel) and his Fast Fambly of street racers-turned-superspies. By now, everyone knows that the trajectory of the "Fast & Furious" movies is unlike any other, taking viewers from the seedy streets of Los Angeles' local racing scene to world-ending shenanigans that somehow can only be foiled by one particular team of — let's call them what they are, folks — gearhead superheroes.
This major change in the franchise's scale and ambition didn't just happen overnight, however, in the same way that Rome wasn't built in a day. Every film laid its own particular building blocks that would eventually add up to the most successful cinematic soap opera to ever grace the blockbuster scene. So when it comes to picking the most ridiculous and outsized moment that best captures the "F&F" spirit, well, that can feel like an impossible task. "Furious 7" told Tom Cruise to hold its beer as it launched supercars out of multiple Abu Dhabi skyscrapers. In "F9: The Fast Saga," the franchise finally paid off on years of rumors and officially made it to space. And, maybe most unbelievably of all, 2006's "The Fast and the Furious: Tokyo Drift" actually tried to make us think that a mid-20s Lucas Black could convincingly portray an underage high school punk.
But in our expert opinion, one moment out of them all best represents the "F&F" ethos of uniting schlock with spectacle, goofiness with go-for-broke, and flash with finesse. That's right — the vault heist in "Fast Five."
The best-laid plans ...
You've got to give the "Fast & Furious" movies this much credit, at least: They're certainly self-aware about what they are and what the people want. In lesser hands and in a very different franchise, that precise combination could spell disaster. Instead, that certain alchemy helped boost the adventures of Dominic Toretto and Brian O'Conner (Paul Walker) to incredible heights. While diehard fans can defend the merits of each and every film, there's a case to be made that "Fast Five" was the first time that this series perfected its formula for success.
Directed by "F&F" stalwart Justin Lin and written by Chris Morgan, 2011's "Fast Five" became the first of the series to introduce genre elements beyond just car racing — this time, our fambly would take part in a heist movie. Taking its cues from "The Italian Job" rather than riffing on "Point Break," the fifth film made the same inspired choice that benefited plenty of superhero movies before it. Essentially, the sequel not only marked the moment where it all truly became about family, but it also proved that this franchise could aim its sights even higher. And, as we all know, no heist movie is complete without a prize worth robbing.
Much of "Fast Five" plays out hilariously similar to classics like "Ocean's Eleven," from "getting the team together" montages to undercover jobs scouting out the target, to practice runs emphasizing the long odds of success. After painstakingly setting up the mission parameters for half the movie, when it finally comes time to pull off their scheme ... the script instead pulls the rug out from under us, literally blows it all up, and devolves into two Dodge Chargers dragging a vault across Rio de Janeiro.
And it's awesome.
Think fast (and furious)
With all due respect to every predecessor that set the standard for heist movies, nobody ever actually flocked to "Fast Five" to watch the exact same thing being done all over again. Oh no, audiences came to see Dom and Brian hook high tensile cables to a giant-sized, uncrackable safe, literally drag the multi-ton block of steel out of a police station, and demolish every enemy car (along with half of Rio) that had the misfortune of getting in their way.
The whole affair is ridiculous, idiotic, and incredibly juvenile ... but, my God, it works like gangbusters. Vin Diesel and Paul Walker play this scenario pitch-perfectly, both letting a wry sense of incredulity at the sheer mayhem they wrought crack their voices. Despite extending for over 10 minutes(!), Justin Lin and his production team keep finding new and creative ways to show cop cars getting smashed to smithereens. And by the time the movie pulls the ol' switcheroo on us by hiding the moment they swap the real vault with the empty one, it's impossible not to give the filmmakers the benefit of the doubt for "cheating."
Although the "Fast" movies have since surpassed this set piece in terms of scope, silliness, and gimmickry, I don't think one can put a price on how this one sequence in "Fast Five" would go on to innovate everything that followed in its footsteps. After all, you can tell that even the franchise itself holds this sequence in high regard, given that the upcoming "Fast X" is set to revisit the scene of this crime and retcon its villain's origin story into this moment. Once the dust settled and the credits rolled, the "Fast" franchise would never again be the same. All it took was a heist gone thrillingly wrong.