2 Fast 2 Furious Car Scene

[Bonny Battaglino]

AcunaBrian loves being a daredevil. Though he stares at Monica for about 20 seconds while dangerously going faster on local roads, he only gets up to about 80 mph before he halts at a red light. That's a typical day of freeway driving on the 101 or Garden State Parkway.

Acuna: Brian and Roman head into a garage that's surrounded by cops on the ground and in the air. When the garage doors open, massive trucks come rushing out, destroying the cop cars. If that isn't enough, Tej, Suki, and more of the cast from the film's start are brought back to unleash a sea of cars onto the streets to create chaos and confusion.

Singh: This diversion was so effective, even if the concept was somewhat old-school. Aside from being a fun moment, it showed the unity among racers who band together to help each other (and crush some police cars, if needed).

Acuna: This is one of the more reckless moments in the franchise. I want to turn away every time I see Vince pinned to the 18-wheeler with the harpoon cord wrapped uncomfortably tight around his wrist. I thought he was going to lose an arm or die.

It's cool seeing Letty dodge underneath the truck and Brian literally jumping in to play hero to save a guy he didn't respect much, but this scene lost a few points for me because it felt like amateur hour for Dom and his team.

Even though the scene was sloppy, it pushed the franchise forward. Brian, knowing that Vince was like family to Dom, put aside their rivalry to get him medical attention quickly. But in doing that, Dom learned that Brian was an undercover cop. That revelation paved the way for friction to come regarding Brian's conflicting roles as a rule-breaker and a law-enforcer.

Acuna: It's been 20 years since the release of "The Fast and the Furious" and my chest still gets tight every time I see that train coming down the tracks, especially when Dom gives Brian that last little look to say, "Yeah, I'm going for it," and Brian looks terrified.

I know Dom and Brian are going to make it, but I could never imagine trying to outrace a train. Maybe I'm so tense because I know the moment they miraculously cross the tracks unharmed, and I think I can breathe a sigh of relief, bam, Dom slams into an 18-wheeler, sending his Charger flipping over Brian's vehicle before crashing onto the road. If you watch the scene closely, it's one of the few times you see Diesel have fear in his eyes in the franchise.

I remember being on the edge of my seat when I saw this scene for the first time. It was thrilling because as a viewer, you knew that Dom and Brian weren't going to slow down despite heading for a collision with the incoming train. It simply would have been anti-climatic if they slowed to stop before the tracks and said, "Yeah, we'll let this train pass and continue our race."

Realistically, I'm not sure if anyone in Dom's position would have survived being in a Charger that flipped multiple times. But this was a precursor to the kinds of death-defying stunts that would become part of the DNA of the franchise.

Acuna: I felt like I needed to watch this scene with my hands over my face. Sean Boswell could not drift to save his life at the beginning of this film, let alone race a regular car without messing it up at the film's start.

Singh: Sean's drifting in this scene was pretty smooth for someone who learned about the concept for the first time earlier in the movie. The overhead shot showing Sean's drifting through the crowded intersection really highlighted how wild it was that there were no casualties during that part of the sequence.

Say what you will about "2 Fast," but this was really the stunt that laid the foundation for some of the more over-the-top moments to come in the franchise. As Roman says, this is "some real Dukes of Hazzard" sh--.

Singh: By "The Fate of the Furious," it was well established that Dom was a great street racer. But this scene took it to another level. His car was literally up in flames and falling apart, and he still edged out the competition. That takes skills that a regular street racer doesn't possess.

Acuna: The most impressive thing about this race is that Dom had to use every racing skill he knew (and one he learned from Brian), in order to make a hunk of junk (referred to as the slowest car on the island) a race winner.

That car didn't just fall apart, it took off and flipped into the air, landing in the ocean. Everyone's cheering and excited, but I'm always a little concerned about that becoming a health hazard. Not cool, Dom.

Near the end of the chase, Dom makes an improbable jump from his vehicle to another moments before it smashes into a wall and (likely) ruins the drug cartel business because the entire secret tunnel explodes.

This sequence was a great display of Dom and Brian's driving skills. The whole scene culminated in the very satisfying and wild moment in which Dom drove out of the tunnel and smashed Fenix to death by sandwiching him between two cars.

Singh: I had a bad feeling about this heist from the start when Vince convinced them that it would be a clean job and easy money. The messy job that followed was absolutely bonkers and, once again, Brian's life was on the line.

Brian is trying to not get his face blow-torched at one point while Dom is fighting another bad guy. A vehicle then winds up diving into the side of the train and catches fire. The scene culminates with Brian needing to jump off of a vehicle connected to the train onto a 1966 Corvette Sport Stingray that Dom is driving. Seconds later, with Brian hanging for his life from the back of this 'Vette, Dom's forced to race the car off a cliff. The two slow-mo jump out of it to save their own lives. It's a wild few minutes, and we're not even 20 minutes into the movie.

Acuna: Let's not forget Dom was racing backward down a hill when Letty made the jump to his vehicle. 2009's "Fast & Furious" (the fourth installment) was the film where Vin Diesel returned to the franchise. This opening scene made me realize we should never question this man's driving in a "Fast" film.

Singh: At the time of the release of "Fast and Furious 7," I had lost track of how many near-death experiences Brian had in the franchise. But this is always the one that comes to mind. The way it was shot had me tense and worried the whole time, which I'm sure was the goal.

It's also one of the few times that we see Brian and Letty together in a scene. Letty looking at Brian on the ground and asking, "You good?" after he narrowly escaped falling off the cliff gets me every time.

This scene always reminds me of this stressful moment in an "Uncharted" game where you need to climb up the back of a train that's dangling precariously over the edge of a cliff. I feel l've vicariously lived this "Furious 7" moment so I still get nervous every time Brian is climbing up the bus and running across it in sneakers that likely have little-to-no grip.

I have to say we deliberated for a while over whether or not this moment should go ahead or behind Dom and Letty's oil tanker escape. While both require our characters to be fast and furious, we decided Brian's escape to safety was more strenuous and stressful to watch since Dom never loses his cool or looks concerned. Dom also had the luxury of being inside a vehicle whereas Brian had to take multiple steps to ensure he didn't fly off a cliff.

For those reasons, this is also ahead of the Corvette scene from "Fast Five" because Brian and Dom had more control over their fates when they decided to jump off a cliff. In "Furious 7," Brian had to outrun falling off of one, which, we believe would be much more difficult.

Letty doesn't even remember who Dom is at this point because she has amnesia. When she later asks him how he knew that a car would be there to break their fall, he says he didn't. It was just faith. (Tug at our heartstrings some more, Toretto!)

Singh: Without hesitation, Dom purposely crashed his car and lept to catch Letty mid-fall, defying gravity in the process. If there were ever fans skeptical about the love that they have for each other, I think this scene put those doubts to rest.

Acuna: Do we count this for "Fast Four" or "Fast Five" because this scene happens in both films? (Personally, I think we count it as "Five" because I like to pretend the fourth film didn't happen sometimes.)

Anyway, Dom's getting hauled away to jail at the end of the fourth film and that isn't sitting well with Brian and Mia. Dom, going to jail? Come on. Get real. Brian and Mia decide to get Dom off the bus any way possible.

Singh: I do enjoy a good pre-prison breakout. This was a great way to open "Fast Five," which is arguably the best movie in the franchise. I don't think Brian gets enough credit for stopping the Charter right in front of the bus, which caused it to flip over and help to free Dom.

Acuna: That bus flips over at least six times. It's remarkable they didn't kill anyone. (Even the news anchor sounds shocked.) On the film's commentary, director Justin Lin said they put three canons under the bus to get it to flip like that because, as he learned, buses aren't supposed to be able to do that.

I'm not sure they really thought out this plan too well, and that's why it's so high up on our list. Not only do Mia and Brian show off their fast driving skills, but this has to be one of the most "furious" scenes for the duo because they don't seem to consider the possibility that they could kill Dom. They just don't want him in prison.

Acuna: The end of "Fast Five" will forever be the moment that solidified my love for the Fast fam. We spent the majority of the film with Dom's crew planning out a calculated heist. At the last minute, that plan goes out the window as The Rock's character teams up with Dom to simply break into the police headquarters to allow Brian and Dom to strap a bank vault to their cars and race off through the streets with it.

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