A gang of racers and outsiders getting into high-speed car chases and death-defying, explosive scenarios can only mean one thing – “The Fast and The Furious” is back on our screens. With its 10th installment, “Fast X,” making its way to theaters, the likes of Vin Diesel, Michelle Rodriguez, and Sung Kang are back for another epic adventure. This time, they’re joined by Jason Momoa as a brand-new antagonist, and Brie Larson as the daughter of the mysterious Mr. Nobody.
Over 20 years into “The Fast and the Furious,” the film series remains a firm fan favorite. Though the action can sometimes be too silly for plausibility, the visual spectacle is more than enough to keep us entertained. Over the years, we’ve been treated to hair-raising skydives, train escapes that are too close to call, and ejector seats that only work at the last possible moment. Here are the most disturbing moments from “The Fast and the Furious” franchise, ranked.
15. Roman’s ejector seat (‘2 Fast 2 Furious’)
In true fast and furious form, Pearce and Brian O’Conner are on the lam in separate cars, looking to shake off guys with guns as they hightail it out of town. While O’Conner keeps calm, Pearce smashes his passenger’s head into the car’s dashboard and deploys his ejector seat with full confidence that it will work. Though it’s coupled with some sketchy CGI, our unfortunate passenger is flung straight out of the door, and there’s nothing more disturbing than watching someone quite literally fly past your head. Pearce’s unhinged joy for his own creation means nothing is getting in his way.
14. Statham fights and does daycare (‘The Fate of the Furious’)
It doesn’t take a “Fast” fan to work out that Jason Statham is a man of action. With hits like “The Meg” and “The Transporter” under his belt, firing a gun, driving a car, and navigating a spectacular set of explosives is all in a day’s work. “Furious 7” shows his character Deckard Shaw to be an all-out villain, meaning Shaw has some amends to make in order to shift his alignment closer to chaotic-good.
What Shaw — and maybe not even Statham — probably didn’t expect was for the next movie, “The Fate of the Furious,” to expose his softer side. While stowing away onto a plane to locate a package, Shaw discovers that the targeted package is actually a small baby. What follows is plenty of punch-ups and gunfights to take out the bad guys while Shaw simultaneously plays daddy daycare. It’s unnervingly sweet to see him actually care about something that isn’t blowing people up, which ironically turns this into a disturbing scene that won’t be forgotten in a hurry.
13. London’s tube fight (‘Fast & Furious 6’)
The action of “Fast & Furious 6” takes us across the pond to London, and if you know anything about London traffic, we don’t have to tell you that there isn’t enough space for a high-speed car chase to break out. Instead, the film brings fans some gnarly hand-to-hand combat that results in some pretty disturbing injuries. This time, Hobbs and Toretto have been offered amnesty in exchange for taking down a mercenary organization led by Owen Shaw. When Mia, Roman, and Han head to the London underground to track Letty, it’s not too long before the trio is wiping out innocent bystanders and attracting police attention.
After kicking the bobbies on the beat square in the chest, Letty quickly breaks out of the handcuffs Mia has placed her in. Roman and Han can only look on as Mia and Letty swing for each other, throwing themselves down a flight of stairs. After choking Mia within an inch of her life, Letty escapes on an incoming tube carriage. Another day, another majorly disturbing fight in the world of “The Fast and the Furious.”
12. Prison break (‘The Fate of the Furious’)
Who says that the drama behind “The Fast and the Furious” franchise is limited to cars? When Hobbs gets the down-low mission of retrieving an EMP device from an outpost in Berlin, he’s warned that he risks arrest if it all goes wrong, which it quickly does. Of course, Hobbs is locked up at the same institution that houses Shaw, which starts the pair’s unlikely foray into an uneasy alliance. This might be a disturbing enough fact for fans, given that the two start out their journey as the worst of foes. Taking their love-hate relationship to the next level, all hell literally breaks loose as they make their escape.
While Shaw does some hardcore parkour around the prison walls, an unarmed Hobbs single-handedly takes on multiple, totally armed officers. Things get even wilder when Hobbs seemingly takes a bullet to the shoulder and merely shrugs it off, then bicep-curls a concrete bench just in case viewers hadn’t fully taken in his muscles. It’s a painful defeat for the inmates left piled up on the floor, and those who survive the ordeal are certainly disturbed enough to require a lifetime of therapy.
11. The Camaro on the yacht (‘2 Fast 2 Furious’)
When Vin Diesel didn’t return for “2 Fast 2 Furious,” it was clear that the team needed to up the ante in order to compensate for his disappearance. One of their solutions was a spectacular action sequence involving an ambitious car jump onto the back of a yacht. In classic franchise style, the bad guys are getting away; O’Conner and Pearce are following the fleeing yacht in a Camaro on the edge of the river, and O’Conner has the bright idea to jump the car off of a ramp and onto the yacht itself.
Judging by the look on Pearce’s face, the idea is disturbing enough on its own, but the scene is coupled with the questionable visuals that “2 Fast 2 Furious” became known for. Though the pair plow onto the back of the yacht at an alarming speed, O’Conner only has a bump on his head to show for it. It might not be one of the film’s most solid sequences, nor is this the best film in the franchise, but there’s certainly enough action to get us by.
10. A tank ruins a lot of folks’ commute (‘Fast & Furious 6’)
When it comes to any movie in the “Fast” franchise, it’s probably sound advice to expect the unexpected. After Shaw’s crew assaults a military convoy towards the end of “Fast & Furious 6,” Toretto manages to get hold of a tank with the help of Letty. It’s the scene that inspires a fan-favorite quote from Tej: “Uh, guys, we gotta come up with another plan — they got a tank!” If there are any anxious drivers on the highway that day, they are sure to get the shock of their life watching a tank mow over any vehicles in its way.
The reason why this scene is so disturbing is the sheer violence of it. The tank is blowing up sections of the road without a care in the world, while the drivers it’s pursuing are feeling the force of explosions at breakneck speed. If that wasn’t enough on its own, O’Conner is on hand to provide some car-based acrobatics, which entail launching himself across the central reservation and into the incoming path of the tank. It’s a nail-biter all the way to the end, when Toretto catches Letty as they both flail through the air in a way that defies gravity.
9. The real-life feud between Vin Diesel and The Rock
Like all families, “The Fast and the Furious” franchise has had its fair share of fighting; most notably, the feud between two stalwarts of the action genre — Vin Diesel and Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson. In 2016, The Rock made a social media post that publicly criticized both the franchise itself and an unnamed male co-star assumed to be Vin Diesel. In the post, he stated that he felt the cast should “conduct themselves as stand-up men and true professionals” (via ABC), though he later clarified his comments during an interview with Variety. “I mean what I say when I say it. But to express it publicly was not the right thing to do,” he explained.
Fastforward to the run-up to “Fast X” and Instagram once again plays a starring role in the pair’s rocky relationship. This time, it’s Vin Diesel who takes to the social media lectern to sing his praises about The Rock as the cast began filming. The post reads: “My little brother Dwayne… the time has come. The world awaits the finale of Fast 10. As you know, my children refer to you as Uncle Dwayne in my house. There is not a holiday that goes by that they and you don’t send well wishes… but the time has come.” That might seem a little sugary to outside eyes, and the sudden over-enthusiasm perhaps suggests that, despite recent spoilery developments, the two are still on shaky terms.
8. Brazilian vault heist (‘Fast Five’)
Though the high-speed chases and dynamic action stunts we see across the “Fast” franchise are incredibly cool, they often defy physics in a way we find disturbing. One such scene is the Brazilian vault heist in “Fast Five,” which closes out the film with exquisite direction and jaw-dropping drama. After Hobbs and Elena are onboarded to help with the heist, our favorite gang break into a Rio police station to steal a vault holding drug lord Hernan Reyes’ money. Not to be understated, our heroes drag the vault through the streets of the city while the cops are hot on their tail.
It shouldn’t be so easy to lug an enormously heavy vault while engaged in a police chase, but somehow the “Fast Five” crew manages to make it look simple. Pedestrians are mowed down at bus stops, LAPVs break through the walls of underground car parks, and Vin Diesel shouts into a walkie-talkie every five seconds. In a nutshell, the scene has everything that a fan could ask for, including the fact that Reyes is left in bad shape. It’s a scene that leaves viewers breathless enough to need a moment to recover.
7. The train escape (‘The Fast and the Furious’)
Back in 2001, “The Fast and the Furious” was tearing out of the gate with plenty of heart-in-your-mouth action sequences. The ending of the film is the first time that viewers see Toretto and O’Conner go head-to-head, proving that good old-fashioned car chases can make for entirely impactful action. After a drive-by shooting by Tran and Lance, O’Conner is in hot pursuit of Toretto until a train crosses their path. Just managing to cross the railroad in time, the pair end their race in a draw, though Toretto crashes his car. In a strange display of sportsmanship, O’Conner offers him the keys to his own ride instead of getting him arrested.
Why are the two being so civil to each other? Maybe subconsciously they know they have an entire franchise of films that they need to get through. The fresh-faced duo look amazing in slo-mo, which takes in the full anguish on their faces as they realize they are heading toward disaster. It’s a classic hair-raising moment and is certainly enough to prove “The Fast and the Furious” is in it for the long haul.
6. The car skydive (‘Furious 7’)
Not only is this action sequence one of the most daring and ridiculous that the “Fast” franchise has ever tried, but there’s an extra layer of poignancy as, with his brothers eventually standing in to help finish the film, “Furious 7” marks Paul Walker’s final movie. En route to ambush a convoy and rescue Ramsey, the team decides to airdrop their modified off-roaders somewhere over the Caucasus Mountains in Azerbaijan. Amazingly, we don’t mean in the iPhone sense.
According to a behind-the-scenes featurette for “Furious 7,” the scene is 100% real. There are the expected CGI elements of the sequence — which are to a much better standard than some of the previous films — but the film’s crew were responsible for pushing parachute-laden vehicles out of a C-130 cargo plane. It could be said that the whole endeavor is totally pointless (why not just drive like usual?), but the impromptu skydiving is still dangerously good fun.
5. Vin Diesel’s attitude (‘Fast X’)
Though the beginning of the end for “The Fast and the Furious” franchise was initially scheduled for Spring 2021, filming didn’t begin until 2022 after being delayed by the COVID-19 pandemic. Only a few days later, reports surfaced that director Justin Lin had quit working on “Fast X,” with the rumor mill churning that it was due to multiple clashes with the franchise’s megastar, Vin Diesel. It’s not the first time that the actor’s reputation has come under scrutiny, and not only because of his very public feud with co-star Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson.
Vin Diesel’s attitude has got him in such a state that even fans of “The Fast and the Furious” franchise have picked up on it. The idea that he is the cause of many of the problems that the films have is a popular theory among Reddit users, with some members adding that he seems to be losing touch with what made the franchise so great in the first place. There certainly isn’t too much surprise surrounding the supposed reasons why Justin Lin left “Fast X,” making Vin Diesel’s alleged real-life attitude one of the most disturbing elements in “The Fast and the Furious.”
4. The runway that never ends (‘Fast & Furious 6’)
By the time “Fast & Furious 6” is drawing to a close, the pivotal scenes all take place on an airport runway. When an enormous cargo plane makes its landing, the men and women of the “Fast” franchise make chase with surprising results. Fans are in for a treat with a death-defying plane explosion alongside what looks like the untimely death of Gal Gadot’s rookie assailant, Gisele. O’Conner and Toretto do what they do best by swooping in as the action men of the hour, hanging out of planes and on top of cars to get the job done.
Instead of the disturbing factor coming from the action itself — however hair-raising it might be — an element of discomfort is rooted in the factual accuracy of the sequence. Many fans have tried to guess how long the runway is in total, with the 13 minutes of fiery action giving the impression that the airport is actually too large to be plausible. According to reports, the runway is estimated to be more than 18 miles long, which vastly offsets the longest recorded paved runway in the world, which comes in at 3.5 miles. Of course, the movies can do exactly what they like, but the logistics of this amazing scene boggle the mind.
3. Remote-controlled cars (‘The Fate of the Furious’)
When there are as many films as there are in the “Fast” franchise, the bog-standard car that you can get in and drive yourself doesn’t always cut the mustard. It might now be said that Jason Momoa is behind the franchise’s best villain, but Charlize Theron’s outing as cyberterrorist Cipher in “The Fate of the Furious” is responsible for taking a car chase and making it automated. While trying to kidnap the Russian defense minister, Cipher’s plans are foiled, which leads her to hack into the electronic system of every car in the city to hunt the gang down. And thus, the phrase “zombie cars” was born.
This scene of endless remote-controlled cars tearing down everything in their path is probably one of the most disturbing moments in the franchise’s history. Drivers across the city look on in horror as their vehicles are pre-programmed to do unthinkable things, including causing life-threatening pileups and destroying buildings and public property. All the while, Cipher sits at a desk a safe distance away and remains as cool as a cucumber. The police take an absolute trouncing here, with the image of driverless cars violently slamming into each other enough to make anyone want to put down their keys.
2. The ‘Fast X’ leak
It’s always annoying when details of a film are released before we see it, but when it came to the recent release of “Fast X,” a huge spoiler quickly made its way into the news. With “F9” having received less than positive reviews across the board, it’s up to the franchise’s 10th installment to try and revive the life and excitement that “Fast” has long held. With preview screenings of “Fast X” taking place a week before the film was released, one national outlet was quick to spoil a major cameo made during a mid-credits’ scene, writing it off as an “exclusive.”
It didn’t take long for fans to be appalled and disturbed in equal measure. Some viewers slammed the outlet for not giving fans the opportunity to enjoy the surprise in cinemas for themselves. Others wondered if it was a ploy to boost ticket sales after the middling reception of “F9,” ensuring that fans will stay excited enough to see the rest of the franchise through.
1. Abu Dhabi tower jump (‘Furious 7’)
The top spot for the most disturbing moment in the “Fast” franchise has to go to something so silly and dangerous that it’s totally unbelievable, and the Abu Dhabi tower jump in “Furious 7” takes the biscuit. If Tom Cruise took on car-based skyscraper stunts in the “Mission Impossible” series, they would probably look something like this. The team takes to the United Arab Emirates to steal a flash drive containing a God’s Eye chip that has been hidden by a billionaire. Retrieving it means paying a visit to the famous Etihad Towers, and all hell breaks loose from there.
Shaw kicks things off by disrupting a party with literally all guns blazing, taking out plenty of henchmen while Toretto gets his hands on the onsite Lykan HyperSport. While trying to locate the chip inside the car, he drives it straight out of one tower and into another, remarkably coming away without a scratch to be seen. There’s no way that the car should have made the jump, let alone inflicted minimal damage along the way. All viewers can do is take in the unrealistic spectacle with their mouths wide open.
