The newest installment of the Fast And/Or Furious franchise raked in a fist-pumping $500 million in its first week. While studio execs will no doubt attribute this to international marketing and appeal to diverse audiences, it probably doesn't hurt that the film features a $3 million car casually driving between two Abu Dhabi skyscrapers.
Universal Studios
But perhaps the most unsung secret to the franchise's success is how surprisingly traditional these films are when it comes to real-world stunts, as evidenced by the following explosionautoporn moments.
#4. Furious 7 Dropped A Bus Off A Cliff, Cars Out Of A Plane
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Although zipping between two absurd pillars of wealth isn't exactly possible without CGI, the above-mentioned skyscraper scene did involve plowing a real car through a 40-foot-high, steel and glass sound stage set. But that's not even close to this scene from the newest film. In order to create the illusion of sports cars falling out of an airplane, they, uh, threw sports cars out of an airplane.
Universal Studios
Universal Studios
"Wheeeeeee!"
Fuck yep. After months of planning, scouting a drop site, and multiple tests, the stunt crew managed to poop cars from 12,000 feet out a C-130 for six takes ... something the stunt coordinator claimed worked 70 percent of the time.
Universal Studios
"The 30 percent that didn't caused 100 percent pants-shitting for those below."
Though they had compact military parachutes designed to deploy at 5,000 feet, the vehicles would often fall apart midair and flail so wildly off course that they would turn up a mile away. The only way this production could get any more impressively dangerous is if we learned they also did that crazy bus jump for real.
Universal Studios
That bus was the nephew of the one from Speed.
Only, wait -- they actually did. To create this "effect," they literally just attached a bus to the side of a 160-foot quarry drop, plopped a stuntman on the side of it (wearing a safety harness), and had him run and jump the fuck off while they pushed the tub of steel straight to hell. All of which was coordinated with a second stuntperson swerving a car dangerously close to the quarry, the only unseen detail being a 35-inch cable tether keeping the action from skidding into oblivion. The whole thing was so crazy expensive to do that the producers almost backed out at the last minute in favor of CGI. Luckily, even the most cold-hearted of studio executives knows there's no point in having millions of dollars if you don't use it to hurtle metal and rubber over the side of a rock formation.
#3. Fast & Furious Strapped Michelle Rodriguez To A Tanker Truck
Universal Studios
The fourth film opens with the all-too-common crime of perilous mountainside gas theft -- the gang taking on a "land train" made up of multiple semi-trucks filled with flammable liquid gold.
Universal Studios
"This was based on our actual pre-production work. Gotta cut budget somehow."
It goes like this: Vin Diesel blasts his muscle-guy car up to the back of the tankers, allowing Michelle Rodriguez one more chance to be killed off by climbing aboard and cutting each tanker loose as souped-up Chevys drive recklessly in reverse to attach themselves to each tanker -- a stunt that obviously required every element to be done for real. From the modified towing trucks ...
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... to the tankers themselves, which were each individually driven by secret drivers ...
Universal Studios
... and, of course, Michelle Rodriguez, who actually clung to a tanker going 25 mph with a small safety strap to keep her from becoming road stew.
Universal Studios
"Don't be ridiculous ... there wouldn't be enough meat left for a stew."
If we had to pick a "least insane stunt" on this list, we guess it would be this. Mind you, this isn't meant to belittle this scene. It's just that the next entry involves an actual goddamn tank.
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