The franchise has always managed to balance CGI with real stunts

August 5, 2023 2:54 PM

The 20 Year Evolution of Fast and Furious Car Chases [1h11m, CineFix/IGN] was released before Fast X, but there's still plenty of material there. If you like this kind of thing, you'll like this.
posted by hippybear (13 comments total)

Oh yeah, there are a lot of stunt car wrecks in this, but they are footage of cars wrecking. So content warning for that.
posted by hippybear at 2:58 PM on August 5, 2023

I think the ridiculousness peaked with tanks and wires and helicopters and bazookas on an elevated highway in I think #8. But they are a lot of fun, even if when they film one in a place you know you suddenly realize how fast & furiously loose they are playing with geography & roadworks...
posted by chavenet at 3:38 PM on August 5, 2023 [1 favorite]

Needs to go back the basics of the cameras view traveling through the engine of the car as the nitro hits during a streetrace.
posted by Artw at 5:13 PM on August 5, 2023 [2 favorites]

But they are a lot of fun, even if when they film one in a place you know you suddenly realize how fast & furiously loose they are playing with geography & roadworks..

That is all car chase scenes, though. I loved seeing my hometown in Baby Driver, but the jumps in geography were pretty ridic.
posted by billjings at 7:13 PM on August 5, 2023 [1 favorite]

I think the ridiculousness peaked with tanks and wires and helicopters and bazookas on an elevated highway in I think #8

Ahem... That would be 6.
posted by brundlefly at 12:05 AM on August 6, 2023

Also, one of the best elements of the F&F franchise has always been the practical stunts. So lovely.
posted by brundlefly at 12:28 AM on August 6, 2023 [1 favorite]

Ahem you are forgetting family.
posted by Artw at 8:11 AM on August 6, 2023 [5 favorites]

Dude. That goes without saying. I said ONE OF the best things.
posted by brundlefly at 9:11 AM on August 6, 2023 [2 favorites]

I mean, the fact that they were shoving cars out the side of a moving railroad train onto the back of a truck outside that would peel away "stealing" the car, and that they did that actually in camera and not in computer, that's pretty amazing.

I really enjoyed this video for how it showed how shots were lined up and created to work with the CGI elements, expanding the language of both stunt work and CGI in chase sequences. It's an elegant continually building spiral, and it's continually innovative.

I've only seen one of the movies, but wow, I really enjoyed this summary of stunt work and shot planning.
posted by hippybear at 11:26 AM on August 6, 2023 [1 favorite]

Oh and they shouldn’t put the Eastwood kid in things, he creeps me out.
posted by Artw at 12:31 PM on August 6, 2023

Within 60 seconds, my suspicions about the franchise were confirmed... "... lets start with a car, lets crash it...".

(It is pure silly fun ... for the whole family...)
posted by rozcakj at 6:56 AM on August 8, 2023

I think the ridiculousness peaked with tanks and wires and helicopters and bazookas on an elevated highway

I've identified the moment the producers said "Fuck it!" to be the Shibuya Crossing scene in Tokyo Drift.
posted by mikelieman at 11:28 AM on August 8, 2023

Tokyo Drift is a movie in which an American teen is punished for their juvenile delinquency by making them go live in Japan. I think we are taking some leaps right from the start.
posted by Artw at 1:06 PM on August 8, 2023