Defying gravity is the default in the Fast & Furious films.
For 22 years, the series has sent vehicles of every shape, size, and price tag soaring into the air — whether a Lykan HyperSport jumping between multiple skyscrapers or a rocket-modified Pontiac Fiero being sent into actual orbit.
Why drive the whole way to a rescue mission when you can airdrop your team in their own cars from a plane? Why stealth a heist from a police station when you can drag the whole safe out behind your car? Torpedo incoming? Just steer it with your own bare hands.
SEE ALSO: 'Fast X' review: How do you top blasting a car into space? Two words: Jason Momoa.Here, in chronological order (yes, to show you how chaotic things become), are the most ridiculous, physics-defying, jaw-dropping, or just plain silly stunts that have happened in the Fast & Furious franchise. You'll note there's nothing from the very first film, The Fast and the Furious, because there's nothing ridiculous about the best movie of the series.
Haven't seen the films? Well, before the below spoils it all for you, read Mashable's guide on where to watch all the Fast & Furious films.
1. The scramble in 2 Fast 2 Furious
Evading Miami's finest and intending to flee with villain Carter Verone's (Cole Hauser) millions, Brian O'Conner (Paul Walker) and Roman Pierce (Tyrese Gibson) pull a scramble on the cops. Leading a Blues Brothers–worthy chase across the city, the pair drive into a garage, and with the help of Tej Parker (Chris "Ludacris" Bridges) and Suki (Devon Aoki), hundreds of cars emerge. The switcheroo confuses (and smashes into) the cops, letting Brian and Roman escape the watchful eye of the FBI with the loot.
2. Muscle car smooshes luxury yacht in 2 Fast 2 Furious
In order to save undercover FBI agent Monica Fuentes (Eva Mendes) from Verone, Brian and Roman drive a 1969 Yenko Camaro SYC from land in the Florida Keys into the air and onto the villain's speeding luxury yacht. Luckily, Monica was below deck when they landed. The whole thing has The Man With the Golden Gun corkscrew jump energy.
3. The Shibuya Crossing drift in Tokyo Drift
Racing through the world's busiest pedestrian crossing, Tokyo's Shibuya Crossing, Han (Sung Kang), Sean (Lucas Black), and Neela (Nathalie Kelley), pursued by Takashi Kamata (Brian Tee), drift around one of the corners in slow motion without hitting a single pedestrian. It's simply beautiful to watch.
Credit: Universal / Kobal / Shutterstock4. Dom scooching under a tanker in Fast & Furious
Eight years after the original film, the main cast is back together and still hijacking trucks, this time in the Dominican Republic. When everything goes wrong with a gas tanker target, we end up in a situation where Dom and Letty (Michelle Rodriguez) are staring down the face of a burning, tumbling tanker coming straight for their 1987 Buick Grand National. Picking the absolute last moment, Dom stomps the accelerator and manages to scooch just underneath the perfectly bouncing blaze of doom.
5. Dom drives out of a moving, burning train in Fast Five
Credit: Universal / Kobal / ShutterstockAfter their great train robbery goes pear-shaped at the start of Fast Five, Dom drives a 1963 Chevrolet Corvette Grand Sport out of a moving carriage with a perfect landing, then manages to drive close enough to save Brian from a burning rig before he gets smooshed by the upcoming rail bridge. With no room to brake, Dom drives the frankly stunning car off a cliff as Brian and Dom leap from the car in slow motion free fall.
6. The exploding toilet in Fast Five
As part of their plan to rob the police station vault and drive away with Reyes' cash, Tego Leo (Tego Calderón) and Rico Santos (Don Omar) are tasked with blowing up the facility's plumbing in order to gain access to the station's surveillance system. Finding the right pipe in the basement, the pair set the charges as we watch an evidence technician (Carlos Sanchez) unknowingly wander into the bathrooms with a newspaper, set for a long stay. Yes, whatever you're thinking is exactly what happens. A brown plume of excrement and putrid water explodes through the stalls and all over the officer. Noice.
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When the opp for subtlety goes out the window in the Reyes heist in Fast Five, DSS allies Luke Hobbs (Dwayne Johnson) and Elena Neves (Elsa Pataky) bust into the police compound using an armored vehicle and plunge straight into the wall where the Brazilian drug lord's vault sits. Following closely behind, Dom and Brian attach strong cables to the safe and their cars. You know where this is going. Our heroes pull that thing right out of the wall and drag it through the streets of Rio pursued by every cop in town. Suffice it to say, corners prove a curse and a blessing for this supersized flail.
8. The tank flip-and-catch in Fast & Furious 6
During the final chase sequence in Fast & Furious 6, when villain Owen Shaw's (Luke Evans) crew attacks a military convoy, the bad guy drives a tank through the front of an armored vehicle, then starts firing on Dom and his team and driving through civilians. Roman ends up in front of the tank, but is saved by jumping onto Brian's car, but not before he ties his own Mustang to the tank with a cable. Using this as an "anchor," Brian shoves the Mustang off the raised highway bridge. It'd be a good plan if Letty hadn't been standing on top of the speeding tank when it gets flipped. Luckily, Dom opens his own car door just as Letty gets flung into the air between two raised highways. Dom slams his own car into the barrier, flies through the sky, catches Letty, and lands on the hood of a car on the opposite road. What aim!
Credit: Universal / Kobal / Shutterstock9. The airborne multi-car drop in Furious 7
In order to rescue hacker Ramsey (Nathalie Emmanuel), who has been captured by terrorist Mose Jakande (Djimon Hounsou) for her facial recognition technology God's Eye, the team decides to use the element of surprise by launching their vehicles from a Lockheed C-130 Hercules plane. In a highly complicated stunt devised by stunt veteran Spiro Razatos, the Family airdrops their cars over Azerbaijan's Caucasus Mountains. We're talking Dom's 1970 Dodge Charger R/T, Brian's 2012 Subaru Impreza WRX STi, Tej's 2015 armored Jeep Wrangler, Letty's 2011 Dodge Challenger SRT, and Roman's 1967 Chevrolet Camaro Z28, all just dropped from the sky.
10. Brian's close call in Furious 7
In a scene reminiscent of Uncharted or The Lost World, Brian finds himself at the edge of a cliff in a teetering bus-like vehicle during Ramsey's rescue in Furious 7. Getting out of that thing at the last minute and running up its length, Brian makes a last-minute jump and grabs Letty's conveniently timed rear spoiler, saving his ass.
Credit: Moviestore / Shutterstock11. The "cars don't fly" triple skyscraper jump in Furious 7
This has to be one of the best stunts in the entire Fast franchise.
Watching Diesel drive a $3.4 million dollar Lykan HyperSport through not one but two of Abu Dhabi's Etihad Towers is, genuinely, just one of the major stunts in Furious 7. But folks, it's fucking beautiful. "Dom, cars don't fly," Brian insists before Dom makes them do exactly that, eventually sending the prince's car plummeting to the ground in an audibly sad moan.
12. Dom's strangely effective street stomp in Furious 7
After Jakande's helicopter sends a missile into the parking garage where Dom and Deckard Shaw (Jason Statham) are wrench fighting, the floor cracks. Dom says the line, "Thing about street fights. The street always wins," and stomps on the concrete so Shaw falls into an abyss. Perfect.
13. Dom and Hobbs' team helicopter takedown in Furious 7
With a broken arm released from its cast with an outstandingly ridiculous muscle flex — "Daddy's gotta go to work" — Hobbs not only drives an ambulance off a bridge into a drone, but drags its minigun down the street to fire at Jakande's helicopter. Dom outruns the collapsing parking lot in his car, drives up a ramp, does a jump toward the helicopter, hangs a bag of grenades neatly on the side of it, then crashes. Hobbs then shoots said bag of grenades with his pistol. It's a little too good.
14. Dom's shitbox car race in The Fate of the Furious
In the opening sequence of The Fate of the Furious, Dom stands up for his cousin Fernando (Janmarco Santiago) by challenging Raldo (Celestino Cornielle) to a race through the streets of Havana. Problem is, he's got to use his cousin's car, a 1950 Chevrolet Fleetline falling apart at the seams. Letty and Dom add a little NOS under the hood, which works but also makes his engine burst into flames, so he drives the thing backwards.
Credit: Universal / Kobal / Shutterstock15. Tej's wrecking ball bowling in The Fate of the Furious
Hobbs requests Dom and team to meet in Berlin for a job involving the theft of an EMP and blowing up a facility in Berlin. As the crew spilt in their cars at the perfect moment, Tej releases a giant wrecking ball right into the German police cars pursuing them — and back again.
16. The night of the living remote-controlled cars in The Fate of the Furious
"It's zombie time." In pursuit of the Russian defence minister, cyber terrorist Cipher (Charlize Theron) takes control of every chip within a three-mile radius in Manhattan, meaning every car becomes under her control. "Make it rain" means cars fly out a skyscraper garage window like giant, metal drops.
17. Hobbs steering a torpedo with his bare hands in The Fate of the Furious
When Cipher's submarine launches torpedoes at the Family speeding across the ice, Hobbs asks Roman to take the wheel of the enormous armored vehicle they're both in, gets out, holds the torpedo that's speeding across the ice with his bare hands, then has Roman turn the wheel left and back to point it at one of the enemy vehicles. It's so casual it should be banned.
18. Roman's underwater rescue in The Fate of the Furious
During the ice pursuit, Roman is spinning out on ice in his Lamborghini Murciélago LP640. As their enemies send missiles and create a massive hole in the ice, Roman's Lambo goes in nose-first. Tej, driving an army tank, grapple-hooks Roman's door and pulls him through the ice with his door like a sled.
Credit: Universal / Kobal / Shutterstock19. Dom blowing up a military sub in The Fate of the Furious
Cipher's prize, the nuclear missile on a Russian military submarine, means a wonderfully ridiculous sequence of events that leads to the villain hitting the green button on heat-seeking missiles aimed at Dom's car (after she's broken the ice with it). Unfortunately for Cipher, Dom leads them right to a much bigger target, the submarine she's attempting to get to open water, leaping over it in his custom Dodge Charger and surviving the subsequent explosion.
20. Shaw's baby rescue in The Fate of the Furious
Shaw brothers reunited! Dom trusts new ally Deckard Shaw with Cipher's plane coordinates, allowing him to infiltrate the villain's base with his brother Owen, the villain from Fast & Furious 6. His target? Dom's surprise son, who Cipher has kidnapped. Finding the wee bairn, Shaw pops some baby headphones on his little head, plays "The Chipmunk Song" by Alvin and the Chipmunks, and gives the little one a wink before beating and shooting the shit out of Cipher's henchmen. It's weirdly adorable.
Credit: Matt Kennedy / Universal / Kobal / Shutterstock21. Roman's land mines scrape in F9
In the jungle of Montequinto, the landmines “how fast do we have to drive to beat them” sequence in F9 is some highly stressful action. Driving over a mine, Roman's dramatically armored vehicle gets caught, explodes into the air, and becomes wedged between two enormous boulders hanging over another landmine. Roman slowly edges his way out of the truck, comes face to face with the mine, and rolls away, seemingly smooshed by the truck during the explosion. But he's OK! "How in the hell are you not dead?" asks an incredulous Tej.
Credit: Universal Pictures / Moviestore / Shutterstock22. The feeble rope bridge swing in F9
Driving a heavy vehicle over a rope bridge seems like a decision, and it's one that ends up exactly how you think it will in F9. During the Montequinto sequence, a tumbling vehicle cuts off the rope bridge while Ramsey, Tej, and Roman are crossing it, but they manage to drive up the last few planks. When Letty and Dom try to use the same bridge to escape their pursuers, Dom somehow sweeps up the singular rope left from the broken bridge in his wheel to swing across the chasm in their car.
"Well that was new," says Letty.
23. Tej and Roman go to space in F9
This is the big one, folks. SPACE.
In order to destroy the satellite Cipher is planning to use, Roman and Tej are tasked with becoming real, actual, genuine, sort of astronauts. In a rocket-modified Pontiac Fiero equipped by the Tokyo Drift team, Tej and Roman blast off through the atmosphere and successfully enter orbit while screaming the classic Han Solo line, "PUNCH IT!"
Credit: Universal Pictures / Moviestore / Shutterstock24. Dom's magnet sandwich in F9
Magnets get a good run in F9, including when non-driver Ramsey makes a meal out of Edinburgh during a chase sequence, pulling smartphones and keys from school kids along the way, and pulling villain Otto's (Thue Ersted Rasmussen) car through a building.
But the best sequence is the epic chase scene, which includes Dom's magnet sandwich — when two enormous armored vehicles get stuck to Dom's Charger, then propelled away, totalling a stream of parked cars.
25. Dante's Indiana Jones-style bomb through Rome in Fast X
Perched in his marble tower with a remote control device, a cackling Dante (Jason Momoa) unleashes a giant spherical bomb upon the streets of Rome. Singing Neapolitan opera classic "O sole mio," into the Family's earpieces, Dante has a rather dramatic target in mind. "What are we blowing up?" Dante teasingly asks his captive henchmen. "The Vatican? Wow. You guys are going to hell."
As the bomb picks up speed rolling toward St. Peters, the whole scene has the effect of a Raiders of the Lost Ark–style ball chase, as Letty tries to evade it on her motorbike, and Dom drives backwards down ancient Roman stairs to get out of its way. It's all ridiculous.
Credit: Universal PicturesAt one point, it hurtles past an outdoor restaurant. In pursuit, Dom, not one to let diners get fried, manages to pull what's known as a skiing stunt (driving on two wheels on one side of the car) to drag the awning of the restaurant down with his car, blocking the fiery inferno. Such manners.
26. Dom's crane bomb pinball in Fast X
It's got to be one of the best stunts in Fast X.
As Dante's flaming bomb hurtles toward St. Peters and Vatican City, Dom hits the NOS button and charges into a crane on a bridge, which whips around and pinballs the bomb straight into the Tiber River seconds before it explodes.
Credit: Universal Pictures27. Jakob's vodka-powered aircraft in Fast X
Escaping assailants on their flight, Jakob (John Cena) and Little B ((Leo Abelo Perry) get help from a flight attendant (played by Paul Walker's daughter, Meadow), who places three tiny bottles of vodka on Jakob's tray. "It's good to have friends in high places,” says Jakob, before taking Little B into the hold, where a tiny aircraft is waiting — Jakob had disguised it as a kayak for check-in. Those three tiny 50 milliliter bottles of vodka? The fuel for the plane. Now, I'm no scientist, but how this plane makes it to a safe landing is beyond me.
28. Dom's plane drop in the Charger in Fast X
This one feels like a throwback to the plane drop in Furious 7. As Dante pursues Jakob's cannon-customised 1967 Chevrolet El Camino in order to kidnap Little B, Dom figures the fastest way to reach his enemy is by airdropping his Dodge Charger on top of the car of one of Dante's henchmen. He lands it and drives right into the race.
Credit: Universal Pictures29. Dom leashed by two helicopters in Fast X
During the final showdown between Dom and Dante, Dom's Charger is leashed by two helicopters. Casual. How would a Toretto get out of such a predicament? NOS, of course. Dom hits the button and launches off the highway he's on, which pulls the helicopters together and makes them smash around and hit a bunch of cars. In all this, Dom manages to catch his son Little B midair, jumping from the villain's car into his father's.
"Did you hit me with a helicopter back there? Ow! Ya big brute," is all Dante can say about all this.
Credit: Universal Studios30. The dam slide in Fast X
The minute you see the dam in Fast X, you know where this is going. Dom finds himself in the centre of the top of Aldeadávila Dam in Salamanca, Spain, with Dante's remote-controlled semi-trailers at each end. As the trucks hurtle toward Dom and Little B, there's only one option. Dom floors it, drives off the edge of the dam and down its face as an enormous explosion chases them. Tires burning, Dom hits the NOS, and makes it to the water below.
