Top 10 Times Fast and Furious Abandoned Reality

“Fast & Furious” (2009)
When we saw a film begin with characters stealing gas, it felt like the series was going back to its relatively more grounded thieving roots. But everything changed after the heist went south. After the gas truck turns over, one of its tanks starts rolling towards Dom. He coolly waits for the perfect window and drives under it. Unfortunately for Dom, it’s unlikely that something that was estimated to be thousands of pounds would achieve the bounce needed for him to make it under. And according to physicist Diandra Leslie-Pelecky, the tanker would’ve been closer to the ground by the time he moved. Seeing Dom abandon his car and take his chances on foot might’ve actually been a bit easier to swallow.

“2 Fast 2 Furious” (2003)
The second movie in the franchise contains a few stunts that push the boundaries of reality. However, the most over-the-top sequence took place near the water. When Brian races to save his ally Monica from a villain’s yacht, he hits a jump that takes his car from the shore to the boat. Even if he got fast enough to stay airborne, the angle of his car would rob him of some of the crucial speed he needed. Brian would have to be able to see the future to know when exactly to launch himself and Roman so that they perfectly landed onto the yacht. To give the movie credit, it does acknowledge the characters wouldn’t walk away unscathed from a 1in a million landing.

“Fast & Furious 6” (2013)
At a time where Letty was struggling with amnesia, a scene forgot to check the physics of landings. While she’s standing atop a moving tank, Dom realizes that an impromptu anchor attached to the vehicle will send her flying. He then manages to crash his car at the perfect spot to launch himself in the air to reach her. Although we can ignore how improbable it was for Dom to grab Letty in mid-air, the landing is harder to ignore. At the speed he was moving, he should’ve at least crashed right through the windshield he landed on. The scene would’ve ended with a lot more broken glass instead of longing looks. Even Letty herself couldn’t help but point out how lucky the duo was.

“The Fate of the Furious" (2017)
Watching Cipher’s sub chase Dom’s crew made for a compelling action sequence. However, it should’ve been a lot shorter. Submarines typically move near 40 mph when underwater. Once they get to the surface, they tend to move under half that speed. Although the cars aren’t going to hit high speeds on ice without spinning out, experts estimate they should reach around 50 mph. That means that Cipher’s chances of getting the submarine to catch up and move underneath them were a lot lower than the movie made it appear. The villain would’ve been better off just lobbing torpedoes at them constantly. Then again, since it’s a world where Hobbs can deflect incoming weapons and Dom can redirect heat seekers, that play would’ve failed too.

“Furious 7” (2015)
One of Dom’s most greatest car escapes would’ve struggled to get off the ground. When the hero needed to get away from a murderous shaw while in a skyscraper, he made several sharp turns. Dom eventually threw caution and the car to the wind by driving his car through a skyscraper window. Multiple experts suggest that Dom could’ve made the jump to the adjoining building…if he was going much faster. Since he had to turn multiple times to avoid Shaw, he would’ve likely lost the necessary speed to make the jump. The car would’ve realistically fell short and plummeted straight down. It was definitely a miracle that Dom rolled away from that incident and safely reached the ground.

“Fast Five" (2011)
Sorry, but we have to address the vault-sized elephant in the room. Dom and Brian aim to speed away with a money-filled safe to get back at a crime lord. However, The vault and its contents are estimated to weigh over 30,000 lbs. Although their vehicles come in at over 4,000 lbs together, they don’t have enough horsepower to pull the safe as fast as they do in the movie. And every time they hit something, they’d slow down even more. Given that the vault collides with a lot of the city, their pursuers should’ve easily been able to outspeed the heroes. And Dom’s solo stint with the safe would not have gone so well for him.

“Hobbs & Shaw” (2019)
To say Luke Hobbs is strong would be an understatement. The man has been able to flex through a cast and knock around multiple armed guards without any issue. However, Hobbs only showed how absurd his muscles really were in his spinoff film. When a chain that’s keeping a helicopter tethered to a truck comes loose, he steps in and holds everything in place himself. Hobbs then secures the chain once more while moving at high speeds. While some science is actually in his favor here, some fans found it hard to see him replicate a stunt that Captain America pulled off. It’s also a bit jarring that the movie's superhuman villain wasn’t the one who accomplished this tremendous feat of strength.

“F9” (2021)
Once Dom’s crew gets their hands on high-powered magnets, they use their new toys to pull off all sorts of cool maneuvers. In the real world, they would hit a roadblock as soon as they tried to put them in their cars. It’s unlikely each vehicle could generate enough power to pull appliances and large objects. And even if the crew got their hands on a reliable mobile magnet, they wouldn’t have been able to pull a car through a building without pulling tons of smaller items. Repelling a vehicle probably would’ve been a non-starter as well. Almost everything the crew accomplishes in this sequence would repel the average scientist.

“The Fast and Furious Franchise” (2001-)
Although “Tokyo Drift” is technically the third film in the series, its events were later stated to take place in between the sixth and seventh movies. But that retcon makes watching the Japan-set story increasingly bizarre. All of the technology in “Tokyo Drift” heavily hints that the movie takes place in the mid 2000s. However, “Furious 6” has several indications that the characters are living in 2013. This timeline swap was realistically done so we could get more of Han in the movies. But since the franchise hasn’t introduced time travel…yet, the only explanation is that this version of Japan was all about early 2000s fashion and tech. Honestly, it all makes about as much sense as Han’s fake death and revival.

“F9” (2021)
It may be surprising to hear that Tej and Roman’s trip to the stars isn’t completely impossible. If their reinforced car could handle the force of the huge rockets it was attached to, the duo could reach space. But other details would get in the way. After losing the car, Roman and Tej would have trouble reaching the International Space Station in their homemade spacesuits. The extreme temperatures and pressure changes could’ve been disastrous for them. And if everything had gone right with their car, it’s unclear how they would’ve safely come back to Earth. Although the space sequence reached for the stars, it doesn’t entirely hold up against the light of science.