F9 Featurette Gives Us All the “Car-nage” Practical Effects

Has any action franchise aged better than The Fast and the Furious? From its humble beginnings as a mediocre 2001 car racing movie, the franchise has evolved to include a massive all-star cast, international locales, and save-the-world stakes. The characters themselves have evolved from street racers to superpowered, unkillable super-spies who still value family above all else. And as each successive film pushes the limits of action (and let’s face it, reality), audiences are treated to more show-stopping car stunts.

F9 finally hits theaters on June 25, and it’s exactly the kind of bombastic summer blockbuster fans have been waiting for. As audiences have been slow to return to movie theaters, F9 is poised to break the box office slump of the past 15 months. And while there’s plenty to enjoy in an F&F film, the number one selling point is, of course, the car stunts.

In a new featurette, “Total Car-Nage,” we get a glimpse behind the scenes of the stunning practical car effects used in the film. In a world overloaded with CGI, the Fast franchise has frequently relied on real stunts. F9 also sees the return of Justin Lin as director. Lin helmed the third, fourth, fifth, and sixth chapters of the series.

The official synopsis for the film reads: “Vin Diesel’s Dom Toretto is leading a quiet life off the grid with Letty and his son, little Brian, but they know that danger always lurks just over their peaceful horizon. This time, that threat will force Dom to confront the sins of his past if he’s going to save those he loves most. His crew joins together to stop a world-shattering plot led by the most skilled assassin and high-performance driver they’ve ever encountered: a man who also happens to be Dom’s forsaken brother, Jakob (John Cena, the upcoming The Suicide Squad).”

Lin has already previewed some of the stunts on his social media pages:

One 4 second shot in #F9. 8 months of prep. 4 days of production. 3 cars destroyed. Work from over a hundred of the most dedicated and talented crew. Best job in the world! pic.twitter.com/QK4wNYvAhE

— Justin Lin (@justinlin) February 7, 2021

Of course, F9 and the previous films in the franchise also rely on VFX in addition to practical stunts. But those practical stunts just hit harder, you know? Vin Diesel and Justin Lin have referred to F9 as the beginning of the end of the storied franchise. F10 and F11 will function as a two-part finale, in the spirit of Avengers: Infinity War and Endgame.

Lin said in an interview with Variety, “Every time I do one of these, it’s always a new challenge, and this one, it wasn’t just one film. I know we’ve been talking about the final chapter for about 10 years, and now that we’re starting to see it come to life, it’s very gratifying. We’ve been talking about for so long. So far, so good. It’s feeling like it’s the right feel, it’s the right move, it’s the right track.”

(image: Universal Pictures)

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