The first trailer for Universal's eighth entry in the Fast and the Furious series has landed.
The film, known in the US as The Fate of the Furious and simply Fast & Furious 8 internationally, has been directed by Straight Outta Compton's F. Gary Gray. It sees a returning Dominic Toretto (Vin Diesel) turning on his close-knit family of vehicle thieves, manipulated by a mysterious hacker known as Cipher (Charlize Theron).
As Dom is seemingly Superman when it comes to grand theft auto and its surprisingly explosive aftermath, the remaining team - including Michelle Rodriguez's Letty Ortiz, a professional street racer and Dom's wife; Tyrese Gibson's Roman Pearce; and rapper Ludacris as Tej Parker - are brought in by the DSS to take him down. To help, the US government agency arranges the release of Dwayne Johnson's Luke Hobbs and Jason Statham's Deckard Shaw from prison, leading to a globe-trotting grudge match.
The associated image released by Universal even attempts to make the film look somewhat serious, with the core cast huddled around a bunch of technology like they're in a spinoff from CSI. Given the franchise's stories are usually little more than excuses for vehicular stunts bigger than Bond and more explosions than your average Michael Bay movie, chances are the fan base won't care much about any of that. Instead, here are the eight craziest stunts in the trailer alone.
In whatever opening heist is occurring before Dom's betrayal, the team comes in like a wrecking ball, dropping a prepared, massive demolition ball into their pursuers, killing dozens with the equivalent of a fast-moving brick wall.
As Dom turns on the team, he swerves his sleek, speedy sports car into Hobbs' hulking armoured car - flipping it like a pancake. Physics likely says no to this being at all possible.
Cornered by his former allies and literally harpooned in five places, not only does Dom's supercar still function, it proceeds to reverse at speed, pulling three of his opponents into an aerial collision.
Not a stunt, just completely unbelievable - the DSS furnish the criminal crew with a fleet of luxury vehicles (and a tank) worth millions of dollars, just to chase down Dom and Cipher.
After Cipher triggers a massive explosion on an ice sheet, the cars just keep racing along. Instead of, say, collapsing into the frigid waters and killing everyone.
A chase through the streets of a major metropolitan area escalates as a mini-gun shoots down a bunch of cab drivers and churns up a city street.
Every action has an equal and opposite reaction - yet when a machine gun-firing grunt enemy on a snowmobile runs into a man standing with just a severed car door, only the rider flies backwards. Once again, physics says no - and that's to say nothing of the door's apparently bulletproof properties, moments earlier.
More ice-shelf shenanigans, as the crew roars on unperturbed as a giant submarine breaks up through the ice, for one of the most outlandish chase scenes committed to the silver screen.
You'll be able to see just how much more ridiculous the film gets when Fast & Furious 8 opens in the UK on April 17.
This article was originally published by WIRED UK
