Finally I’ve found a film car chase that doesn’t annoy me, and in the most unlikely of places. Movie car chases have, in recent times, given me a problem. You’ll know why: somebody will be driving flat out when a close-up shows them shifting down a gear, or slamming their foot hard on the throttle, as if they wouldn’t already be doing it.
This almost-but-not-quite-happens in Fast & Furious: Hobbs and Shaw, but it doesn’t seem to matter. F&F: H&B has car chases in but isn’t even pretending to be a car film, which I think is the important thing.
Despite having Fast & Furious in the title, it’s a pure brain-out action flick with ludicrous punching, kicking and explosions, and instead of a drag race where two cars take turns to nudge ahead of each other like never happens in real life. So it features a pick-up truck turned into a flamethrower, and a tow truck drifting. While attached to a helicopter. Which is airborne.
Ridiculous stuff, but it’s very well done, and clearly lots of it was actually created in genuine live action stunts with real drivers, flames and a helicopter. Fair play.
â– Movie makers aren’t alone in trying to make cars look dramatic on camera. We’re at it too, and thankfully, I think cars are more receptive to being driven dramatically – which means in pictorial or video standards, with their tyres on fire – than ever. Cars have more power and torque than ever, modern steering is light and quick, and today’s high body rigidity lets cars respond to inputs brilliantly quickly.
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Yes, today's high end cars
Yes, today's high end cars are easier to drift than ever. But only high end cars. Most people never buy or experience these.
I fondly remember the days when quality car magazines had to print a photo of every car they reviewed going sideways just to prove they had tested it properly. This would be ludicrous now: mainstream cars never slide these days.