Michelle Rodriguez is named: she never looked better, has the Rousey fight, brings Dom back to life, and punches a man at Race Wars; the reply absolutely agrees it is the favorite movie for the best parts of Letty. — Bill Simmons
Every scene she is in gets better; she makes Brian tougher, Dom more vulnerable and Tej ("Ted" as transcribed) cooler, and is called the best actor in the franchise. — Shea Serrano
The hosts wish she had gotten a dramatic, Oscar-caliber role, citing Widows, and blame bigger forces rather than her. — Bill Simmons
Yes for Wiz Khalifa and Charlie Puth, and yes for Abu Dhabi as the location for one of the highest grossing movies of all time. — Bill Simmons
Apex for action movies with bald stars: Vin Diesel, Statham, the Rock, Tyrese and "Demon Hansu" (as transcribed) in one movie, joked as an unbeatable starting five. — Bill Simmons
The Rock dials it up, especially greeting Statham with the "IT guy ... break that finger six different ways" threat in near professional-wrestling mode; it is not a great performance, perhaps because he had too much going on. — Bill Simmons
Called a favorite casting what-if ever: one host says Denzel Washington turned down Mr. Nobody before Kurt Russell, per "the internet," even with a promised bigger Fast 8 part; the reply is stunned. — Bill Simmons
The hosts guess Denzel was in Oscar mode before Fences and would only do an action movie as its star, citing The Equalizer. — Bill Simmons
Taylor Lautner and "Hallie Berry" (as transcribed) are said to have also been considered; Mr. Nobody had to be older, though Lautner's old-guy face is joked about. — Shea Serrano
Kurt Russell is a great pick as a throwback to late-80s and early-90s action, with an internet theory that he is channeling his 1988 Tequila Sunrise character. — Bill Simmons
Statham is said to have been offered the Owen Shaw role in Fast Six but to have been making Parker and "Wildcard" (as transcribed); he is agreed to be better as the big brother. — Bill Simmons
Lucas Black's return is welcomed; used sparingly, his roughly two-minute scene with a single look works, and it is good to see him with Dom. — Shea Serrano
The facial-recognition technology of the time is called primitive but still holding up, though it would be easier in 2020. — Bill Simmons
Kurt Russell as Mr. Nobody really delivers; a casting what-if is teased that might require paramedics. — Bill Simmons
Jokes note Ramsey being swapped from car to car twice and two head-on Vin Diesel-Statham collisions both men walk away from, cracking their necks. — Bill Simmons
A championship belt of sad songs runs from The Way We Were through Wind Beneath My Wings, Tears in Heaven, Candle in the Wind, I'll Be Missing You, Hallelujah and I Will Remember You, until See You Again took the belt. — Bill Simmons
The reply adds Master P's "I Miss My Homies," recalling a fraternity brother in Omega Delta Phi who died in a car crash after graduation, and says See You Again would make any farewell sad, even Boggs in Shawshank; the Jeff Buckley Hallelujah has a similar effect. — Shea Serrano
Asked for any other pick, the reply names Paul Walker and the other participant agrees, citing the bright, peaceful final shot of him. — Shea Serrano
Walker's earlier films are recalled: the Varsity Blues patio entrance as an introduction for many viewers, She's All That, Joy Ride and Into the Blue; he pulled off the handsome blond guy who is not a jerk, unlike a Johnny Lawrence. — Shea Serrano
Four scenes are picked, with the other participant invited to add more afterward; the first is Statham versus the Rock in a dark, empty FBI office after Elena leaves. — Bill Simmons
Elena is joked to be 15 or 16 months pregnant by the film's chronology without showing it. — Bill Simmons
Statham at the Rock's computer, the "standing right in front of you" exchange, the Rock Bottom move, a grenade, and Hobbs and Elena falling five or six stories onto a car make a great four-minute scene. — Bill Simmons
The reply agrees it is incredible but reads the Rock catching Elena and landing on a car as copying Dom catching Letty in Fast 6, a possible poke at Vin Diesel, likened to a 2015 Durant-Westbrook split. — Shea Serrano
Statham is praised as one of the few believable opponents for the Rock and a genuinely good actor; the Rock is said to dial it up in this film, with a joke that producer Craig would ask for it turned down. — Shea Serrano
Inventive camera angles make the fight look even despite the Rock's size advantage. — Bill Simmons
In an aside on Dom's hospital visit to Hobbs, the hosts sense no warmth given the real-life tension, keep the scene for the information handoff, and wish writer Chris Morgan had leaned into alpha-dog tension. — Bill Simmons
The second pick is the car drop, called one of the most absurd and phenomenal scenes in the franchise; the hosts riff on a name for the crew's hijack unit. — Bill Simmons
The hosts report the drop as practical: a Lockheed C-130 Hercules dropped cars from 12,000 feet, cameras were mounted on the cars, skydivers filmed, 70% landed perfectly, and the landing shots used a pulley system and cranes removed with CGI. — Bill Simmons
The reply had assumed all the stunts in the movie were real. — Shea Serrano
After the drop come Tyrese struggling to land, Dom and Shaw driving off a cliff twice, and Brian jumping between cars at 80 miles an hour, even shoving Ramsey onto a car. — Bill Simmons
Brian's bus fight, the bus dangling over the cliff, his run up the bus with Letty catching him, and Dom driving off the second cliff are called all-time in a theater, with three ridiculous moments listed. — Bill Simmons
A correction: Brian's bus opponent is "Tony Jha" (as transcribed) from "Aung Bak" (as transcribed) and The Protector, not the guy from The Raid; the matchup is likened to Kobe and LeBron guarding each other in an All Star Game, and letting him survive reads as respect. — Shea Serrano
A favorite franchise moment is Brian running up the falling bus and Letty's fishtailing catch followed by a deadpan "you good"; the speaker rewatches it once or twice a month with his youngest son, who screams at the TV. — Shea Serrano
The Shaw-Rock fight is ranked the fourth-best fight in the franchise; each of the top four has Letty or the Rock in it. — Shea Serrano
The bus run is said to have been done for real by a stuntman rather than Paul Walker, in an early sequence already filmed; the set piece runs 10 or 11 minutes. — Bill Simmons
The God's Eye rationale is summarized in 12 seconds, followed by jokes that Shaw keeps showing up anyway and that Dom's crew does not kill people, as the speaker's son noticed. — Shea Serrano
Dom holding up a car with a strained face is compared to Stallone in Cliffhanger, and Shaw keeps showing up while they seek God's Eye to find him. — Bill Simmons
The car jumping from one glass tower to another, Brian's expert roll out of the car, and Dom nearly going out the window are called harrowing and well shot; the picker calls it his runner-up favorite scene. — Bill Simmons
The addition is the Letty-Rousey fight: after Letty's Fast 6 fights with Gina Carano, including a subway fight called the franchise's best fight, or else the Rock versus Vin Diesel in Fast 5, it delivered, capped by the 20-foot fall onto a piano and Rodriguez's winded face; this is also called a runner-up scene. — Shea Serrano
Two dressed-up women fighting at an Oscars-like party is called a rare wrinkle that plays as a full-speed fight rather than a spectacle for men, like "Tony Jha" (as transcribed) versus Walker. — Bill Simmons
The building jump is framed as the point after which nothing is too absurd for the franchise, leading to Fast 8 on the ice and the Rock redirecting a submarine missile. — Shea Serrano
The first film is named a favorite; Fast 5 perfected the recipe of family and action, and Seven turned the volume up as high as possible without losing the emotional weight that Eight and Hobbs and Shaw lack. — Shea Serrano
The last pick is the ending; after Letty revives Dom, the theater wonders how the Walker exit will be handled, and Ramsey's presence on the beach is questioned, with the reply that she was never noticed there. — Shea Serrano
The shots of each character watching the beach, Vin Diesel's "it's never goodbye" and the song kicking in are described, and a Vin Diesel impression is praised as the best of about 200. — Shea Serrano
The montage back to Fast 1, the two cars side by side, Walker's car turning toward the water, and the "For Paul" card are called masterful and perfect. — Bill Simmons
The reply expected Brian to sacrifice himself; the chosen direction is called smart and beautiful and compared with the opening of Up for never losing its effect. — Shea Serrano
Other movie tearjerkers such as The Champ, Terms of Endearment, Steel Magnolias and My Girl are dramas, never action movies, which makes this ending an undeniable level of genius. — Shea Serrano
One participant says Jim Cunningham and others later made a goodbye-to-Grantland video using the song, showing it makes anything emotional. — Bill Simmons
Dom's closing "quarter mile at a time" monologue is read aloud in the Dom voice and praised, with a note on how Dom clips the word brother. — Bill Simmons
The ending is named the pick for most rewatchable scene of this movie, of any Fast movie, and one of the most rewatchable action scenes of all time. — Bill Simmons
The reply agrees these are the four main scenes but finds the ending too draining to pick, choosing the drop onto the mountain with Brian running up the bus and Letty saving him. — Shea Serrano
That choice includes the preceding Tyrese leadership bit and Ramsey profiling the crew, ending with Tyrese's "double alpha man candy" reply; Tyrese is credited with more laughs than anyone in the franchise and the scene is said to represent all of Fast and Furious at once. — Shea Serrano
Brian risking the break-in at Hector's garage while Vince watched him; no good cops anywhere in the franchise, Hobbs included; Brian telling Mia he was a cop; nobody can drive fast in the hills of Echo Park; Dom's crew should be rich from six million dollars in stolen goods; the drive from downtown to Neptune's Net makes no sense
Why did Brian risk sneaking into Hector's garage with Vince side-eyeing him at all times? He was checking whether Hector's crew were hijacking the 18-wheelers after ordering three of everything, but with roughly 36 hours left he should at least have noticed Dom and Vince trailing him; not a great cop.
The franchise has never had a good cop and basically hates cops: Hobbs, The Rock's character, takes the wrong safe in Fast Five, gets his team killed, is beaten up by a seven-inches-shorter Vin Diesel, gets his ass kicked in his own police office by Jason Statham, and calls in criminals to catch Decker or Owen Shaw instead of trying himself; Hobbs terrible cop, Brian also terrible cop.
Why did Brian tell Mia he was a cop? He needed her to tell him what was going on as they were leaving with only a couple of hours left; the hosts think he could have let the case go, and the FBI should have been trailing them anyway.
The finale has the cars flying up and down the hills of Echo Park, where nobody has ever gone more than 35 miles an hour; Craig, asked directly, has been there and never seen anyone speeding, since every hill is like a rollercoaster and a four-year-old might run out.
Shouldn't Dom and everybody have been rich after stealing about six million dollars of stuff? The answer offered is that it was DVD players and that Toretto's Market was in the hole, wasting hundreds of thousands on tuna, with Dom's sandwich and soup plans never working.
A late nitpick: from where they live in downtown LA there is no reason to drive all the way down PCH to Neptune's Net for lunch, a hike squeezed in only for the Point Break nod; the place is still open and a shrimp trip is promised.
The first category is introduced as the Dion Waiters Award for best heat check performance by a role player; nominees open with Scott Conn (as transcribed) as Tweeter, described as Wes Welker crossed with Charlie Sheen and as a blatant rip-off of Mac Davis's character in North Dallas 40, then Amy Smart as Jules, the wet-blanket girlfriend who exists to bring the hero down, with Crank, Crank 2 with Jason Statham and Road Trip recalled.
Asked for Amy Smart thoughts, has none at first, then offers one: she is great in Butterfly Effect. — Shea Serrano
Ali Larder (as transcribed) as Lance's original girlfriend who switches her attention to Mox in the hospital before Lance has even been operated on; her line that this is not about love but about her future is respected as honest, her dream of going to FSU and Tallahassee is mocked, and her debut is compared to Magic Johnson in the 1980 finals.
Billy Bob is called the greatest fat guy in sports movie history, with a debate over whether he has a last name at all, since he is once called William Robert; the last nominee is Miss Davis, the teacher slash stripper.
Asked who wins, first tries John Voight (as transcribed), then gives Ali Larder. — Shea Serrano
Voight is ruled ineligible as a starter who is too big for the award; Larder is called 100% the answer, since nothing is a bigger heat check than the whipped cream bikini, the scene friends told you to see the movie for; an underrated Darcy moment at the party, suggesting the dryer do the work, is debated as noise cover versus an assist.
In the whipped cream scene something is visibly taped on to cover her rear when she walks up from the side, odd modesty given the rest of the costume and a scene where a fat guy throws up hot dogs into the washer; nobody at a football party does laundry; she has only about seven scenes, two on the dryer and one changing in the car on the way from the hospital where her boyfriend's knee was torn up.
Agreement that it is Allie Larder, but Scott Conn's performance should not be slept on: of anyone in the movie he was the spin-off candidate, and a Tweeter half-hour sitcom on Fox would have absolutely worked.
