The Fast and Furious franchise is undeniably one of the most popular action franchises ever developed by Hollywood. It is flashy, sleek, and filled with action. However, if you like fast, flashy cars and adrenaline-infused films like the Fast and Furious franchise, here are recommended movies that will get your heart racing.
10 Movies that are similar to Fast and the Furious are:
- Need For Speed – 2014
- Death Race – 2008
- Mad Max: Fury Road – 2015
- Gone in 60 Seconds – 2000
- Baby Driver – 2017
- Rush – 2013
- The Transporter – 2002
- Speed – 1994
- The Italian Job – 2003
- Death Proof – 2007
Whether you love or despise the Fast and Furious franchise, it’s impossible to deny that it has a certain allure. These movies are a guilty pleasure for those who want a no-brainer action extravaganza, no matter how ridiculous some of the scenes are. With that said, here is what they have to offer.
10 Fast And The Furious Movie Alternatives
All these heart-pumping movies have in common is the nail-biting action that keeps the popcorn tasting great and you at the edge of your seat, whether you are in for the fast cars, for the action, or both! Let’s start with Need for Speed.
Related: ‘Fast & Furious 6’ is ridiculous enough to be fun despite being overlong
1. Need For Speed – 2014
Need For Speed is a more grounded version of the Fast And Furious franchise, based on the popular video game franchise. The automobiles are authentic and drool-worthy, the modifications aren’t ridiculous, and the action sequences don’t make you laugh out loud. It also features Aaron Paul!
I wouldn’t call Fast and Furious and Need for Speed direct rivals because they take different techniques, but there’s no denying that Need for Speed is aimed at a comparable audience.
It’s a conventional vengeance story in which the protagonist must redeem himself by winning a race. Despite the monotonous plot, the chase moments are plenty and thrilling. Every time Aaron is on screen, you’ll be on the edge of your seat.
To summarize, while Need for Speed lacks the grandeur of the Fast and Furious franchise, it nonetheless stands on its own as a solo picture.
2. Death Race – 2008
This 2008 action flick, which delves into the world of corny, is every man’s guilty pleasure. As the title indicates, the film, which stars Jason Statham as Frankenstein, promises a lot of spectacular racing and fatalities.
Jason portrays an ex-convict and NASCAR racer who is facing incarceration for a crime he did not commit. He is sent to a private jail, where he bargains with the authorities: Frankenstein will compete in a race and be released if he wins.
Machine guns, turrets, bazookas, and napalm are all used in this race, so things aren’t that straightforward. The remainder of the story revolves around whether Frankenstein wins this insane race and gets his freedom.
Despite needing a full 40 minutes to fire its engines properly, the movie doesn’t drag because of its character interaction. And the ensuing racing is all the gladiatorially inclined might dream for: loud, quick, hyper-edited, and pulverizing devastating.
It’s unclear why the jail resembles an abandoned industrial site, but there are plenty of steely protrusions on which detainees can get brained. There’s a good chance you’ll cringe more than once.
The picture stays on track because of Statham’s stoic portrayal. Sadly, no other character is very noteworthy. On the other hand, the over-the-top action sequences more than makeup for the absence of real acting. Death Race is formulaic and arrogant, but it’s a blast from start to finish.
3. Mad Max: Fury Road – 2015
The words that best define the actions taken place by Tom Hardy are bizarre, supercharged, and balls to the wall wild. There is significant water scarcity in the post-apocalyptic future, and most of the Earth is a barren wasteland.
Though many doubted Miller’s ability to make a new Mad Max picture that lived up to the original trilogy’s heritage, the film eventually did more than honor the original trilogy’s legacy.
Indeed, Fury Road is now universally regarded as the finest of all Mad Max films, a remarkable achievement that has given the series’ extended hiatus. Of course, Mad Max is back, but this time without Mel Gibson, the man who made the character famous in the first place.
Instead, Tom Hardy plays the series’ lone warrior of the wastelands, while Charlize Theron plays the film’s true hero, the savage Furiosa.
Max, a tenacious survivor in this arid wasteland, gets into problems when three crazed goons kidnap him and take him to their war-torn realm. The film will have you excited inside the first five minutes.
Mad Max is an action lover’s dream, with gigantic rigs transporting concubines, a wild goose chase over the desert, and an epic rock soundtrack. It’s off the charts when it comes to insane behavior.
The moment in which Nicholas Hoult is driving through a tremendous sandstorm, witnessing people and fireballs shower down like confetti, is a wonderful illustration.
When he sees the carnage, he shouts, “Oh, what a day! What a lovely day!” This film is a one-of-a-kind cinematic experience. Please don’t take my word for it; see for yourself.
4. Gone In 60 Seconds – 2000
When Nicholas Cage was a bankable celebrity in the industry, he starred in this polished action film. Angelina Jolie and Robert Duvall star with him in the movie. Gone in 60 Seconds tells the story of a great thief who is faced with an impossible mission.
Released on August 4, 2000, Dominic Sena’s Gone In 60 Seconds tells the story of Randall ‘Memphis’ Raines. Years after going straight, Kip, the younger brother of a former car thief, is dragged back into it when he ruins a deal to steal fifty high-end cars for British gangster Raymond Calitri.
Raymond will give Kips the night off if Randall can deliver fifty particular automobiles to him in the next 72 hours. With the clock ticking down, Randall must assemble his old team, collaborate with his brother’s group, and pull off the ideal haul in one night to save his brother’s life, all while the LAPD closes in on them.
The gauntlet is thrown down, and we witness an old heist crew reuniting, as well as the rebuilding of a fractured brotherly relationship. As the gang plots how to steal every car in one night without drawing unwanted attention, the film builds up to the heist throughout the film.
While the plot is rather conventional (it being, after all, a late 1990s Jerry Bruckheimer film set in the 2000s), I was nonetheless interested in how the heist night would unfold. That is, however, where the film’s brilliance resides. It promises outrageous action and delivers just that.
5. Baby Driver – 2017
Baby Driver has insane fast-car chase scenes, a huge background soundtrack, and a thoughtful reflection on the hero’s emotional journey. Baby Driver, starring Ansel Engort, depicts one man’s attempt to leave his past behind while yearning for something new.
Baby is an unexpected member of Doc’s constantly revolving gang of tooled-up thieves, and one whom the others (including Jamie Foxx, Jon Bernthal, Eiza González, and Jon Hamm in significant parts) don’t quite trust.
He’s a quiet guy with dollar-store sunglasses on his eyes and white Apple earphones that are nearly permanently stuck to his ears. The latter is due to tinnitus, the result of the same automobile accident that orphaned him, and serves as a justification for the film’s persistent, deep-cut music.
Despite his youthful appearance and semi-aloof demeanor in briefings, it’s evident that there’s no one else you’d rather have behind the wheel.
As a director, Edgar Wright does a fantastic job with Baby Driver. The action addicts will be satisfied by the lead actors’ strong performances and the outrageous action sequences.
There’s more to it than meets the eye, though. Behind the mundane narrative comes a depiction of the protagonist’s severe emotional agony. Ansel’s character is fleeing not only from the crowd but also from himself.
6. Rush – 2013
Look no farther than this Ron Howard-directed action thriller if you’re seeking a realistic action thriller. Rush is considered one of the greatest racing pictures on the big screen in recent years.
This gripping documentary tells the true lives of Nikki Lauda and James Hunt, two Formula One driver who had a savage professional rivalry. Although they are both formidable racers, their attitudes are poles apart. Hunt may be arrogant, reckless, and even irresponsible at times, whereas Lauda emanates humility and inner agony.
When it comes to mixing heavy-handed action sequences with a riveting plot, Rush gets top marks. The film skillfully weaves together the emotional backstories of two racing icons with adrenaline-fueled races to create a holistic cinematic experience.
It’s hard to find anything to complain about as everything is virtually flawless, from the realistic performances to the hypnotic cinematography. Rush is a captivating film to see for race fans and anybody who appreciates good filmmaking.
7. The Transporter – 2002
The United States is where most action films featuring heart-racing automobile races are filmed. This classic starring Jason Statham, on the other hand, is situated in a gorgeous French village. Jason portrays Frank Martin, a truck driver specializing in delivering merchandise with no questions asked.
On the other hand, things spiral out of control when he makes the mistake of breaching this golden rule one day. Frank is also a skilled driver. The opening bank heist sequence establishes his ability and demonstrates how good the E38 looks from a low angle.
It sounds great when he winds out the revs, how rewarding a non-performance executive sedan can be to drive, and how ridiculous this movie is willing to be with the campy French cops and awkward bridge jump.
The Transporter‘s approach sets it unique from previous films similar to the Fast and the Furious. While most action movies of this kind might be a little brash, this taut flick manages to keep things tasteful, or maybe it’s simply the European location at work.
Everything runs smoothly, like a well-oiled machine, from nail-biting fighting to pursuit sequences. Jason’s deadpan delivery is spot on, and he has a sleek, sophisticated, and lethal demeanor, and he plays his part with flair.
Over the years, this film has gained cult status. You’ll understand why after seeing it.
8. Speed – 1994
It would be sacrilege not to put this Keanu Reeves on this list of masterpieces. This short flick has every component for a nail-biting action movie: suspense, tension, drama, and semi-corny banter.
The story follows SWAT officer Jack Traven as he tries to save passengers on a speeding bus. Howard Payne, a terrorist, has rigged the bus with explosives that will detonate when the speed limit drops below fifty miles per hour.
Without the bomb going off, it’s up to Jack and his buddy to save civilians from the moving death machine. One of Speed’s strongest assets is its unrelenting poignancy. It spends a lot of time with anxious passengers who are trying to make sense of the situation.
Speed is sometimes criticized as a rip-off of Die Hard, but this is an injustice to one of the finest action movie plots ever. In its simplicity, the concept of a bus full of passengers that can’t slow down or it would explode is fantastic.
The audience is immediately prepared for a delightful journey thanks to this unique but approachable concept. It adds to the film’s fast-paced excitement while also keeping viewers on the edge of their seats.
Though it parallels other action movies, its brilliant idea puts it in a class of its own. Keanu and Sandra Bullock carry most of the film on their shoulders, so there’s hardly much to criticize. This clever feature is not to be missed if you enjoy action blockbusters like Fast And Furious.
9. The Italian Job – 2003
The Italian Job is an underappreciated film featuring an all-star ensemble that is a family-friendly robbery thriller. Mark Wahlberg portrays an enjoyable felon, as you might expect. But when Edward Norton’s band of gold thieves betrays him at the expense of Donald Sutherland, vengeance is in order.
This film is corny, but it recognizes it. The Mini Coopers, which are a crucial element of the robbery, is its most remembered aspect. It’s a model from the original film, but this update adds a lot more automobile action.
The cast provides outstanding performances in this action film about a robbery gone awry and how the gang chooses to put things right. Oh, and the motorized eye candy is also really genuine.
The robbery is based on the whole film’s conclusion, which zooms across Los Angeles with a large budget. Overall, it’s a light-hearted comedy with a satisfying payoff.
10. Death Proof – 2007
This action film is directed by Quentin Tarantino, who is known for his eccentric manner. This film features spectacular vehicle stunts as well as fantastic scary themes. Kurt Russell is a stunt driver who uses his silky talking to seduce ladies at dive bars.
He drives them home to murder them in the most inventive ways possible with his vehicle. When a gang of victims puts up a fight, though, this psychopath gets more than he can handle.
Because of how far it’s ready to push the edge on car-chase craziness, employing computers freely to go as far as possible, the Fast & Furious franchise has become a multibillion-dollar business. (Don’t forget about the period when automobiles could jump from one building to the next.)
However, Quentin Tarantino’s part of the infamously commercially disastrous Grindhouse picture is far more lo-fi, a tribute to Hal Needham’s 1970s practical stunt work.
This film shows Tarantino’s weird and flamboyant flair. It begins as one thing and quickly shifts into a whole other path. The chats continue as if they were real-life informal conversations.
While Death Proof still has its long, wordy, verbose moments, its two setpieces (one successful attack by Kurt Russell’s Stuntman Mike and one less successful attack), well, they’re still jaw-droppers 13 years later. The Fast and Furious strategy has merit. However, we’ll always prefer Tarantino’s gritty approach.
Tarantino’s expertise is combining heavy-handed action with tongue-in-cheek banter, which he does here as well. As always, the result is an immediate classic.
The Top Two Best Fast And The Furious Movies
The first film in the series was released in 2001. As the relationship forms between Dominic Toretto and Brian O’Conner, an eager audience is met with the promise of more to come. There is a bit of a mystery as to what happened next, and it stayed that way for three sequels, each of which pushed the story in a new direction.
It wasn’t until the fifth film in the series, Fast Five, that it became what it is now: a full-fledged, revved-up blockbuster franchise brimming with wonderfully ludicrous action setpieces and grounded in a simple but serious message about family above all else.
If you find yourself wanting to watch some of the best that the franchise had to offer, you may want to shift into gear with these two:
1. Fast Five – 2011
It’s all about the family. It’s about a bunch of sturdy males slamming each other and then hugging it out. It’s all about genre-defying action setpieces and jaw-dropping feats in amazing vehicles. It’s about Vin Diesel saying ridiculous things yet meaning what he says.
If all of this is accurate (and it is), Fast Five is the heartbeat for the whole franchise. This magical act retrospectively turns its four wildly different predecessors into a slow-burn set up for the crew’s formation that would characterize the remainder of the films in the series.
Adding a heist-focused action series seamlessly to its underground racing history is just icing on the cake. Sure, most of Fast Five’s middle section feels like a store-bought Ocean’s Eleven, but that’s part of its allure.
It is the start of the crew, the start of Roman and Tej’s dynamic combination, the onset of Han and Giselle’s hot relationship, the beginning of Dom’s infatuation with “The Family.”
It also marks the start of a series of larger and improved stunts, including a beautifully shot train robbery, a parkour sprint across Rio, and (the series’ pièce de résistance) a vehicle chase involving a bank vault.
With grace and understated elegance that has come to define the Fast and Furious franchise, Fast Five improves on all that has come before and lays the groundwork for everything that will come after.
Although the other episodes had their highs and lows, and the later editions may have been generally wilder rides, this is the one that makes the voyage worthwhile.
2. Fast And The Furious: Tokyo Drift – 2006
Here it is, the Fast & Furious franchise’s outlier. After two films that allegedly built up a trilogy about Paul Walker’s cop follies, Tokyo Drift set out to develop a high school picture about an army brat who moves to Japan and learns how to drift.
If the outcomes weren’t so wonderfully amusing, it would be an absurd, franchise-ending move. Yes, Lucas Black does have a remarkable amount of chest hair for a supposedly high schooler, as well as a dangerously thick Southern dialect. Bow Wow does make a cameo as a character named “Twink,” which is real.
On the other hand, Tokyo Drift makes up for its shortcomings in personality, from its catchy theme song to its brilliantly produced races (the best in the series).
The Fast and Furious: Tokyo Drift also featured Han (Sung Kang), the finest Fast and Furious character since Dominic Toretto, a fantastic feeling that the series made the following three installments prequels to keep him around, and then retconning him back to life in F9 anyhow.
Justin Lin’s maiden foray into the Fast and Furious franchise mixes bravura style to the series’ most delightfully straightforward tale, presenting drifting cars like a testosterone-doused ballet.
The Tokyo setting is lovely and evocative, and the cameo at the end is such a terrific cliffhanger that you can almost hear the rest of the franchise heating up.
Conclusion
When you’ve seen too many of the same themes of “La Familia” with the fast and furious franchise, you may feel like something similar yet different. These movies are sure to give you a good run for your money. Fast cars and action can stretch out a long way, but the story matters as much.
With this blend of Fast and the Furious alternatives, you surely will appreciate the creative story behind every idea.
References:
- Screenrant.com
- Vulture.com
- Filmschoolrejects.com
- Youtube.com
- Insider.com
- Cinemablend.com
- Variety.com
- Youtube.com