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SYFY WIRE The Fast and the Furious

Watch: The car harpoon scene in 'Fate of the Furious' remains one of the coolest action scenes ever

It takes a whole family of fast-firing crack shots to stop Dom (and his apex-predator Plymouth).

By Benjamin Bullard
The Fate of the Furious (2017)

Someone somewhere must be keeping tabs on how many cars the Fast & Furious film franchise has turned to useless rubble by now. After all, wrecks mean nothing to Dom Toretto (Vin Diesel) and his capable gearhead gang, who tend to treat their never-ending supply of rides like mobile steel piñatas.

When the chase is on, no whip seems safe from the family’s leaden feet — and in this epic showdown from 2017’s The Fate of the Furious, that even means Dom’s beastly black 1971 Plymouth GTX. Coached remotely by Cipher (Charlize Theron) as he grudgingly carries out her scheme to steal nuclear codes, Dom asks his beloved 5,000-hp behemoth to make the ultimate sacrifice in one of the Fast & Furious film series’ all-time craziest action set pieces.

Speed, adrenaline, and a totally FF-appropriate disregard for personal (and public) safety: It’s all here in the film’s extended New York street chase, which pits Dom against ex-DSS agent Luke Hobbs (Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson) and the rest of the family as they race to put a stop to Cipher’s atomic madness.

Check it out:

RELATED: How Rita Moreno used *ahem* family to land her role in 'Fast & Furious' sequel 'Fast X'

If you’re picking up some throwback vibes to the Bond-esque car harpoons from 2003’s 2 Fast 2 Furious (or the iconic bank vault chase from 2011’s Fast Five, for that matter) we’re vibing right there with you. In a legacy nod to the auto-disabling EMP metal lassos that first appeared in the series’ second film, everyone in the fam has a non-EMP version of the same harpoon tech equipped to their own ride…and of course it takes firing off every last one of them to finally pin Dom down.

What happens next is another of those bonkers action getaway moments that the Furious franchise, despite spanning nine mainline movies (so far), just never seems to run out of. This time, though, Dom may have finally crossed the line, leaving Letty (Michelle Rodriguez) to ponder his puzzling apparent mixed loyalties after Dom shoots Deckard Shaw (Jason Statham), saves Letty herself from a three-way standoff, and then makes off anyway with Cipher’s coveted nuclear loot. Hey, no one ever said love isn't complicated.

Furious fans know there’s more motivating Dom’s double-crossing behavior behind the scenes, with Cipher emerging in The Fate of the Furious as a villainous big-picture schemer with string-pulling scruples that’d likely even make Lex Luthor blush. No FF baddie left Dom with a bigger hole is his heart than Theron’s twisted mastermind in Fate and its 2021 followup, F9, creating seismic ripples that are certain to keep the family on red alert as Cipher returns this spring in the upcoming Fast X.

Fast X arrives in theaters on May 19, while you can catch The Fate of the Furious in all its speed-demon dazzle at the on-demand platform of your choice. For an even deeper dive into Dom’s petrol-fueled past, check out Fast & Furious 6 and Furious 7, streaming anytime on Peacock.