Fast & Furious Live, Arena Birmingham - Review and pictures
For those of you who 'live life one quarter mile at a time', Fast & Furious Live is petrol-head heaven.
This tyre-shredding extravaganza is a recreation of some of the best stunts and motoring hoonery from the eight films, which have taken more than £3.6 billion at the global box office.
You don’t have to love the movies to enjoy the show, but it helps if you like seeing things explode and, of course, super cars that have been polished to within an inch of their life.
Brian’s Supra used by actor Paul Walker in the original 2001 movie, Miami street race cars and the orange Lambourghni from Fast 8, to name just a few, are all there.
Ultimately the franchise doesn't take itself too seriously. It's just cars smashing into each other and Vin Diesel as Dominic Toretto and 'The Rock' as Hobbs blowing things up in shrink-fit vests.
Pictures courtesy of Martin Dunning
Arguably as iconic as Dom’s vests is Dom's Charger. The car that - in the movies - has so much torque that the chassis twists. This is the first vehicle we see first - followed by a procession of gleaming super cars. And a tank. Yes. A tank.
Like the film franchise, Fast & Furious Live is bags of over-the-top fun. From beginning to end. A petrol-head panto if you like.
Loads of audience participation and a truck load of cheese to boot - flying cars, the Rio bank job, a submarine and even an aeroplane crashing through a wall.
The behind-the-scenes movie footage & cast interviews on a giant screen raise a smile - and heartfelt cheers whenever Paul Walker, who died in a car crash, appears.
The show's creators use this and other tools such as 3D mapping projection to 'take the audience on a journey', moving seamlessly from the streets of LA to Rio to a car park in Tokyo. Almost like being in the movies.
A highlight of the show was a modified 350Z battling a souped-up Nissan Silvia S15 to pay homage to the third entry in the franchise - Tokyo Drift. Not the most popular movie but one of my favourites - geek alert.
The cars drift along impossibly close to each other with the smell of burning rubber & fumes filling the arena.
A recreation of a street race from 2 Fast 2 Furious is breath-taking in terms of driving skill and dazzling LED technology.