The "Fast and Furious" movies are unabashedly big, dumb, and fun, offering plenty of escalating
craziness for their fans. The Fast Saga has been so successful, in fact, that it's inspired
some imitators. Here's a look at the many knockoffs, ripoffs, and clones produced throughout
the franchise's long run.
The 2017 movie "Overdrive" feels like a "Fast and Furious" franchise entry ... but it's
just not quite right. It's as if the creative team behind "Overdrive" wrote all the basic
elements of the "Fast and Furious" franchise down on little pieces of paper, shifted them
around a table, and then made a movie out of whatever Mad Lib-like plot summary developed.
Screenwriters Michael Brandt and Derek Haas — who also penned the script for "2 Fast
2 Furious" — wrote this tale about the world's most famous and respected car thieves, Andrew
and Garret Foster, played by Scott Eastwood and Freddie Thorp. They're enlisted to steal
a rare Bugatti from an auction in France, but they get caught by the owner, a French
crime kingpin, who then makes them steal a Ferrari from his rival to even the score.
There's a heist, lots of car chases, smug heroes, and daring escapes, but according
to Stephen Dalton of the Hollywood Reporter, it's ultimately, quote, "witless and joyless"
and a "formulaic adolescent male button-pusher." A French production, shot primarily in Paris,
"Overdrive" was released in Eastern Europe before a quiet debut in the U.S. in the fall
of 2017. The film earned about $9.6 million outside of North America ... and just $7,793
inside of it.
Still, the film couldn't have been all bad, since Eastwood landed among the actual Fast
& Furious cast... for one film, at least.
"What are you doing here?"
"Well, I told you I was going to check in on you from time to time to see how you're
doing. By the way, not so hot."
You can tell that this 2011 Swedish film is a "Fast and Furious" clone from the poster
alone. It features a fast car, an askew typeface, and a guy who sort of looks like Paul Walker.
And then there's that title. "Born 2 Race" has a big number "2" in lieu of spelling out
the word, much like "Furious 7" or "2 Fast 2 Furious," except that "Born 2 Race," confusingly,
is not a sequel.
The plot is reminiscent of that of a "Fast and Furious" movie except with much lower
stakes and much younger people.
"You're 17. You don't know a damn thing about life."
Danny, played by Joseph Cross, gets arrested for illegal street racing and moves to a small
town to live with his ex-NASCAR driver father and attend high school, where he dives into
the legitimate world of high school-sanctioned drag racing. He can totally beat his rival
if he gets his father's help. Why? Because like "Fast and Furious," "Born 2 Race" is
all about "family."
Also like "Fast and Furious," "Born 2 Race" spawned a sequel. "Born to Race: Fast Track"
replaces almost the entire cast with new actors playing the same roles, but this time the
action largely happens at the distinguished Fast Lane Racing Academy. Unlike "Fast and
Furious," these movies didn't set the box office aflame. "Born 2 Race" debuted on video
in Germany in 2011 before hitting DVD in the U.S. in early 2012, while "Fast Track" originated
as a made-for-Swedish-TV movie.
Bollywood films are massive spectacles that harken back to classic movies of the 1930s
and 1940s but reflect storytelling and presentation elements popular in Indian culture. The "Fast
and Furious" movies are certainly massive undertakings, but they're nothing compared
to 2004's "Dhoom," which puts an India-produced, Bollywood-style spin on the saga.
The "Fast and Furious" films have a little bit of everything, and so does "Dhoom," but
more so — specifically the addition of multiple well-populated, intricately choreographed
and passionately sung musical numbers. The first of three "Dhoom" movies concerns police
officer Jai, squaring off with Kabir, the leader of a motorcycle gang that also stages
major heists. Jai gets a street racer named Ali to stop the gang, and that brings them
right up close to vehicular chases, explosions, and scantily clad female race fans.
The big difference between the "Fast and Furious" and "Dhoom" franchises is that the former
has a wall-to-wall rap soundtrack and cars, and the latter has musical numbers and motorbikes.
With a name like "Fast Track: No Limits," you just know that this movie is going to
be about rebellious young people who break rules and drive expensive cars impossibly
fast. That's what they get in this 2008 movie, a German production that enjoyed a theatrical
release only in that region and China … and for good reason.
"Y'know, you throw a punch the same way you steer a curve. You put too much thought into
it."
"And you don't think at all."
"That's my edge!"
Shot on location in Berlin with a cast of mostly North American actors, this "Fast and
Furious" knockoff even includes a Walker in the cast — not Paul, but Andrew (no relation),
who plays Mike, a member of a group of car-loving young people who hang around a garage, dangerously
in debt. They get involved with some hush-hush, high-intensity underground street races which
can either get them out of financial trouble or on the hook to the evil crime lord who
runs the show.
Oddly, five years after the film hit theaters in Europe and Asia, screenwriter Lee Goldberg
took the movie to the U.S. — in the form of a self-published short novel adaptation
in which the action takes place in America instead of Germany.
The Asylum is a small, independent, U.S.-based film production company that makes all kinds
of movies — action, horror, science-fiction — that share a common thread: They're all
thinly-veiled, obvious knockoffs of popular, high-profile Hollywood releases. The Asylum
sends its movies to home video markets around the same time that the films they're cribbing
from are tearing up the box office, seeking to both cash in on the craze created by the
competition or scoring some cash in rental fees by viewers who are fooled into thinking
they're paying for the real thing.
Among The Asylum's numerous and most self-evident "mockbusters": "The Da Vinci Treasure," "Transmorphers,"
and "200 MPH," a cheap clone of the "Fast and Furious" franchise that hit DVD in April
2011, right around the time "Fast Five" arrived in theaters. It's a generic "Fast and Furious"
kind of movie, and the plot is as by-the-numbers as it can get.
When cocksure street racer Tom Merchant dies in competition after losing to an evil drug
dealer named Kayce, his brother, Rick, swears to avenge his brother's death by getting into
street racing too, after beefing up his '80s model car with the help of a cool female mechanic,
and dialogue like this.
"What are you doing? You'll ruin the car. Where's the aerodynamics?"
"It doesn't matter."
South Korea boasts a robust car culture, so it stands to reason that the country would
also produce its own, localized version of a "Fast and Furious" movie. That project is
the 2019 film "Hit-and-Run Squad," which mainly focuses on the law enforcement aspect.
A National Police Agency detective gets demoted to a rinky-dink task force charged with busting
hit-and-run drivers. A dreary assignment turns exciting when she goes after an ex-Formula
One driver who has sunk into a life terrorizing city streets and leaving destruction in his
wake with his fast and flashy driving. Despite having all the elements of a great action
movie in place, the filmmakers reportedly somehow missed the mark. Critic Yoon Min-sik
of the Korea Herald wrote,
"How do you make a story about cops, race car drivers, and street racing with super
cars this boring?"
The 2013 action movie "Getaway" looks like an American movie because of its cast full
of well-known American actors, and it was theatrically released in the U.S. But it's
actually set and primarily shot in the Eastern European nation of Bulgaria, which provided
a nice backdrop for what's ultimately a shameless "Fast and the Furious" wannabe.
Ethan Hawke — in between Academy Award-nominated performances in "Training Day" and "Boyhood"
— stars as Brent Magna, a retired race car driver who is in for the race of his life
... against time. His wife has been kidnapped, so he has to grab a customized, ultra-fast
Ford Shelby GT500 supercar, along with a sidekick known only as the Kid, played by Selena Gomez,
and do what the bad guy, known only as The Voice, says ... which is mostly speed around,
do car stunts, and commit crimes.
"Getaway" was soundly and resoundingly panned by critics — it earned a 3 percent rating
on Rotten Tomatoes, while London Evening Standard writer Charlotte O'Sullivan called it, quote,
"one of the worst films of the year, by a country mile."
"Just do me one favor, will ya? Shut the hell up."
"YOU shut up!"
One of the most obvious and explicit ripoffs of a "Fast and Furious" movie is "Stritreysery",
or "Street Racers," a 2019 Russian film. In fact, it plays like a copy of an off-brand
"Fast and Furious," it's so familiar and by the numbers.
Stepan, a man just out of a stint in the Russian army, returns home to find that his father's
mechanic business has been taken over by Docker, an organizer of illicit street racing events.
Stepan's dip into the criminal underworld of fast cars and loose morals is made all
the more inevitable when he falls in love with Katya, Docker's girlfriend.
Despite its overwhelming debt to its blockbuster inspiration, Russian filmgoers didn't seem
to mind the negative "Fast and Furious" comparisons made inevitable by "Street Racers." For proof,
look no further than the fact that it was nominated in five categories at the 2009 MTV
Movie Awards Russia, including Best Fight, Best Kiss, and Best Movie Villain.
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