‘Fast & Furious’ Takes a Victory Lap With a Ferociously Fun Roller Coaster
‘Fast & Furious’ Takes a Victory Lap With a Ferociously Fun Roller Coaster
《速度与激情》以一场狂野有趣的过山车之旅完成“胜利绕场”
Toward the end of my college days, I harbored a not-so-secret crush. She and I carried on a mild flirtation, dancing around the possibility of more, but it wasn’t until she found out I’d never seen The Fast and the Furious that she gave me an opening. “What?!” she exclaimed. “It’s my favorite movie!” So we made plans to watch it at her dorm the next day. Even if I didn’t like it, I reasoned, the experience would constitute a worthy reversal of the trope about men forcing testosterone-soaked action movies on their girlfriends. I’ll spare you the details of what happened that afternoon, but it may come as no surprise that I gave the film an enthusiastic five-star review.
在我大学快毕业的时候，我曾有过一段半公开的暗恋。我和她之间有过一些微妙的调情，在进一步发展的可能性边缘徘徊，直到她发现我从未看过《速度与激情》第一部，她才给了我一个契机。“什么？！”她惊呼道，“那可是我最喜欢的电影！”于是我们计划第二天在她的宿舍一起看。我心想，就算我不喜欢这部电影，这次经历也算是一种对“男性强迫女友看充满雄性荷尔蒙动作片”这一刻板印象的有趣反转。我就不细说那天下午发生了什么了，但你们可能不会感到惊讶——我给这部电影打了热情的五星好评。
In the 25 years since the launch of the franchise, F&F has massively capitalized on such runaway infatuations. The big, bald, sleeveless blockbusters serve as monuments to America’s demented car culture, product placement (Corona, anyone?), and the ambiguously defined bonds of “family”—pronounced “fambly.” With their high-octane set pieces that ignore all known physics, leavened by subpar acting and threadbare storylines, the films invite us to submit to some reptilian part of our brain that cares only for power and speed.
在该系列电影问世的25年里，《速度与激情》极大地利用了这种令人上头的迷恋。这些由光头硬汉主演、穿着无袖衫的大片，成为了美国疯狂汽车文化、植入式广告（有人想来瓶科罗娜吗？）以及定义模糊的“家人”（发音为“fambly”）纽带的纪念碑。这些电影有着无视物理定律的高能动作场面，辅以平庸的演技和单薄的剧情，诱导我们向大脑中只关心动力与速度的原始本能屈服。
Which is why the series was ideal inspiration for Universal Studios Hollywood’s new foray into cutting-edge outdoor roller coasters. On Wednesday, the long-anticipated Fast & Furious: Hollywood Drift opened to the public, offering parkgoers the chance to hop into replicas of the movies’ muscle cars—including Dom Toretto’s 1970 Dodge Charger R/T—that spin and soar along more than 4,000 feet of track at speeds of up to 72 miles per hour. (A different version of the ride is slated to debut at Universal’s Florida park next year.)
正因如此，该系列成为了好莱坞环球影城进军尖端户外过山车领域的理想灵感来源。周三，备受期待的“速度与激情：好莱坞漂移”（Fast & Furious: Hollywood Drift）正式向公众开放。游客们有机会坐进电影中肌肉车的复刻版——包括多姆·托雷托（Dom Toretto）那辆1970年的道奇Charger R/T——在全长超过4000英尺的轨道上以最高每小时72英里的速度旋转和飞驰。（该游乐设施的另一个版本计划于明年在佛罗里达州的环球影城亮相。）
The day before, select media and content creators had the chance to experience the attraction without the inconvenience of waiting in line, and I’m pleased to report that it didn’t disappoint: I rode it three times in a row and could have gone back for more. Its four launch sections and three corkscrew inversions made for a whip-fast adrenaline rush, augmented by revving motor noise from seat-mounted speakers. In Dom’s lead car, you can even detect the braking resistance as you slide into a drift. I hollered with glee throughout each circuit, making sure to occasionally shout “TOLUCA LAKE,” the name of the affluent neighborhood next door; residents have been very upset about all the screaming.
前一天，部分媒体和内容创作者有机会在无需排队的情况下体验了这一设施。我很高兴地告诉大家，它没有让人失望：我连续坐了三次，甚至还想再坐。它的四个弹射区和三个螺旋翻转带来了极速的肾上腺素飙升，座椅内置扬声器发出的引擎轰鸣声更是锦上添花。在多姆的领航车里，当你滑入漂移状态时，甚至能感觉到刹车的阻力。我在每一圈都兴奋地大喊大叫，还不忘偶尔高喊“托卢卡湖”（Toluca Lake，隔壁富人区的名字）；当地居民一直对这些尖叫声感到非常不满。
If you want to feel like you’re a Fast & Furious character within the safer confines of a precisely engineered thrill machine, you can hardly ask for anything better. And despite its innovative design, the overall aesthetic of the ride and its environs demonstrates a welcome nostalgia for the more grounded origins of these movies, when the crew was hijacking trucks full of DVD players instead of launching Pontiacs into space. On your way through the queueing path, you’ll pass garage workbenches littered with tools and LA-style street murals that pay homage to racing culture.
如果你想在精密设计的惊险机器中，以更安全的方式体验一把《速度与激情》角色的感觉，这绝对是你的不二之选。尽管设计极具创新，但该游乐设施及其周边环境的整体美学，展现了一种令人怀念的复古感，让人回想起这些电影更接地气的起源——那时主角团还在劫持装满DVD播放机的卡车，而不是把庞蒂亚克跑车送上太空。在排队通道中，你会经过摆满工具的车库工作台，以及向赛车文化致敬的洛杉矶风格街头壁画。
Those welcome simple touches might make you wonder if we’ll ever actually see the conclusion of the increasingly bloated and absurd F&F saga in the perpetually delayed 11th film, Fast Forever. Between the ongoing rewrites and budgetary obstacles, it has yet to even enter production. (The previous film, Fast X, was released in 2023.) Rather than being too big to fail, it’s as though the challenge of topping each successive spectacle has made the Furious brand too unwieldy to push forward.
这些令人欣慰的小细节可能会让你怀疑，我们是否真的能看到这个日益臃肿且荒诞的《速激》传奇在不断推迟的第11部电影《Fast Forever》中迎来终章。由于不断的剧本重写和预算障碍，该片甚至尚未进入制作阶段。（上一部电影《速度与激情10》于2023年上映。）与其说它“大到不能倒”，不如说超越前作的挑战已经让“速度与激情”这个品牌变得过于沉重，难以继续前行。
Could it be that, in the absence of a finale, the F&F rides will cap off the series? In their invitation for Tuesday’s press preview event, Universal noted that Vin Diesel himself would be on hand during a ceremony to help executives cut the ribbon (or, as it happened, a fake plastic chain). But the man synonymous with the franchise was nowhere to be found when the time came to declare the ride officially open. The closest we got was a gaggle of fans in costume as Toretto, complete with bald caps.
难道在没有结局的情况下，这些《速激》游乐设施将成为该系列的终点吗？在周二媒体预览活动的邀请函中，环球影城曾提到范·迪塞尔本人将出席仪式，协助高管剪彩（实际上是剪断了一条塑料假链条）。但当宣布游乐设施正式开放时，这位该系列的代名词却不见踪影。我们能见到的最接近他的人，是一群打扮成托雷托模样的粉丝，甚至还戴着光头头套。
When I checked out Diesel’s Instagram account for clues as to what he was up to, I found that he had just posted set photos of himself as Kaulder, his character from The Last Witch Hunter, a 2015 dark fantasy film. Lionsgate confirmed last year that a sequel is in the works, and it appears that Diesel was stoking anticipation with this sneak peek. When this guy isn’t acknowledging a major milestone for the burnt-rubber films that made him a household name, you have to wonder if there’s much gas left in the tank.
当我查看迪塞尔的Instagram账号寻找他的动向时，发现他刚刚发布了自己作为考尔德（Kaulder）的片场照，这是他在2015年黑暗奇幻电影《最后的巫师猎人》中的角色。狮门影业去年证实该片续集正在制作中，看来迪塞尔是在通过这次剧透来预热。当这位让“烧胎”电影家喻户晓的明星，连该系列的重要里程碑都不予理睬时，你不得不怀疑，他的油箱里是否还有多少油。
Not everything lasts—certainly not college flings that start with stunt-driver flicks. That the Fast & Furious series has earned billions of dollars and spanned a quarter century based on an equally thin premise is a testament to how far this juvenile spirit can take you. Maybe bringing it to life with a really fun roller coaster is the best way to let it roar off into the sunset. When you climb aboard, take a look around at your fellow passengers. You’re the family now.
并非所有事物都能长久——尤其是那些始于特技赛车电影的大学恋情。基于如此单薄的前提，《速度与激情》系列却能赚取数十亿美元并跨越四分之一个世纪，这证明了这种少年意气能带你走多远。也许，用一个真正有趣的过山车将其变为现实，是让它轰鸣着驶向落日的最好方式。当你坐上车时，环顾一下身边的乘客吧。现在，你们就是一家人了。