Blu-ray Review: ICONS UNEARTHED: FAST & FURIOUS

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Sep 16 Posted by Kyle Nolan in DVD/Blu-ray, Reviews | Comments

Mill Creek has released another season of the Vice TV series Icons Unearthed on Blu-ray. Each season of the documentary series delves into the behind-the-scenes drama of a different popular TV or movie franchise. This third season originally aired in January 2023, and takes an in-depth look at the The Fast & The Furious franchise. (We previously reviewed the Blu-ray releases of the first two seasons—Star Wars and The Simpsons.)

Over the course of its 6 episodes, Icons Unearthed: Fast & Furious explores the first 9 Fast & Furious movies, looking at how the franchise grew from a somewhat simple movie about street racing into the massive action spectacle it has become. The documentary series makes use of clips, photos, behind-the-scenes footage and new interviews with the cast/crew of the films and other pop culture experts/authors/journalists, to uncover new behind-the-scenes stories about the productions. It also provides a fun look back at each of the films—I had forgotten some of the crazy twists and turns these movies have taken over the years!

Here’s a rundown of the topics covered in each of the 6 episodes:

Racer X
How the idea for the original The Fast and the Furious film started with a magazine article about illegal street racing, how the Columbine shooting caused it to change from a Romeo & Juliette tale to a Point Break-inspired premise, casting the movie and the cars, training the actors to drive, filming the stunts and races, changing the title from Redline, and more.
Shifting Gears
Creating the sequel, 2 Fast 2 Furious with new director John Singleton and new lead Tyrese Gibson, writing the script, casting the sequel and cars, adding additional racing to the film, filming the stunts, and more.
The Tune-Up
First, exploring a new style of racing in the third film, The Fast and the Furious: Tokyo Drift, bringing on new director Jason Lin, casting the new actors and cars, and getting Vin Diesel to do a cameo that likely saved the movie and the franchise. Then, making the fourth film, Fast & Furious, a true sequel to the original movie, bringing back the main cast, resurrecting Han for a prequel scene, adding Gal Gadot, and giving the movie a James Bond style opening sequence.
A Heist?
With Fast Five, the franchise trades realism for bigger stories, stunts, stars and plot twists, making a Bond-level action movie rather than having it be about street racing. Also, introducing new characters like Hobbs, and the challenges of filming in Brazil, the film’s massive stunts, and more.
A Death in the Family
Days before the fifth film is released, the studio announces Fast & Furious 6 and Furious 7. The sixth film is the team’s first “save the world” mission and launches the franchise into a globetrotting adventure, reuniting the core 8 family members for the first time. The participants discuss resurrecting Letty, flipping cars in Glasgow, driving a tank through London, and some of the sixth installment’s massive fight scenes. Then it delves into the seventh film, where halfway through filming tragedy strikes, and star Paul Walker is killed in an accident, forcing director James Wan to pivot, find a way to complete the film, and give the star a proper send off.
Blast Off
While there was initially some question as to whether or not the franchise would continue without Paul Walker, Universal announces three more films. The eigth installment, The Fate of the Furious, brings in even more stars, including Charlize Theron, Helen Mirren, Kurt Russell and Jason Statham, as well as a new director, and attempts even more epic stunts and filming in Cuba, but the off-screen drama between The Rock and Vin Diesel reaches a boiling point. Then, as Jason Lin returns for F9, fans demand #JusticeForHan, John Cena joins the cast as Dom’s long-lost brother, and the rules of physics are thrown out as the “family” heads into outer space!

Across the 6 episodes, those interviewed include journalist/Fast expert Derek Lawrence, journalist Kenneth Li, author/Fast expert Jacob Hollabaugh, film professor/author Mark Cunningham, author/transportation coordinator David Marder, the original Racer X Rafael Estevez, writers Gary Scott Thompson, Michael Brandt & Derek Haas, technical advisor Craig Lieberman, first assistant directors George Parra & Christophe Lechanu, stars Chad Lindberg (“Jesse”), Thom Barry (“Agent Bilkins”), Tyrese Gibson (“Roman”) & Lucas Black (“Sean Boswell”), executive producer Doug Claybourne, stunt coordinators Mic Rodgers, Jack Gill & JJ Perry, special effects supervisor Matt Sweeney, actor/musician Tip “T.I.” Harris, stunt drivers Debbie Evans, Sammy Maloof, Tanner Foust & Samuel Hübinette, post production supervisor Lisa Rodgers, co-founder of New World Pictures Roger Corman, casting director Kim Hardin, second unit directors Terry Leonard & Spiro Razatos, editor Fred Raskin, assistant editors Greg D’Auria & Leigh Folsom-Boyd, storyboard artist Darrin Denlinger, sound designer Peter Brown, line producers Fernando Serzedelo (Brazil) & Ricardo Del Rio, costumes Jimmy Starr, production designer Bill Brzeski, and supervising art director Desma Murphy.

Like the previous seasons, I found this third season of Icons Unearthed to be quite entertaining and informative. It comes from The Nacelle Company, who also created The Toys That Made Us, and they have this great ability to get some great stories out of the participants while also keeping things humorous and light. Chad Lindberg, who played “Jesse” in the original film. provides a fun narration for this third season. The series utilizes some clever wordplay in the narration and editing of the clips and interviews to inject a lot of humor. It’s always amazing to see how much raw footage gets edited down into these small sound-bites that ultimately provide an interesting narrative that flows nicely across the six 44-minute episodes!

Mill Creek’s Blu-ray release provides a clean picture and clear stereo sound that is more than sufficient for the interviews. It’s quite impressive to see the raw footage they started with compared with how the final product looks in the series. The release includes 2 Blu-ray discs, placed on either side of a standard HD keepcase, which is covered with a cardboard slipcover. The first disc contains all 6 episodes, while the second disc contains the bonus material—nearly six hours of raw interview footage with stars Tyrese Gibson & Lucas Black, actor/musician Tip “T.I.” Harris, film producer Roger Corman (who owned the rights to the title “The Fast and the Furious”), and stunt coordinator JJ Perry.

I hope that Mill Creek continues to release additional seasons of Icons Unearthed on Blu-ray as I’ve been really enjoying this series!

What’s Included:

Episodes: (4:24:13)

All 6 episodes of the third season:
“Racer X”, “Shifting Gears”, “The Tune-Up”, “A Heist?”, “A Death in the Family”, “Blast Off”
1080p / Widescreen 1.78:1
Audio: English 2.0 DTS-HD Master Audio
Subtitles: English

Extras:
All of these can be found on Disc 2.

Bonus Interviews (5:42:53)
The bonus material consists of the full-length interviews with several of the participants, provided in their raw form, without any additional color-timing or picture enhancements. Play All, or select from:
- Tyrese Gibson (2:00:25)
- Lucas Black (1:08:09)
- Tip “T.I.” Harris (35:35)
- Roger Corman (35:46)
- JJ Perry (1:22:58)

Final Thoughts:

My Rating

Episodes:

Video:

Audio:

Extras:

Recommended

Icons Unearthed: Fast & Furious provides an interesting and entertaining look at one of the most prolific and successful film franchises kicked off from the original The Fast & The Furious movie. The series maintains a light and humorous tone while looking at some of the behind-the-scenes drama with the cast/crew of the films. Mill Creek’s Blu-ray release offers a solid audio/video presentation as well as nearly 6 hours of raw interview footage as bonus material. This is definitely worth a look for fans of the Fast films—it serves as a fun trip down memory lane. I quite enjoyed this third season of Icons Unearthed, and hope that Mill Creek continues to releases additional seasons on Blu-ray.